In a tournament that featured curling stars Randy Ferbey, Rick Folk and Charley Thomas, it was an unlikely final between two lesser known out-of-territory teams that ended up being the most memorable.

In a thrilling come-from-behind victory, Team Waatenain defeated Team Chrenek 5-4 in the ninth end of the 2007 Skookum/WCT Yukon Cash Spiel.

'We just don't give up,' said Jeff MacPheat, a player on Team Waatenain. 'We have learned that early on, you just keep grinding away and that is one thing this team is really good at.'

In an exciting match that was full of timely shots, it was Team Chrenek who was the first to get on the board. The team took advantage of having final stone in the opening end and managed to roll the last rock off one of their guards, which placed both stones inside the house to score the two points.

After blanking both the second and third end, Team Chrenek increased their lead to 3-0 after scoring a point on their last shot in the fourth.

However, Team Waatenain took advantage of having the hammer in the fifth end. The team was successful with a raise takeout to score two points in total and bring them back into the game.

The big end for Waatenain didn't faze Team Chrenek, who in the sixth managed to increase their lead to 4-2 after stealing a point on the team's last shot.

Both teams traded advantages in the seventh, making critical shots and timely plays. In the final shot, with Chrenek lying three stones, Team Waatenain made a clutch shot to hit and roll the their stone closest to the button. This stole them one point and was quite possibly the biggest shot of the game.

In what was supposed to be the final end, Chrenek made an impressive shot to get around two of Waatenain's guards to hit and stick directly on the button. Waatenain responded by making the exact same shot with their last rock. Chrenek had an opportunity to win the game by either hitting and sticking or just removing the Waatenain's stone, but with their last rock they hit the stone on an angle and couldn't push it back far enough to win the match. This forced the game into an extra end.

And in the ninth end, with Waatenain lying one, Chrenek tried to draw their final stone to the button, but came up short by the smallest margin to lose the point and the game to an overjoyed Waatenain team.

This was the second-year that the Whitehorse Curling Club has hosted this cashspiel. The tournament was held from Thursday to Sunday and there were 18 teams who took part, including eight out-of-territory rinks, which was an increase from the previous year.

Three local teams were able to qualify for the quarter finals, being Jon Solberg's, Chad Cowan's and Steve Fraser's rinks.

With the victory, Waatenain's team won a total of $10,000, while Chrenek's rink walked away with $6,000 in the loss.

The win was especially special for MacPheat, who grew up in the Yukon, including living in Whitehorse for five years.

'It (the Yukon) has always been special in my heart, I lived here a long time,' he said. 'For me I have always wanted to come back. I love this rink. I have curled all over Canada and this is by far one of the best rinks I have ever curled in.'

Team Waatenain, who play out of Nanaimo, B.C., have been together for two years now, but this was the team's first victory at a cashspiel.

He said the team plans on coming back next year to defend their title.

'We used to go to Seattle all the time, but this is definitely going to be on our list now,' he said.

When asked what he is going to spend the money on, MacPheat said Christmas is right around the corner.

'Three kids and a beautiful wife; I will have no trouble spending the money,' he said laughing. 'It couldn't have come at a better time.'

Suzanne Bertrand was the co-chair of the committee for this tournament. She said next year's cashspiel will be advertised sooner in hope of increasing the amount of out-of-territory participation.

This tournament might also increase the amount of men's teams to 24 and even have a women's category, which would both be able to earn points for Olympic trials.

Bertrand said the cashspiel improved from last year.

'I think we progressed beautifully and we are so new at this, a lot of us haven't even been to World Curling Tours Outside, so we are treating it as a very serious big bonspiel,' she said. 'We are just so pleased to have 18 teams and so pleased that we had eight out of the Yukon. We are just ecstatic about that.'