It's lucky no. 13 for Jamie Koe in terms of Tim Hortons Brier appearances and he will get to do it this year with a brand new rink.
James McCarthy/NNSL photo
Koe and his new-look team of David Aho, Matthew Ng and Cole Parsons are the NWT representatives at this year's Brier in Brandon, Man., next month thanks to an 8-3 win over Greg Skauge in the final of the NWT Men's Curling Championship at the Yellowknife Curling Centre on Sunday. The match ended with Skauge shaking hands following the eighth end after Koe had scored three.
Koe said it was a tougher game than the scoreboard indicated.
“They were playing really well, they were coming right at us,” he said. “It was tight until we got the deuce in the sixth end and even in the seventh end, they were making some great shots. They took a chance in the eighth end but it didn't work out for them so we got a break.”
It was a game of singles in the early going. Koe scored the game's first two points – with the hammer in the first end and stealing in the second. Skauge got one back in the third with Koe answering in kind in the fourth to restore his two-point lead. Skauge notched another single to cut the deficit to 3-2 at the fifth-end break, but it was Koe who got the game's first big end and he scored two in the sixth to take a 5-2 lead.
Skauge had a chance to score three in the seventh end and tie it up, but his attempt at an angle raise to chip out Koe's rock in the four-foot – nearly frozen to the face of Skauge's rock on the button – didn't work as Skauge was forced to settle for a single.
The change Koe talked about Skauge taking came on Skauge's last rock in the eighth. He tried a come-around to sit buried behind a guard, which would have forced Koe to play a difficult raise take-out, but Skauge wrecked on the guard, giving Koe an open hit on a Skauge rock for three. It ended up being the final shot of the game.
Koe and his rink went unbeaten from start to finish, but Koe said it wasn't the easiest of rides to perfection in the win column.
“We played Greg's rink in our first game and they got up on us 3-0 so we had to battle back to win that one,” he said. “It ended up being a back-and-forth affair and we expected the same sort of game in the final. The rest of the week went well. We were putting up a lot of points so that gave us lots of confidence.”
Skauge ended up second following the round-robin and had to play Glen Hudy in the semifinal on Sunday morning, a game he won, 8-4, to advance to the final.
When it came to the decision to shake after eight ends, Skauge said it came down to the situation that was in front of his rink.
“Knowing Jamie's team and how well they hit, it makes it pretty tough to come back when you're down by five,” he said. “You get two or three in the ninth, you still have to steal in the 10th to try and tie it so it would have been a tough go.”
As mentioned, Koe's rink is fresh-faced and young, but has plenty of experience. Parsons and Aho both moved over from Steve Moss' rink while Ng is the out-of-territory player, hailing from Calgary. Each team at the Brier is permitted one non-resident player on their team.
Koe said it's so far, so good.
“We've played together two weekends and we haven't lost a game yet,” he said. “We got a good introduction to each other when Matt came up in January, but I'm really happy with where we were at this (past) weekend. I wasn't expecting to go unbeaten and put up the scores we did, but we were in control of every game and I'm proud of them.”