Home ice proved to be an advantage for Whitehorse's Team Strong at the first Dominion Curling Club Championship.

The curling rink, skipped by Helen Strong, went 4-0 over the weekend, beating Teslin Sunday 10-2 in its final contest.

After trailing 2-0 after two ends of play, the Whitehorse women's squad took the lead, scoring three in the third.

From there the team didn't look back and posted two or more points in the match's remaining ends. Teslin conceded after Whitehorse scored three points in the sixth.

"We just got the rocks in the house at the right time," Strong said.

The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company sponsored the event, which was held not only in the Yukon, but across the country.

The club championship was put on to give more recreational-based curlers in the 10 provinces and three territories an opportunity to qualify for a national championship.

Each of the winning men's and women's teams will compete in the 2009 Dominion Curling Club National championship. The national club tournament will be held in Etobicoke, Ont. for late November.

Northern Ontario will also have a team at the club nationals, bringing the total to 14 curling squads.

Club curlers are those that are in a league and play on a regular basis throughout the season.

The three competing Yukon curling clubs included a men's and women's team from Teslin, Watson Lake and Whitehorse. A double round robin was used in each division on both Saturday and Sunday at the Whitehorse Curling Club.

The Yukon men's side ended up in a two-way tie between Whitehorse and Watson Lake. Both teams finished with a record of 3-1 and will playoff again in October to determine a winner.

To maintain the spirit of recreational curling all games were eight ends, with no officials or time countdown.

Each club decided on teams, with the eligibility criteria set up by Dominion, which has committed to sponsoring the championship for the next five years.

The Yukon Curling Association hopes to increase the number of communities participating for next year's qualifier.

Nine Yukon communities are eligible to take part, including Whitehorse, Haines Junction, Carcross, Carmacks, Mayo, Dawson City, Watson Lake, Teslin and Burwash Landing.

One of the challenges in the communities is that some of the clubs don't have ice until around Christmas, which provided some incentive to hold the club championship in March.

"We realized that lots of the communities, if we waited to October communities won't have stepped on the ice yet," said Brenda Petriw, executive director of the Yukon Curling Association. "So we really felt the crunch to give it our first whirl here in March and it was tough to find a weekend that was going to work. We were very thankful to Whitehorse for hosting."

Petriw said possible changes for next weekend could include holding the championship on another weekend in March and having two pools. She added there is also a possibility that the men and women curlers might play in two separate communities.

Members on Team Strong took home a broom with Dominion Canada Curling written on it for placing first. Petriw said the men's side will have to wait until October before handing out prizes.

Team Strong is a new curling team, but all of its members have played together at some point or another.

Strong, who in the past has competed in a mixed nationals tournament, said it's always fun playing against other provinces and territories.

"Curlers are sort of the same across the country it seems," she said. "Everybody is very fun and you make some great friends."

She said the team will practice this Fall and didn't rule out them joining one of the local leagues in Whitehorse.

Other members on Team Strong included Ladene Shaw, third, Cheryl Burton, second, and team third Suzanne Bertrand.

Watson Lake's team was skipped by Helen Shaw, while other members included Ruth Holt, Birgit Schornick and Sue Close.

Teslin's squad was Team Wolfe. It's skip was Bernadette Wolfe, while the three other members were Jody Sydney, Lisa Boudelier and Robin Smarch.

Representing Whitehorse on the men's side was Team Balsam. Todd Smarch was the skip, while Scott Nguyen threw third, Lorenzo Roberti, second and Hugh Berton was the team's lead.