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Impressive show by darts team
Lucy Kasook takes title at territorial championships

Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, March 13, 2014

INUVIK
There was nothing but laurels for Inuvik darts players at the NWT Darts Championships this past weekend.

nnsl photo

Paul Morey of Inuvik took second place in the men's division at the NWT territorial darts association championships March 8 at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex. He fell to perennial top-ranked player Danny Clouston of Yellowknife. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Lucy Kasook took the women's title while Paul Morey came in second in the men's division.

It was an impressive showing for the players, many of whom hone their craft at the McInnes Branch #220 of the Royal Canadian Legion.

The numbers were down somewhat for this year's tournament, said organizer Mike Lindsay, but the competition was still sharp.

Yellowknife was the only other community to send multiple players to the championships, with eight men attending. Norman Wells and Fort Simpson sent lone male players. No women from outside the town attended, which Lindsay said was "highly unusual."

"Yellowknife has a fairly strong darts league and that's where many of the best players comes from."

Last year's winner and runner-up among the men couldn't attend this year, which Lindsay said left the field wide open.

Lindsay is among the best men's players around, and usually makes the territorial team. This year, though, he said he was taking a break to handle more of the organizing chores.

The presence of top-tiered men's player Danny Clouston was the only thing preventing Inuvik from sweeping both individual titles.

Kasook was clearly satisfied with finally taking the women's title after finishing second for two years running.

"I just started a couple of years ago, so this is my third territorial," she said. "So it's been going pretty good. It feels good, but it would have felt nicer to have all of the players come in so there was a little more competition.

"Inuvik has tough players, so it was still good though," Kasook added.

While she had played darts recreationally perhaps 10 years ago, she said she had largely abandoned the sport until she joined the legion league. Since then, her rise has been rapid.

"I don't know what makes me good, I just concentrate and throw straight," Kasook said. "And I practice, so it's a little of (everything)."

Morey has been consistently one of the best men's players both in Inuvik and in the NWT for a few years now. He said practice is the key to success in the sport, although it doesn't hurt to have the "knack" either.

"I started playing here in 2004, and I've been in the territorials ever since," he said. "I've been to the national every year except 2010."

"It's the camaraderie mostly, and the competition," Morey said. "Great people play darts.

"Different people do it for different reasons," he continued. "Practice is what makes me good. It's a natural knack that some people have, some people have to practice to get there. To become good, you have to practice. If you practice, you can do anything."

Morey said that due to his family obligations, he's lucky to get in one or two nights a week. Others spend a great deal more time, such as Max Kotokak.

He was on the bubble of earning a spot at the national championships with Morey early in the afternoon of March 8.

"I'm on the bubble," he said.

He shot a look at Morey, who was ahead of him at the point, and said with a wicked smile "he's trying to crush my dreams."

Morey enjoyed a belly-laugh over that verbal dart.

Kotokak said he plays an average of four times a week.

"That's almost a career," Morey fired back.

"A professional darts player," Kotokak mused. "I'll have to look into that."

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