The Hay River Fire Department is returning without a national title as they come back from the 2010 Canadian Fire Fighters Muscular Dystrophy Hydrant Curling Championship this week.
The team, consisting of skip Steve Moss, third Wyatt Scheller, second Gerald May and lead Doreen Scheller travelled to Regina, SK from March 27 to April 3 in hopes of stealing the title away from the defending champions from Saskatchewan.

That dream did not materialize, as British Columbia took the national title with eight wins and two losses in the tournament, beating out Northern Ontario in the final.
Saskatchewan finished third in the tournament, and the NWT finished eighth with three wins and seven losses.
The team lost their first three games of the tournament, and won the next two against Nova Scotia and Quebec. In the ninth draw against Southern Ontario, the team was six to three through the first seven ends, but the Ontario team turned the game around to beat the NWT 11 to six.
“We needed some key shots in some close games,” said Wyatt Scheller. “We just couldn’t get them.”
But despite coming home without the title, the team had fun competing at the national level, and were looking forwards to getting involved in all the closing celebrations.
“The tournament was a lot of fun,” said Wyatt Scheller. “The ice was in superb shape. I have never seen it like this.”
The Hay River team was chosen to represent the NWT in the championships after the Territorial champions from Fort Smith were unable to send a team.
The last minute appointment caused some scrambling for the team, as two of the four original curlers, Kyle Wright and Darryl Buhler, were unable to go.
“I think we did pretty good for putting the team together at the last minute,” said Scheller.
The team wanted to thank all the businesses in town for their donations, helping them make the trek to Regina to compete.

Sometimes second best is just good enough.

Following an intense weekend of curling, a team of Hay River firefighters returned home as the runner-ups following the Northwest Territories firefighter curling play downs in Fort Simpson Feb. 12-14.
The team of Wyatt Scheller, Kyle Wright, Doreen Scheller and Darryl Buhler rode a record of four wins and one loss to a second place finish in the tournament. The only blemish on the team’s record was a tournament-opening 12-11 loss to the eventual champions – the Fort Simpson rink of Roger Pilling, Brian Jaffray, Brian Harold and Dave Magarey.
“We had our troubles,” Scheller said Thursday. “Just like every other game, the first game is always the one you want to win.”
The team bunkered down following the loss, winning their remaining four games over teams from Inuvik, Fort Smith, Yellowknife and a second team from Fort Simpson. Scheller said the two Fort Simpson teams were tough to play against, as well as the Steve Moss rink from Yellowknife.
As the tournament drew to a close, Pilling informed Scheller that he would be unable to send a team to the 51st Canadian Firefighters Curling Championships, which will be held March 25 to April 3 in Regina, Saskatchewan. As the runners up, Scheller’s rink was selected to represent the NWT.
He is currently scrambling to fill his roster for the championships as Wright will be unavailable to play due to previous commitments and Buhler is still undecided if he will attend.
“It takes a lot of money to go,” Scheller admitted. “It costs about $10,000 to send a team there for 10 days for airfare and hotel rooms. I can see where they’re all coming from.”
One possible replacement is Moss, who skipped Team NWT to the national firefighters championship title two years ago. He was in Whitehorse, Yukon last week competing in the Yukon-Northwest Territories Senior Championships and his participation would depend on his placing. He has also represented the NWT at the Brier.
“He’s got a lot of knowledge,” Scheller said. “It’ll be good.”
Scheller said he has until the end of the month to set his roster. Whatever the makeup of the team, Scheller said there won’t be as much pressure this year as there was last year, when his team attended the nationals in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island as defending champions.
“It’s going to be way easier,” he said. “Once I get a team there we’ll go and represent the territories as best we can. It’d be nice to be in the top six or top five, but it’s getting more and more competitive down south.”