Team Yukon's male curlers may not be where they wanted.

The team – Michael Hare, Kurtis Hills and Andrew and Thoms Scoffin – lost a key match to Ontario 9-0 today at the Mayflower Curling Club during the Canada Winter Games in Halifax, N.S.

Team Yukon and Newfoundland and Labrador are now tied for last place in Pool B with a 1-3 record, the same record as the Northwest Territories, Prince Edward Island and Quebec in Pool A.

But up until their latest loss, the future looked promising.

The Yukon opened the Games on Monday with a 6-3 win over Manitoba, which currently sits atop Pool B at 3-1.

The Scoffin rink followed that win with a 7-4 loss to Alberta on Tuesday and an 8-7 loss to British Columbia yesterday.

Yukon coach Wade Scoffin said the goal was to force the games to the final ends.

"One of our goals was that, if we weren't going to win a game, we wanted to have the opposition make the win on the last shot, because sometimes there's a chance they won't make that last shot, and that's exactly what's happened in both of these games.”

The Yukon was tied 7-7 laying shot rock against B.C. in the final end yesterday when B.C. skip Daniel Wenzek made the shot to take the win, Scoffin explained. Similarly, the Yukon was down two in the last end against Alberta.

"After we were done throwing all eight of our rocks, we were laying three, so he had to do a hit and a roll or a double, and he ended up being successful with a hit and a roll to be able to get his one point,” Scoffin explained.

The one win and two tight matches should be satisfying for a relatively inexperienced Yukon rink, with the exception of Thomas.

"We just wanted to be able to bring more kids into the sport and give them a real positive experience,” Wade said.

Does that relative inexperience make it more or less difficult to relax in high-pressure situations in the rink?

"That's sort of a question about expectations, and we certainly haven't put expectations onto this team,” Wade said.

"We've looked at other types of goals, like making sure the other team really has to earn the win on the last shot, those are things we felt we could have a stronger influence on.

"If we had one more break here or there in these two games (against Alberta and B.C.) we could be sitting at 3-0, then our expectations might be shifting and changing.”

In Pool B, three teams had a record of 2-1 while the bottom three were tied at 1-2, providing a chance for a six-way tie for first to start today.

Now Manitoba and Ontario are tied for top spot in the pool with 3-1 records and Alberta and B.C. occupy the middle with 2-2 records. The Yukon will face off against Newfoundland and Labrador this afternoon.