In Hay River, biathlon and men’s hockey try-outs were ongoing while figure skating, dog sledding, volleyball and women’s hockey were all taking place in Yellowknife.

In the movie A League of Their Own, women were given the chance to discover their talents, strengths, and sportsmanship in a way they never could before.

This will be the first time that an all ladies team will be entering the nationals from the territory.
The team earned the chance to attend this year’s national games when they took last year’s territorial championships in Yellowknife. The majority of the players are from Hay River and Yellowknife.
“Last year we didn’t take the step to go further,” said team member and spokesperson, Darlene Lamb. “It really is a pick up team, because sometimes with kids and summer holidays and families it really depends on who can go. But for the nationals, we had to determine the roster ahead of time, so we made that commitment in advance.”
“We’re happy to have a representative going to nationals,” said Softball NWT president Paul Gard. “Slo-pitch started gaining popularity in the 80s, bit since then, we’ve never had a women’s team going to the nationals. Softball Canada wants to increase participation so it helps that all the provinces and territories will be represented at this national event.”
This year, although the ladies will also be attending the territorial championship tournament, they decided they would take the plunge to attend the nationals, having given themselves plenty of time to plan. The nationals will be taking place in Dorchester, ON from August 9-13.
“This year we thought, ‘let’s just go,’” said Lamb. “So we fundraised and found sponsorship. People were really interested in and excited about what we were doing and we’re just excited about being able to go and see that calibre of ball.”
Many local businesses are aiding the ladies in their trip, and NWT Softball is looking to help out with a small amount. Tickets are booked, and arrangements are being made for coaches to head to the field early for practice and preparation, but not before competing against their territorial counterparts.
“We’ll play our best because it’ll be good practice for us,” said Lamb. “We’re all pumped.
For some of us ladies it will be our first and last time at nationals.”

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.”

The Hay River ladies’ curling team travelled to the Dominion Curling Club Inaugural Championships in Toronto last week to represent “Team NWT” and compete against other curlers from across the nation.

The Dominion Curling Club Championship is Canada’s first-ever national championship for club curlers. The best curlers from every province and territory gathered to compete.
The Hay River ladies – Deb Stanley, Lorraine Peterson, Davida Delorey, and Rita Moizis – played seven games throughout the tournament. Stanley, the skip of the team, said that although the team didn’t win anything, the games were fun.
“The competition was pretty stiff,” she said. “It was very, very good competition.”
Stanley, who had been curling with a sore shoulder, said the team put up a good fight.
“Our curling was up to par,” she said.
She said because of Hay River’s curling sheets, the team was underprepared.
“Whenever Hay River competes somewhere else, we fight the ice because it’s much faster,” she said, noting that Hay River’s sheets are maintained by volunteers, not by a professional. “Our ice is very slow and very dirty.”
Also representing the NWT in Toronto was a mens curling team from Yellowknife.
The champions of the mens tournament were Chatham Granite Club from Ontario, and Toronto’s High Park Curling Club for the women.
The championship also welcomed a high-rolling guest list, including world champion Canadian curler and Olympic hopeful Glenn Howard, 1998 Olympic Silver Medalist Mike Harris, and multi-time provincial curling champion Sherry Middaugh.
Although the Hay River ladies qualified for the next championships in March, the team will not be attending due to personal engagements.