It was a display of Eastern Canadian dominance at this year’s Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Darts Championships, held May 7-10 at F.E. Butler Branch in Chester, N.S.

The tourney began on Saturday morning with a brief piper-led parade around the branch before the ceremony started at the cenotaph in the lower parking lot. President Marion Fryday-Cook read the Act of Remembrance. Dominion representative Ed Pigeau, the vice-chairman of the Dominion Command Sports Committee and Ontario Command president, placed a wreath.

The darts soon began flying across the branch’s upper hall as the doubles competition began. While last year’s winning team was from Ontario, that didn’t stop the East Coast teams from mounting an early charge.

The Newfoundland and Labrador team of John Anderson and Richard Leriche from Channel Branch in Port aux Basque and the New Brunswick team of Jeff Smith and Tom Vaughan from Carleton Branch in Saint John, jumped into the lead after the fourth round. In the fifth round, the third place team of Dale O’Brien and Gilbert Guindon from Cranbrook Branch in British Columbia faced off against the Newfoundlanders in an absolute nail-biter.

With all the other matches finished, the four players took turns shooting for the win at least three times each. Finally, Anderson nailed the final double to take the victory for the easterners. And so, at the end of the fifth round of matches, New Brunswick was out front with 13 points while the boys from Port aux Basque had 11. They were the only two teams then in the double digits.

By the end of the seventh round, the Ontario team of Jim Long and James Hind from Newbury Branch had surged into third place, just one point behind Newfoundland. In the eighth round, luck would have it that Ontario and Newfoundland were facing off. In that contest, the east coasters came out throwing some fine darts and took the first two games in no time. In the third game Newfoundland continued their dominance with Leriche firing off the final double to take the match.

And so it was a fairy-tale final round, with Newfoundland in second place, down just two points to the New Brunswick frontrunners. If Newfoundland could pull off a sweep of all three games, they would win the event. Anything else would mean a tie or a win for New Brunswick.

In the first leg, New Brunswick raced to an early lead and never looked back, with Smith firing a double to take the win. Same story in the second—Newfoundland looked promising early but a run by New Brunswick topped by another winning shot by Smith and it was all over but the crying. In the final leg, Smith uncharacteristically faltered, missing three winning shots and allowing Leriche an opportunity which he did not miss. But it was to no avail, as New Brunswick’s Smith and Vaughan had won the championship.

Later in the afternoon, after a nice lunch at the branch, singles play began. After four rounds it was a  dead heat, with Guy Bobbett of Channel Branch in Port aux Basques, tied for first with New Brunswick’s Robert Fougere of Sunny Brae Branch in Moncton. Nova Scotia’s Chester MacKenzie of MacDonald Memorial Branch in Lakeside was tied for second with Bernard Miller of Col. Fitzgerald Branch in Orangeville, Ont., both just one point behind the leaders.

Going into the final round, Ontario’s Miller and Nova Scotia’s MacKenzie were tied for first, a solid four points ahead of the rest of the pack. MacKenzie was playing Saskatchewan’s Moff Kay, from Coleville Branch, while Miller was playing Alberta-Northwest Territories’ Elvis Beaudoin, from Vincent Massey Branch in Yellowknife. Whichever of the two emerged from battle with the most points would win, but a tie was also possible.

MacKenzie struck first, taking the initial leg from Kay. The crowd roared and moments later Miller’s dart missed its chance for victory and Beaudoin didn’t hesitate, taking the win. Miller roared back to take his second leg, but MacKenzie also took his second leg. It all came down to the last game. Miller won his with impressive rapidity, but if MacKenzie could hold on to win, the national championship was his. If not, there was a tie.

MacKenzie came up to throw with only 32 points remaining. With the entire crowd watching, he made his final dart and took the championship.

“It was really special being in your own province, that meant a lot,” said MacKenzie, just after the victory. “It seemed like it was all in the cards. I definitely had luck on my side.”

MacKenzie is a previous dominion singles champion and he’s representing Nova Scotia at the 2010 Canadian nationals and has also represented Canada at the world championships in England and at the World Cup in Australia. “All those events prepare you for a shoot like this. The competition’s amazing and you just hope to play well. Playing in a competition like this, you’re playing against the best players in the country and it makes you play better.”

After a rousing session of karaoke at the branch on Saturday night, the players slowly warmed into the day’s team competition on early Sunday morning. After four rounds, the Quebec team of Jason Hurley, Kevin MacArthur, Gerald Hull and Sebastien Gagnon of LaSalle Branch was well out in first place with Newfoundland, Ontario, Nova Scotia/Nunavut and Prince Edward Island all tied in second place with seven points. From here-on out, every game would be critical.

In the sixth round, Quebec suffered their first defeat of the day at the hands of the Ontario team of Harold Martin, Paul Poirier, Jarvis Payne and Vince Kennedy from Maj. W.D. Sharpe Branch in Brampton. It was a tight match and both teams held the winning dart in their hand but Ontario came through under pressure. After the seventh round, the standings were Quebec in first with 16, Ontario in second with 14, Newfoundland in third with 13 and Nova Scotia in fourth with 12.

Going into the final round, Quebec was way out in front and they only needed to win one leg against Manitoba in order to clinch the title.

And clinch it they did. Without much drama, either.

“The secret to our victory was doubling in,” said Quebec player Kevin MacArthur, after the match. “Sebastien (Gagnon) only missed that three times. So we were always ahead in games and then we just had to play steady darts.”

“Plus,” he added “Quebec is the defending champion in the team event. We came here on a mission, wanting to win back-to-back championships. “

Meanwhile, after a tumultuous final round, Ontario emerged in a tie for second place with the Nova Scotia team of Willie MacIsaac, Mark MacIsaac, Dave Cameron and Lew Francis from Calais Branch in Lower Sackville, necessitating a playoff. The boys from out east won it convincingly.

With the darts all thrown, the only thing remaining was the closing surf-and-turf banquet, which was handled in exceptional fashion by the Local Arrangements Committee, chaired by David Hume.

“The Local Arrangements Committee is to be commended for one of the finest tournaments in dominion,” said Pigeau during his closing speech at the banquet, before going on to talk about the tournament itself. “The competition was strong and the camaraderie was evident…I believe that the hallmark of sports in the Legion is camaraderie and it’s a camaraderie that’s not often seen outside of sports.”

The 2011 championships will be held May 13-15 at the Col. Fred Tilston VC Branch in Aurora, Ont.

Results

Team: Que. (LaSalle Br.) 21; N.S./Nunavut (Calais Br., Lower Sackville) 17; Ont. (Maj. W.D. Sharpe Br., Brampton), Nfld.-Lab. (Channel Br., Port aux Basques) 16; P.E.I. (Charlottetown Br.) 14; N.B. (Sunny Brae Br., Moncton), Alta.-N.W.T. (Vincent Massey Br., Yellowknife), Man.-N.W.O. (Selkirk Br.) 13; B.C./Yukon (Okanagan Falls Br.) 6; Sask. (Moosomin Br.) 5.

Doubles: N.B. (Jeff Smith, Tom Vaughan, Carleton Br., Saint John) 22; Nfld.-Lab. (Richard Leriche, John Anderson, Channel Br.) 18; N.S./Nunavut (Jerry Myles, Chris Steiger, Centennial Br., Dartmouth) 17; Ont. (Jim Long,  James Hind, Newbury Br.), B.C./Yukon (Dale O’Brien, Gilbert Guindon, Cranbrook Br.) 15; Man./N.W.O. (Lorne Heinrichs, Dwayne Heinrichs, Elmwood Br., Winnipeg) 13; Que. (Kevin MacArthur, Gerald Hull, LaSalle Br.) 12; Alta.-N.W.T. (Dean Willis, Norman Sanderon, Vincent Massey Br.) 11; P.E.I. (David Ling, Robert MacKinnon, Charlottetown Br.) 7; Sask. (David Propp, Bill Cragg, Nipawin Br.) 6.

Singles: N.S./Nunavut (Chester MacKenzie, MacDonald Memorial Br., Lakeside) 21; Ont. (Bernard Miller, Col. Fitzgerald Br., Orangeville) 20; N.B. (Robert Fougere, Sunny Brae Br.) 16; B.C./Yukon (David Veach, Okanagan Falls Br.) 14; Nfld.-Lab. (Guy Bobbett, Channel Br.) 13; Man.-N.W.O. (Lorne Heinrichs, Elmwood Br.), P.E.I. (Rodney MacKinnon, Charlottetown Br.) 11; Alta.-N.W.T. (Elvis Beaudoin, Vincent Massey Br.), Que.
(Jason Hurley, LaSalle Br.) 10; Sask. (Moff Kay, Coleville Br.) 9.