February 15...Jamie Koe and his Yellowknife Curling Club team of third Jon Solberg, second Brad Chorostkowski and lead Martin Gavin won the Yukon/Northwest Territories title at their home club on February 15.

Koe wound up with a 5-1 mark in the four-team round robin, clinching the title by defeating the defending champion, Chad Cowan of Whitehorse, 6-4 in the final game of the double round robin.

This will be Koe's third appearance at the Tim Hortons Brier, when it gets underway March 7 in Calgary, after skipping his rink to a 6-5 mark in 2006 in Regina and a 5-6 record in 2007 in Hamilton.

Koe, who was also runner-up at the Canadian Juniors in 1994, has changed his team since 2007, adding Solberg and Gavin.  Solberg skipped the NWT/Yukon in 2002 in Calgary, finishing with a 3-8 mark, and also played third for Northern Ontario skip Mike Jakubo in 2005 in Edmonton, while Gavin makes his Brier debut.  

However, it will be the fifth Brier appearance for Chorostkowski, who played second for Yukon/NWT skips Trevor Alexander in 1998 and Steve Moss in 2001, and lead for Koe in 2006 and 2007.

The Northwest Territories/Yukon has yet to win the Brier since joining the competition in 1975, when, ironically, it enjoyed its best finish ever, a tie for second with an 8-3 mark.

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