PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND - Two young athletes are back in Fort Simpson after representing the Deh Cho and the territory at the Canada Summer Games.

Thomas Roche played on the male basketball team while Logan Donovan competed on the boys' soccer team. A total of 78 NWT athletes competed in the games from Aug. 15 to 29 on Prince Edward Island. They represented the territory in six sports including soccer, beach volleyball, wrestling, tennis, swimming and basketball.

As the striker for the male soccer team Logan Donovan of Fort Simpson scored the territorial team's only goal at the Canada Summer Games in Prince Edward Island. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Donovan had the distinction of scoring the only goal the male soccer team made during the games.

"It felt really good. The crowd went wild," Donovan said.

The goal came in the team's fourth and final game. After arriving on the island on Aug. 21 the team played B.C., Alberta and Manitoba losing 5-0, 3-0 and 7-0 respectively.

Going into the fourth game against Team Yukon we thought we had a good chance of winning, said Donovan. Approximately 10 minutes into the game the ball was coming down the wing when a NWT player crossed it over into the box where Donovan chested it before volleying the ball into the top left corner of the net for the first goal of the game. Team NWT, however, didn't hold the lead for long. Yukon came back to quickly score two goals damaging the team's confidence. The game ended 5-1 for the Yukon.

Despite not winning any of the games Donovan, 17, who played as a striker, said he enjoyed the Canada Summer Games.

"It was lots of fun, a great experience for sure," he said.

The best part of the games was getting to meet the other teams and making new friends, said Donovan. He was also on the island when Hurricane Bill hit bringing high winds and heavy rain.

"I've never seen it rain like that before," Donovan said.

Competing in basketball, Thomas Roche, 16, said he also enjoyed being at the games.

"It was a great experience for me," he said.

After making the team Roche spent the summer in Yellowknife training with his nine other teammates. The basketball players had one to two hours of practice every day and double practices on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

"It was a lot of work," Roche said. The team started by working on drills and gradually moved into game play.

"The team got a lot better from when we first started," said Roche.

The improvement, however, wasn't quite enough. At the games from Aug. 15 to 23 the NWT basketball team was defeated in all of their games.

"The games were fast paced," he said. The teams from across Canada also had a height advantage. The NWT team had players ranging in height from 5'3" to 6'4". Most of the team was shorter than the competitors, said Roche.

Although they didn't win, the team did improve in each of their games, Roche said.

The Deh Cho was also represented by Vanessa Sanguez of Jean Marie River who participated in the national artist program at the games.