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INUVIK - It wasn't the result curling veteran Sonny Greenland wanted going into last weekend's Yukon/NWT Senior Championships qualifier, but he's not about to hang his head in shame.

Considering his team of Johnny Lennie and his brother Georgie Greenland were a man short - their other teammate having gotten caught down south on business - their record of one win and four tightly-contested loses was respectable. Several players in the tournament had national curling competition experience.

Jack MacKinnon, Team MacKinnon skip, lets a rock fly during a game against Team Greenland on Saturday afternoon. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photos

"We did pretty good, especially since we just put our team together," said Greenland.

"I'm satisfied. It's excellent competition. They're top-notch teams here I would say. And in some cases the games could have gone either way."

Though his hopes of a national title are dashed, he said he's excited about the several other local tournaments on deck, such as the Gwich'in/Inuvialuit Bonspiel on Feb. 14 and 15.

"We're going to come out fighting again."

Three other Yellowknife teams rounded out the competition during the Feb. 5 to 7 tournament. Each will be moving on to the championships held in Yellowknife from Feb. 26 to March 1. Team Huddy placed first with a record of five wins and one loss, followed by Team MacKinnon (4-2) and Team Whitehead (2-4).

Team MacKinnon member Steve Moss from Yellowknife remarked how close the competition was and tipped his hat to the local team who played well shorthanded.

"They're a real solid team," said Moss. "And Sonny, I saw him playing in the Canadian Junior Men's competition several years ago. I have a lot of respect for his ability. There's been some very good teams come out of the Inuvik region."

Moss, who was a member of last year's Canadian Firefighters Curling Championship team, said he thinks his team has the ability to compete well at the upcoming playdowns in Yellowknife.

"We can be our worst enemy," he said. "But we can play a lot better than we've been playing. So we have some preparing to do. We want to make the nationals."