The first bonspiel of the new curling season required a tiebreaker to determine a winner.

A draw to the button by lead Alison Nette earned Team Weihers victory by the slimmest of margins over Dustin Mikkelsen’s rink at the EBA United Way Mixed Bonspiel held at the Whitehorse Curling Club.

The two teams finished with 51 points each.

Action began Friday evening and wrapped up Sunday, followed by an awards banquet.

“It was really close,” said Team Weihers skip Tyler Williams of his rink’s victory. “It went to the draw to the button results from the start of the weekend. It was Alison’s shot that got us first place.”

The attempt by Mikkelsen’s lead missed the house, he said.

Williams, 27, and teammates Alison Nette (lead), Scott Boone (second) and Richard Weihers (third) were consistently strong all weekend.

“It’s the first event of the year and the results aren’t really the most important,” Williams admitted.

“There’s more events that we’d love to win, but it’s fun to get out and to play well is a bonus.”

All games consisted of six ends with a modified scoring format. The team to win the end earned two points, while the team on the losing end earned one point.

Blank ends resulted in one point per team.

Williams said the format resulted in his team playing “a lot of different ends,” which kept things interesting.

A family team skipped by Ray Mikkelsen – Dustin’s father – finished third with 48 points, while three other rinks finished tied for fourth with 47 points each.

“The purpose of this particular bonspiel is just to have fun and enjoy curling,” said Darlene Gammel, a member of the volunteer organizing committee, told the Star.

The weekend tournament featured a total of 16 teams, many made up of brand-new curlers.

Evan Harris curled for the first time this weekend with Team Stantec.

The 24-year-old moved to Whitehorse in June and admitted he had wanted to try curling for a while.

“I never figured how to go about giving it a try, but then I got an email at work saying this bonspiel was going on,” Harris explained.

The beginner-friendly scoring format swayed him to give it a shot, with Stantec eventually finishing 15th with 41 points on the weekend.

“Everyone was really nice and chill,” Harris said. “It was a great first experience. I like the strategy ... it’s cool to figure out how to win the end. It’s hard. There’s definitely a lot of precision involved.”

More action is planned at the Whitehorse Curling Club this coming weekend.

British Columbia curling instructor Bill Tschirhart will return to Whitehorse to lead a three-day development camp for competitive curlers.