Gwich'in twins represent N.W.T. in junior curling

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In this year's Maple Leaf Junior Curling Championships in Edmonton, Jamie and Kerry Koe entered the history books. The Northwest Territories junior champs became the first twin brother and sister skips, respectively, at the same national championship.

However, it's not the first time at the nationals for either of the two Gwich'in athletes from Yellowknife. The 1996 edition is Kerry's fourth trip, which ties her for the record for appearances, and Jamie's third (his second as skip). This year marks Kerry's championship debut as a skip.

"It's pretty much what I expected it would be," she said. I've been here a couple of times before, so that helps. But skipping is a little different. I was a third the other times, so there was less pressure on me then. As a skip, you have to throw more pressure shots and have to do more strategy planning.

"If I hadn't been here before," she added, "I think I would have been pretty sacred."

Her rink played aggressively and finished the round robin with five wins and seven losses, which was better than she had hoped for. Kerry had curled previously with two of her teammates, but everyone was at a new position and the coach was also new to the team.

"A lot of the teams here take us lightly, you know ? 'Oh, N.W.T. No big deal. Easy win'-that kind of stuff," she said. "But we came in and gave everyone a good run for the money. People should know not to take us so lightly any more. There's some good curling at home."

Jamie's rink went seven and five through the round robin before losing a close tie-breaking match to Nova Scotia. N.W.T. led 3-0 late in the game. But wound up on the wrong end of a 5-3 score.

"We played a pretty good game, but their skip made a lot of nice shots in the later ends," Jamie reflected a day later. "It sort of slipped away from us."

In spite of the loss, he said their rink had more fun and played dramatically better than in the previous year, when they finished 11th after going two and nine. Part of that fun came from Kerry also being here.

"I didn't thing about her games too much while I was playing, but as soon as our match was over, I was wondering how Kerry was doing," he said. It was more of a distraction for her, though.

"I liked having him here," she said. "But I did find myself thinking a bit about his game while mine was still on." She added that being at a championship with her brother did help because of the extra support. "We bug each other, but we both want each other to do well."

This was likely the last time they'll both represent the N.W.T. Jamie is applying as a student at the University of Calgary this fall, while Kerry plans to stay in Yellowknife for the year, but aims at university for the year after.