He had more challengers to his throne this year but Jamie Koe is still the king of men's curling in the NWT.

Koe and his rink of Chris Schille, Brad Chorostkowski and Robert Borden will once again be the NWT's representatives at the Tim Hortons Brier after beating Steve Moss in the final of the NWT Men's Curling Championship on Feb. 11 in Inuvik 9-3. The game ended after six ends when Moss scored a single in the sixth and shook hands.

Koe had last rock advantage to start the final and opened things up by scoring three in the first end thanks to a perfectly executed runback.

SA国际影视传媒淭hat set the tone for the game and gave us some confidence,SA国际影视传媒� Koe said.

Moss scored a single in the second end and stole another in the third to get it back to 3-2 but Koe bagged a deuce in the fourth to restore his three-point cushion.

The big end, though, was the fifth where Koe stole four to increase his lead to 9-2 SA国际影视传媒� it came courtesy of some bad luck on Moss' part.

SA国际影视传媒淗e was trying a hit-and-roll against five of ours and the shooter rolled out,SA国际影视传媒� Koe said.

When Moss only scored a single in the sixth, he decided to call it a day.

This year's championship featured eight teams SA国际影视传媒� four from the capital and four from the host community SA国际影视传媒� making it one of the largest fields in recent memory, something Koe was happy to see.

SA国际影视传媒淚 was surprised to see eight teams, to be honest,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淭here hasn't been that many in about 10 years and it was great to see. I hope it can keep up. The more teams we have, the better the competition.SA国际影视传媒�

The number of teams entered meant there was a greater potential for upsets SA国际影视传媒� the old banana peel SA国际影视传媒揳nd Koe said he was mindful of that.

SA国际影视传媒淵ou never know what's going to happen when you play a team you don't see often,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淭here's always upsets, especially when you're playing in their rink because they know the ice and the rocks so you have to be careful and thankfully, we got off to a good start.SA国际影视传媒�

Because of the big turnout, the stepladder format was used rather than the standard round-robin format. All eight teams started in the A division with the winners moving on while the losers dropped into the B division. The losers from B eventually moved into the C division but no matter what happened, a team wasn't eliminated until they lost three games.

It's the same format used in many of the Grand Slam of Curling events and Koe said there was the potential for a lot of downtime in between games.

SA国际影视传媒淲e only played one game per day so that's good for the stamina,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淲hen we weren't playing, we just kept ourselves busy by throwing rocks and that's good because it helps us figure out the weight and how to place the broom.SA国际影视传媒�

It was also a way to figure out which rocks to use when it came to the latter stages, he added.

SA国际影视传媒淚t's a big advantage when you get the rocks you want,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

When it comes to the Brier, the new pools format is now being used with two pools of eight for the round-robin, similar to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The NWT will be in a pool with Team Canada, Alberta, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon and the winner of the wild card game between the Manitoba rinks of Mike McEwen and Jason Gunnlaugson, both of whom were the highest-ranked non-qualified teams from the Canadian Team Ranking System.

They're guaranteed seven games in the round-robin portion but Koe said he wants more.

SA国际影视传媒淲e match up well with at least five of the teams in our pool,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淥ur goal is to make it into the championship round (first playoff round) and give ourselves a chance to make the final four.SA国际影视传媒�
The Tim Hortons Brier begins March 3.