What a night of roller derby! After a marathon drive down I-5 to get to the Regional Sports Facility in Springfield, OR (where the championship games will be in August), It was a great pleasure to see all of the girls and parents arriving. I had a chance to ask a few of the I-5 parents what they thought of the upcoming bouts. I also had a chance to to talk to a couple of the Eugene folks. "Nervous" was the order of the day.
With many new girls on both I-5 teams, and most of them not very experienced on the slicker sportcourt surface, there was some definite concern abut the bouts. On the Eugene side, they were nervous because, well, it was I-5 standing over there!
The A teams bouted first, but I am still working through the stat sheets for that one. Let's just say that it involved a lot of surprises and one AWESOME come back. High derby drama, indeed!
I-5 B team vs Misfit Mafia (Eugene Jr Gems) -
On to the B team recap! Remember that the B teams are playing NW Junior positional derby. While the are allowed to push and "ride", they are not allowed to intentionally hit. Any hitting results in time in the box on a misconduct major. Blessedly, there was not a lot of misconduct. Though back blocking and track cutting? Plenty of that.
Originally slated as the Shipwreck Shielas vs the I-5 Rollergirls B Team, there was a last minute change to the Misfit Mafia. After announcer Ophelia Melons introduced the teams and called things to order, the girls took to the track, GRRR-Lee taking the jammer line for I-5 against the Misfit's Tiny Badness to kick off this 30 minute bout. Whistles blew and the bout was under way!
Tiny Badness blasted through the pack with ease, securing the first Misfit lead jammer status and a double grand slam, calling off the jam before GRRR-lee could hit the back of the pack on her scoring pass. Next Jam, Tiny Boom Harangue attempted the same feat for the Misfits, getting her own 10-spot, but Maya Massacre managed to squeak by, scoring four on the final pass before the Misfits could call it off.
Next up for I-5 was Karmic Death up against the misfits Low Blow. Low Blow managed to squeak by for lead jammer status, but then the Rollergirls pack work came into play. Coach Hockey Honey has clearly been working hard with these girls as Helle Diablo, SyRum and Lil Miss Chaos kept Low Blow to 4 point after her first pass and Karmic Death managed 6 points from her position as "not lead jammer."
Tiny Badness came back on the floor looking for a little payback against Diablo who was taking her first turn as jammer. Tiny again sliced through the pack and scored 4 while her packmates kept Helle in check, but Helle turned on the afterburners. She got through and both jammers hit the pack nearly simultaneously. Tiny passed 3 and called it off, but not before Helle managed 3 of her own.
Boom Harangue rattled off a 23 point jam before being sent to the box for back blocking, allowing Lil' Miss Chaos to score 4 of her own and setting up the first power Jam for I-5. Maky Splatterhead took the jammer line with Boom still serving time and secured I-5's first lead jammer status! Unfortunately, the Mafia has been studying their penalty killing. Maky managed to score only one point and forgot to call off the jam when Boom came out of the box, allowing her to score 3 after her initial pass.
The next three jams were heavily marred with back blocking as the jammers tried to get through the pack. Izzie Exterminated, Angelina Devilina, Jess Trippin, Low Blow, and Mad Smaxx all took turns playing jammer musical chairs over by the sin bin. The Misfits came out on top of the exchange outscoring I-5 30-6 over three jams, including an 18 point jam by Low Blow. Unfortunately for them, Mad Smaxx had one too many penalties (they were allowed 4 over the 30 minute bout) and became the first ejection casualty at 12:15 left.
That seemed to spur I-5 into action a bit as they managed to secure the next two lead jammers (Maya Massacre and Helle Diablo), unfortunately it also seemed to spur on Angelina Devilna and Tiny Badness as they forced I-5 to call off the jams before they could take too much advantage. Maya was held scoreless. Helle managed 4 points, but Tiny also scored 4 while Helle was trying to call it off.
Other than a successful star pass by I-5 in jam 13 (GRRR-Lee to Maya Massacre), and a double grand slam by Helle Diablo in the 15th, the rest of the bout was pretty much all Misfits. They scored 61 points in 6 jams to I-5's 25 over the same period to take the game.
Final score 148-53 for the Misfit Mafia.
Keys to the game -
Experience, pack control, lead jammer. The Misfits had all of these over their opponents. While several of the I-5 skaters came from Seattle Derby Brats' Tootsie Roller program and practiced on sport court, the entire team has only been practicing together since mid-January on wood. The Misfit's have been practicing together since the start of the Jr Gem season in September and definitely had the home court advantage on the slicker surface.
The Misfits also managed to gain 12 lead jammer statuses to I-5's three. Being in control of the scoring allowed them to keep the B's from gaining an advantage. They used this to great effect, controlling the I-5 jammer in the pack and allowing their lead jammers to score.
MVP's -
I-5 gave their MVP award to number 33, Low Blow. As far as jamming goes, I definitely concur. I would also call out Boondock Skates and Tootsie roller who combined several times as an effective wall. The Misfits chose to award Helle Diablo, and it was well deserved. In the pack or on the jammer line, she was formidable. I would also call out Maya Massacre and Jess Trippin for their impressive pack work.
Congratulations to ALL of the skaters! It's great to see inter-league positional competition. I VERY much look forward to seeing this continue. Full contact is fun and impressive, but these girls are the future of the future. The skills they are learning in positional blocking and pack awareness are going to only improve the game!
Coming up! This evening, I will likely have the full contact stats sorted with a post either late tonight or sometime tomorrow.
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