And so it鈥檚 a return trip to the Tim Hortons Brier for Jamie Koe and company.

Koe and his rink of Shadrach McLeod, Cole Parsons and Glen Kennedy are your 2023 NWT Men鈥檚 Curling Championship winners. They claimed the title by beating Greg Skauge and his rink in the final in Fort Smith by a score of 11-3 on Feb. 5. That means they will once again represent the NWT at the Canadian men鈥檚 curling championship, which is happening in London, Ont., next month.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been five years since we played (in Fort Smith) and you never know how the ice will be,鈥� said Koe on Monday. 鈥淏ut it was great ice all the way through and going unbeaten was a bonus.鈥�

As Koe mentioned, his side didn鈥檛 lose a game on their way to victory. They won all six of their contests in the double round-robin 鈥� each team played each other twice 鈥� and that meant a bye straight through to the final. Skauge ended up playing Hay River鈥檚 D鈥檃rcy Delorey in the semifinal, which Skauge won, 5-4, thanks to scoring a single in the 10th end.

In the final, Koe started with the hammer and scored a deuce in the first end, followed Skauge scoring a single in the second to make it 2-1. Koe then put up a four-spot in the third to go up 6-1 and it ended up being a trade-off of singles from that point until another four from Koe in the seventh end was enough for Skauge and crew to shake hands.

Koe said he felt as if his team was in control of all their matches the entire weekend.

鈥淕etting to the final was the first goal for us and we played our best game of the weekend in the final,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e got off to a good start in all our games, we got comfortable with the ice and we kept an even keel all the way through.鈥�

With the spot in London now confirmed, the attention now turns to getting in practice before heading down. That鈥檚 a double-edged sword of sorts because while the Yellowknife Curling Centre operates itself, the ice plant needed for the sheets is contained within the Yellowknife Community Arena. The arena is slated to be one of the victims of any work stoppage between the city and its unionized employees who are set to begin striking Wednesday morning.

Koe said he, along with everyone else who uses the centre, is waiting to hear what effect that will have on operations on the curling side.

鈥淲e have our own ice-maker, but we鈥檙e still waiting for word on if we鈥檒l have ice to practice on,鈥� he said. 鈥淥bviously, if anything changes, we鈥檒l have to make arrangements to go somewhere where there鈥檚 ice. We want to keep the momentum going from the weekend, so I鈥檓 hoping we鈥檒l be OK.鈥�