LONDON, ONT. - It was one of the most dramatic moments of this year's Brier.

NWT skip Jamie Koe, background, commands his rink to sweep during action at the Brier on Thursday. Doing the sweeping, from left, are Brad Chorostkowski, Martin Gavin and Colin Miller. Koe finished the national championship bonspiel with a 3-8 record. - Michael Burns photo

Yellowknife's Jamie Koe and his teammates were playing their final game of the tournament Thursday against Olympic champion and curling icon Kevin Martin.

Despite Martin's squad racing out to an early 3-0 lead, the team representing the Yellowknife Curling Centre charged back and took a 6-5 edge into the final end.

With a crowd of about 6,000 loudly cheering for the underdog Northerners, they played the final end brilliantly. Martin's only hope was to make a spectacular shot with his final stone -- a run-back double to score two.

The Albertan - who last month defeated Jamie's brother Kevin to win the Alberta title - pulled off the shot, breaking the hearts of the NWT team.

"They struggled a little with the ice and got a little frustrated so we jumped on our opportunities and got the lead, but Kevin makes those big shots in the end and always seems to do it when he needs to and kudos to him. It was a great shot," said Koe.

"It's disappointing that we lost in the end. But maybe we'll feel differently when we look back on it later. It's good that we had a competitive game against him (Martin)," added the 33-year-old father of two.

Koe's team - which also features third Tom Naugler, second Brad Chorostkowski and lead Marty Gavin -- got off to a strong start in the competition. They split their first four games and looked like they might be in the hunt for a playoff spot. But they ended by losing six of their final seven games to finish with a 3-8 record.

"It's been pretty up and down. We just weren't consistent enough. We were just playing better early in the week and had a lot of energy.

"But we seemed to get flat, just down. It's tough to curl when you don't have much energy out there," he said, adding that the turning point was the fifth game against Nova Scotia, when there was a chance to get above .500 but the team played their worst game of the week and lost 9-2.

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