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LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
A Fort Simpson darts player was part of a historical moment for the NWT's women's darts team.

Team NWT's women's darts players display their bronze medals from the Nodor Cup team competition at the Canadian National Darts Championships in St. John's on June 13. From left, Samantha Antoine, Michel Lindsay, Tanya Ruben, Lena Church, Lucy Kasook, Shannon Jensen, Chelsey Larocque, Jenette White, Brenda Moreau and Nancy Hayward. - photo courtesy of Michel Lindsay

Brenda Moreau was a member of the NWT team that competed in the Canadian National Darts Championships in St. John's, from June 11 to 13. On the last day of the championships, seven members of the women's portion of the team competed in the Nodor Cup that pits provinces against each other.

The NWT women had never made it into a medal game at the cup before. This year, the team not only made it into a medal game, but knocked out northern Ontario to take the bronze medal.

"I've been waiting for it for so long," said Moreau.

Moreau said she's been watching the female players in the territory get progressively stronger and better over the past five years.

"We paid our dues, we finally got a medal," she said.

In a blind draw, the NWT women were matched against the P.E.I. women for the first game. They are a good team, but we took four games from them in the best of seven match, said Moreau.

Up next was northern Ontario, another good team. The NWT started with three losses right off the bat. One more loss would have knocked them out of the competition.

Moreau won her match, the team took another match and then Lucy Kasook won hers. That left Lena Church, who also had the deciding match in the P.E.I. round.

All of the women pretended not to be watching Church as they awaited the results. Church took the match.

"We were screaming and yelling," said Moreau.

The team realized they were advancing, but it was only after the director of NWT Darts talked to them that they realized they'd won a bronze medal. That led to another round of screaming and crying.

The NWT women did play in the silver medal game, but lost to Ontario, the team that went on to win the cup.

Although she often has personal success at darts, Moreau said it was wonderful to be able to celebrate that kind of success with a team.

"For the first time, we went in and blew everybody's socks off," she said.

While in St. John's, Moreau also competed in the mixed doubles and singles divisions in the Molson St. John's Open that took place before the championships. At the championships, Moreau played with Danny Clouston of Yellowknife in the mixed doubles. The pair wasn't able to make it past a three-way tie for the last seed to get off of their sheet.

In the ladies singles, Moreau came in joint 17th, which is an average position for her. Moreau, however, wasn't happy with that placing.

"I just wanted more," she said.

Although she was throwing great numbers, such as 140s and 126s, Moreau said she had trouble finishing.

In the ladies doubles, Moreau played with Kasook of Inuvik. The pair finished approximately joint 17th.

"She's a fabulous player. Her arm is speedy and so accurate," Moreau said of Kasook.

Following the championships Moreau also competed in the women's singles in the Canadian Open and the PDC Championship. Moreau made it to the knock-out rounds in both competitions, but said she wasn't playing in her best form as a result of coming down with the flu.

"I just had no energy to play," she said.

Moreau said being part of the bronze medal Nodor Cup team was definitely the highlight of the trip. Moreau was also happy that Team NWT finished 10th in the Canada Cup team points. The team is often 11th or 12th, but this year was one point shy of tying northern Ontario for ninth place.

"It is amazing," she said.

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