In just one year, the Polar Bears curling rink went from worst to first.

Competing in their second Junior Curling Bonspiel, the Inuvik girls' finished in top spot amongst the five team field.

The N.W.T. squad finished with an impressive 54 points, which was more than 15 points higher than second place the hometown Triple KB's.

In 2008, the Polar Bears finished 0-4 at the annual bonspiel, held at the Whitehorse Curling Club.

However, the team's coach said the girls have made great strides since then, improving at everything.

"We are very pleased," said Nick Saturnino. "They came down last year and they finished in fifth place. It just goes to show that a lot of hard work and that can get kids further. They practiced up to six times a week this year and this is a good reward for them."

For the past four years, Whitehorse's Junior Curling Bonspiel has used an alternative points system.

Teams are awarded a point for taking an end, two points for a win and one for a tie.

A team's point total in a game score is then added onto each end victory as well as if they won, lost or tied to determine a final score.

Each game was four ends in total.

The points system is used, so that not so much emphasis is placed on wins and losses.

A round robin format was used for the two-day bonspiel, which concluded with a shootout on Sunday.

Sunday's shootout featured a draw to the button from each member on the teams.

Landing on a button earned a team five points, while hitting the four foot is worth four points.

The eight foot was valued at three points, while the 12 foot was good enough for two.

If a curler landed anywhere in play he or she was awarded with a single point for the team score.

The Polar Bears had the best showing in shootout, scoring an impressive 10 points.

Team skip Karly King-Simpson was the only player that placed a rock on the button.

All curlers received pins and curling themed calenders.

Teams also selected from a prize table in the order they finished.

Prizes ranged from stuffed animals to I-tunes cards.

The Polar Bears weren't the only Inuvik team at the bonspiel, which also featured the Ice Devils.

The nine-year-old N.W.T. rink finished with a record of 1-3 and had 22 points. The team placed fourth overall.

Saturnino said playing in Whitehorse is a reward for both teams.

"We really encourage them to practice all year for these competitions and if they show up all the time and show up to practice and work together then the parents do the fund-raising for them, so they can come down to Whitehorse and or other communities to curl," he said. "It's just a good way to wrap up the year."

He said both N.W.T. teams exceeded his expectations.

King-Simpson, 12, said she this was the first time the team has placed first in a bonspiel.

"We are so happy," she said. "We were saying to the boys, they did better than us at least, she added referencing their one win.

Junior bonspiel organizer Suzanne Bertrand said it was nice to see the Polar Bears place first this year.

"It was definitely neat to see how much they had improved," she said.

She said the bonspiel went really well this year.

"What I really enjoyed seeing over the four games that they did play, Saturday and Sunday morning is you saw them actually learning and growing in their skills and having fun," Bertrand said.

"It was just neat to see kids out there, curling with some skill as well as really enjoying themselves."

Bertrand said she hopes to increase the number of participating teams in the bonspiel, adding because of March Break, it might be held on a different weekend next year.