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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - It appears the Yukon Curling Association (YCA) is not a big fan of Yellowknife's Jamie Koe.

The Yukon is upset over Koe's addition of Jon Solberg, a Whitehorse-based player, to his team. The move seemed to work as Koe's rink won the NWT/Yukon men's playdowns late last month, earning a trip to the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary.

Yellowknife's Jamie Koe is the centre of a protest filed by the Yukon Curling Association over the use of Jon Solberg, a Whitehorse-based curler, as a member of his team for the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary. - James McCarthy/NNSL photo

The Yukon filed a protest with the Canadian Curling Association (CCA) soon afterwards, saying both territories should be granted direct entry as opposed to just the one team, which has been the case since 1975.

The dispute stems from a move by the NWT Curling Association's decision on Oct. 8 of last year to change the residency rule and allow players from the Yukon to play on NWT-based teams. Once it was approved, and the Yukon was informed of it on Jan. 22, the Yukon said it would oppose it. In a memo to their membership, the association petitioned the national association on Feb. 6, hoping to make any player from the Yukon ineligible to play for any team in the NWT, citing a number of problems it would pose to the Yukon Curling association.

The CCA responded shortly after, saying while it believes players should be from the province or territory they are representing, it would not get involved in residency eligibility with a particular jurisdiction as it would set a dangerous precedent across the country, which is when the Yukon asked for a separate entry beginning with the 2010 Brier.

Koe shrugged off the controversy and said there's nothing wrong with what's happened.

"There are two associations, but we represent one team," he said. "The policy in the NWT allows for Yukon residents to play here, simple as that."

Koe added he's always had the pride of playing for the Territories at the Brier and it means even more this year.

"We wear both emblems on our jackets and it always makes me proud to do so," he said.

Koe's original plan was to have an all-NWT team, but he said that changed because of a couple of players making different life choices.

"One of our players moved down to Saskatchewan and Kevin Whitehead just became a father, so he's taking a year off," he said.

"I talked to Jon one day and we decided to hook up. We played four bonspiels down south and after those, we decided to try and play together in the hopes of qualifying for the Brier."

Roman Moizis, Interim NWT Curling Association president, said the rule was changed for three reasons.

"It brings the rule in line with what the CCA has told us where you should be from the province or territory you're attempting to qualify from and since it's a joint effort between both territories, we feel you can be from either place," he said. "Players from either territory could be a fifth player on a team and we decided to streamline that. Third, we just want to try and put the best team possible from the territories out on the ice every time we play at an event."

As for the chance of separate entries in the future, Moizis said he's optimistic.

"We would love to have our own entry," he said. "Will it happen down the road? Most likely. Will it happen in the very near future? Probably not."

Koe said this sort of thing happens all the time down south, including this year during the playdowns in Manitoba.

"Jeff Stoughton brought in Kevin Park from Edmonton and Kerry Burtnyk brought in Don Walchuk, also from Edmonton," he said. "We didn't parachute a southern player in. Jon's from the North."