A team of Yukon teens triumphed over an American adult team in the C final of the 70th annual Solvest International Bonspiel.

The finals of the International took place Sunday afternoon at the Whitehorse Curling Club.

Team “Ice Breakers” – Skip Fischer Miller, third Carter Hinds, second Luka Slykhuis, and lead Lucas Anderson-Lindsay – played a solid game to down Team “U.S. eh” – Sancho Ponza (Fairbanks), Larry Ehnert (Fairbanks) and skip Toni Paisley (Wisconsin).

The teens and Americans were tied 2-2 after three ends.

The Ice Breakers pulled ahead 4-2 after scoring two in the fourth end.

The Alaskans scored one in the fifth end to tighten the score to 4-3.

However, the youngsters bounced back with two in the sixth end to make it 6-3.

They added one more in the seventh to make it 7-3.

The teens added two in the eighth to make the final 9-3.

Skip Miller, 13, said he was “very happy” with the victory.

“It was a rough start to the tournament and then we started to pull together as a team, played really well.”

The team ended up with a 4-2 record after losing two of their first three games.

Miller said the key to the win was “working as a team and making our shots.”

Luca Slykhuis, 15, added, “working on communication and getting along. We tried to put a smile on cause we noticed when we were sad and in the dumps, we don’t perform as well.”

When asked what they thought of beating the Americans in the final, Hinds blurted out, “Really good.”

Anderson-Lindsay,13, added, “We were definitely curling for Canada.”

“Canada’s on top,” chimed in Hinds.

He said the team, except for Anderson-Lindsay, has been curling for four years together. This is their first win in a bonspiel final, which Hinds, 15, said was “amazing.”

“We’re finally getting a trophy,” said Slykhuis. “Just a lot of determination. You need to be very patient, too. It’s like when you want to pursue anything. You just go for it.”

Slykhuis has been curling for at least nine years, Miller for six, Hinds for four and Anderson-Lindsay for four.

Coach Lee Melanchuk added it was an “excellent final. Two great teams and it came down to skip stones. I think both teams played great.”

Team U.S. eh only had three curlers, as the fourth, Courtney Miklos, had to return to Fairbanks Sunday morning because of work. Ponza and Ehnert threw three rocks each as a result.

Paisley skipped and threw skip rocks. It was their first experience calling the shots at a bonspiel.

“I like it. It’s kind of fun. I’ve curled for a long time. I’ve never been asked my opinion what the shot should be and I’ve curled for 30 years. I’ve always just played front end and kept my mouth shut and done what I’m supposed to do … so I enjoyed having input on strategy and shots.”

“We were a good skip and vice combo. I enjoyed it,” added Paisley.

Ehnert said it was nice to curl with different people.

“It’s easy to say no to make that long drive, right? But to do it and re-establish what had been some historically some pretty good Whitehorse-Fairbanks curling competition, it was like, ‘Hey, let’s do it, let’s go take a team and try something. We never curled together, don’t know each other real well but let’s get in here and hopefully start rekindling … get some Whitehorse and Alaska curling going on. It’d be fun.”

It was Paisley’s first time in Whitehorse. She came all the way from Onalaska, (yes, what a coincidence) Wisconsin.

“It’s been incredible to curl in such a beautiful facility on really wonderful ice. I always love coming to Canada to curl. And getting to enjoy the Whitehorse community and all the scenery, it’s just fantastic.”

Regarding the C final, Ehnert said, “I think we played really well in this game. They made some really nice shots to take some things away from us.”

Paisley added, “I was very pleased with their level of skill but not surprised. I was expecting them to be a pretty good team to be making it all the way to Sunday and the finals, so I knew it would be a good game.”

Ehnert joked, “I wasn’t really surprised. I was saddened by their skill level.”

Then he added, “They shot well. They called shots, made shots. That’s what the game’s about.”

As for coming back next year, Paisley said, “I would love to come back.”

Paisley had to spend a day flying from Wisconsin to Fairbanks, then do the drive to Whitehorse.

“I really enjoyed taking the drive over from Fairbanks and just seeing the mountains and everything. It’s just breathtaking scenery that you definitely don’t get in Wisconsin. It’s a special place here.”