Yukon skip Paul Hunter is heading back to the senior nationals for the second year in a row.

Hunter, along with Craig Tuton, Pat Molloy and John Yeulet, were named this year's Yukon/N.W.T. senior men's curling championships last weekend, after posting a 5-0 record in the round robin against three other teams ñ� one from the Yukon and two from the N.W.T in Yellowknife.

'We did pretty good,' stated Hunter in an interview. 'Before the round robin was over, we had already won. There's six games, and we were 5-0. As a team, we curled really well.'

Hunter was up against fellow Whitehorse resident Daryl Stewart and N.W.T. skips Don Craik and Brad Whitehead.

Stewart finished second after playing a tie-breaker for the position.

'We won it last year too, and I'd say the competition was about equal to last year,' said Hunter. 'They're all tough.'

Hunter, Tuton, Molloy and Yeulet have only been curling as a team for a few months, but the skip has curled with both Tuton and Molly for years, so there was still a high level of familiarity. The team plays together twice a week on a regular basis and practices on their own as well.

The win in Yellowknife earned Hunter and his crew a trip to Manitoba, where they will face off against senior men's teams from around the country at the national championships, which will be held in East St. Paul.

The team flys out on March 17 and the championships start on March 19.

This will be Tuton's third time at the nationals and Hunter's second time. Both Molloy and Yeulet will be attending the event for the first time.

'I've always wanted to go to a competition twice, at the national level,' said Hunter. 'I was at the Brier in 1981 and I wanted to go to that twice, but age sort of catches up to you.'

Last year at nationals, Hunter picked up two wins. When asked what his goal is this time around, he laughed, 'to do better than last year.

'We won two games against some pretty big teams, but we certainly want to do better. The competition will be equal to last year I'd say, some of the teams are the same this year. It will be tough. But it's a little bit more relaxed than the Brier. It's intense, but not as intense.'

Hunter doesn't plan on holding any more practice outside the two games a week before nationals, and said they'll just keep working on their mental stability, as well as keep throwing rocks. He expects the ice in Manitoba to be similar to the ice at the Whitehorse Curling Club, which he said is some of the best ice in the entire country.

Meanwhile, the Yukon also sent a senior ladies team to the N.W.T. Sheila Frank, Pat Banks, Ev Pasichnyk and Emma Donnessy ñ� but they will not be travelling to nationals.

The N.W.T. rink of Sandy Penkala, Margaret Begs, Gail Daniels and Marie Coe will represent the territories.

And when the 2005 Brier gets underway in Edmonton this weekend, an N.W.T. team will be suiting up for the territories. Both Chad Cowan and Doug Gee went to the territorial playdowns in the middle of February, but fell victim to some excellent play by Steve Moss.

Moss, Darcy Moshenko, Rod Pielak and Jim Sosiak will face off against the best men's teams in the country.