Another year, another early elimination for Bob Smallwood’s Yukon rink at the Tim Hortons Brier.

The 42-year-old skipper and his teammates were one of three teams sent home early from the Canadian men’s curling championship in Ottawa.

Nova Scotia’s Jamie Murphy and Nunavut’s Wade Kingdon were also sent packing after failing to qualify for the 12-team main draw being held this week in the nation’s capital.

Northwest Territories skip Jamie Koe earned the pre-qualifying title, beating Nova Scotia 7-4 in Saturday morning’s play-in game.

At press time this morning, Koe’s Yellowknife rink was 0-3 entering a pivotal contest versus his older brother Kevin Koe and Team Alberta.

On Friday night, Smallwood’s last hope for a spot in the main draw was snuffed out by Jamie Koe, who beat Yukon 7-5 to finish the pre-qualifying tournament at 3-0.

The tight contest turned in N.W.T.’s favour in the sixth end, thanks in large part to a lovely freeze by second Brad Chorostkowski that eventually led to a deuce in the sixth for a 5-4 lead.

While Smallwood would tie it back up 5-5 in the seventh, Koe took a 6-5 lead in the eighth, then added a crucial steal in the ninth before running Smallwood out of rocks in the final end.

With the loss, Yukon fell to 1-2 and could only watch as Nova Scotia (2-1) earned a rematch with N.W.T. in the play-in game.

If Smallwood had beaten Koe Friday, he would have forced tiebreakers as each of N.W.T., Nova Scotia and Yukon would have finished with 2-1 records. Nunavut finished 0-3 in its first Brier appearance.

Smallwood is flying home to Yukon today and could not be reached for comment.

The top Yukon skip was joined by third Jon Solberg, second Clint Abel, lead Scott Odian and fifth David Rach.

The team was thumped 11-3 in their opening contest versus Nova Scotia Thursday, before rebounding with a 14-4 victory over Nunavut.

Last year, Smallwood qualified for the play-in game to earn some airtime on TSN, but ultimately lost 7-6 to Prince Edward Island upstart Adam Casey.

The loss means Yukon will once again face relegation at the 2017 Brier in St. John’s, N.L., as will Nova Scotia, Nunavut and whichever team finishes last in this year’s main draw.

In 2018, the event’s format will change to include all jurisdictions from Canada in the main draw.

Had Smallwood earned the final position in the main draw, it’s hard to know how he would have fared facing the toughest field in Brier history.

Dubbed the Field of Dreams, the 2016 Canadian championship features names like Pat Simmons, Glenn Howard, Brad Jacobs, Kevin Koe, Brad Gushue, Jean-Michel Ménard and Mike McEwen.

Currently, Canada’s Simmons and Northern Ontario’s Jacobs top the standings with perfect 3-0 records.

Action continues all week at TD Place in Ottawa.