Yukon third Chelsea Duncan and skip Sarah Koltun were quite the chatterboxes in Tuesday's 11-1 rout of Nunavut at the Canada Winter Games.

What did the two young ladies spend so much time talking about?

Yukon's Sarah Koltun hollers to her sweepers at the Canada Games.
(Chuck Stoody/Canadian Press)

"We talk about what we're going to do the next shot or the next day," said Koltun. "We used to talk about other stuff … bad stuff.

"Stuff you're not supposed to talk about out there, gossip and things like that. But now we're focused."

Curling fans have done plenty of talking themselves in Whitehorse, where the hosts improved to 1-1 heading into an afternoon matchup against Nova Scotia.

Koltun showed little mercy against a Nunavut team making its Games debut, scoring six points on steals before putting the game away with a four-point fifth end.

Expectations are low for the Whitehorse rink, which includes Koltun, second Tessa Vibe and lead Linea Eby — all just 13 years old.

Duncan, the eldest of the group, is 14.

Koltun made history by becoming the youngest-ever female to skip at the Canadian junior curling championships earlier this month in St. Catharines, Ont.

Though her team struggled to a 1-11 record, the event provided the players with exposure to elite-level competition.

Considering they've only been playing together since September and that Vibe only took up the sport eight months ago, experience at the national level was just what the foursome needed.

"We gained a wealth of experience at that event, playing young adults," said coach Gordon Moffatt. "We were in most of the games right up to the eighth or ninth ends. The girls exceeded my expectations by a long shot."

Koltun, who actually throws third stones, is also the youngest skip at the Canada Games.

While that may seem like a disadvantage to some, the Whitehorse native has a different take on it.

"Our team can go to junior nationals seven more times, and three of us can come back to the Canada Games," said Koltun. "So if we stay together, maybe we can win a junior nationals together."

Moffatt is amazed at how far the girls have come in such a short time.

"At the start of the year, we couldn't beat the lowest-level team in this club," said Moffatt. "Now, we're beating a lot of teams in both the ladies' and men's leagues. They've grown light years."

Tuesday's victory was even more significant because it came on the heels of a devastating loss Monday in the Yukon's round-robin opener.

After busting out to a 4-0 lead, Koltun watched Alberta reel off 11 straight points on the way to an 11-5 victory.

Moffatt said the loss was a difficult one to take.

"They were pretty down after that game," said Moffatt. "They just got tired.

"We're not getting a lot of sleep in the athlete's village. We have got 13 and 14-year-olds that get tired and I'm sure we'll run into it again."

The players felt for Nunavut skip Sarah Tufts, who has absorbed three one-sided losses in each of its first three matches so far.

Having been on the wrong end of several blowouts themselves, the Yukon foursome knows exactly how it feels.

"It's kind of intimidating when you first go to a big competition like this," said Vibe. "You're playing against the best teams in Canada and it's hard to lose, too."

Moffatt hopes a solid result at the Games will reflect positively on the state of curling in the Territories and maybe even generate more interest in the sport.

"I hope that a lot of Yukoners that are playing other sports will see us and say, 'Wow, that looks like a lot of fun,'" said Moffatt. "I sure hope that comes out."