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HAY RIVER
Two Fort Simpson darts players will represent the NWT at this year's national tournament in St. John's.

The female members of the NWT darts team who will compete in the nationals include, back row, from left, Jannette White (alternate), Brenda Moreau, Michelle Lindsay, Lucy Kasook, Tanya Reuben, Louise Kuzman, Lena Church and Shannon Jensen. Front row is Samantha Antoine. - photo courtesy of Brenda Moreau

The pair qualified following their performance at the NWT Darts Territorials held in Hay River from March 15 to 17.

Brenda Moreau retained her first-place ranking following the competition. Steve Gooderham finished in 10th place and is an alternate for the team that will compete at the Canadian National Championships in June.

Both Moreau and Gooderham agreed the level of competition at territorials was particularly high this year.

"I've never had to fight this hard to keep my first place," said Moreau.

The women darts players from Inuvik have developed over the past four years into particularly formidable opponents, she said.

The Inuvik women set a goal to earn as many spots on the territorial team as possible and succeeded in taking five of the eight women's seats.

Tough competition

The team is rounded out with two players from Hay River. Two women from Yellowknife had qualified, but declined to keep their places on the team.

During the territorials, Moreau said she had to really concentrate to stay ahead of her opponents.

Moreau had hoped to go undefeated over the weekend and to score one hand of 180 points and one of 171 points.

Instead she lost a best out of three set to Lucy Kasook of Inuvik and another to Cathy Clarke of Hay River. She did secure two 171 point hands, which involves hitting the triple 19 with all three darts.

"It was so beautiful," she said.

In addition to being tough, the competition was also close throughout the weekend. At one point on Saturday afternoon, Moreau was tied with two Inuvik players for first place. After Moreau won her set, four players were tied for second place.

"It was an amazing, intense weekend," she said. "I think we're going to do very well at the nationals."

Moreau is currently ranked eighth among women darts players in Canada. Her goal for the nationals is to do better than last year and to hopefully qualify to compete for Canada at the World Cup Masters in England. As the top-ranked player in the territory, Moreau is able to compete in the World Cup qualifier.

Moreau has competed for Canada once before at the Americas Cup in 2007.

Looking ahead, Moreau said she will have to practise hard next year to stay ahead of the Inuvik players and keep her territorial ranking, which she has held for nine or 10 years.

The competition was also challenging on the men's side, said Gooderham.

Gooderham, who's played in 14 territorials, said this was one of the toughest he's seen.

"Everybody shot really well on both the men and women's sides," he said.

If you had two bad throws in a row, you often couldn't catch up to your opponent, he said. Gooderham won games against three of the players who finished between third and ninth place and came close to beating the others.

"I was very surprised with how I finished and pleased," he said.

Gooderham finished in 10th place and was given the opportunity to travel with the territorial team as an alternate because another player declined his position. He has been on the team five times before, three times as a competitor.

If another team member can't compete for any reason, Gooderham will be playing in St. John's.

"You do have to stay sharp," he said.

To prepare, he plans to practise 30 minutes each day during the week and one to two hours on weekends.

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