NW Junior Derby Finals - Preview

Well, this is it!  We started off the season with six leagues and a vision of seeing competition between all of the leagues in the Northwestern region playing against each other.  Along the way, that vision was altered a bit.  Spokane had to drop out, so not everyone was available to play.  This meant that the competition was down to 5 teams, making this weekend’s tournament to decide the NW Junior Derby championships a little off.  It was looking possible that there might be a B team from Portland to fill the empty spot, but the Kitsap Derby Brats decided to pull out due to budget and travel issues so the b team idea wasn't needed...

So!  Change is a constant, and the final tourney on Saturday, August 6^th at the Willmalane Center for Sports and Recreation in Springfield, Oregon sees four teams coming together to battle it out for supremacy.  One with one loss and 3 with 2 losses, everyone looks to be pretty even in skill.  Thus, they drew the order of play out of a hat! 

SDB’s Galaxy Girls will play the Eugene Jr Gems’  Reservoir Dolls in the opener, then the I5 Rollergirls will do battle with the Portland Rosebuds.  The final two games will be a grudge match for third and fourth and the championship game between the winners of the first two games!

Portland Rosebuds  - This team has dominated their competition this season.  Starting out against the Kitsap Derby Brats and ending with a second game against I-5, they stood tall with only one loss against Eugene in a 120-119 squeaker that went down to the last jam.  They saw the departure of Braidy Punch to the adult leagues, but Scream Cheese and Cheese Grater of Despair are still around, and they have new blood like Sumthang Sassy who will look to make sure that this is a team to look out for in the coming years.  They are a definite favorite going into this weekend!

Reservoir Dolls – They started off the season strong, shocking I5 and Portland, but seemed to falter a bit in the stretch after their team changed things up with their spring tryouts.  They dropped  a tough bout against a revitalized Kitsap Derby Brats team at the Father’s Day double header and a hard fought bout against the Galaxy Girls in Seattle last month.  They are the home team, though, and it looks as though their team should definitely be in fine form as they defend their turf. Roma Mafia, Spunkee Bruiser and RattleSkate are defintely going to bring it!

I5 Rollergirls – Fresh off their victory against Fort Wayne last weekend, the I-5 Rollergirls look to be in fine form coming into this weekend’s contests.  They are taking on Portland in their first bout this weekend, though, and they have yet to find a combo that worked against that team.  You know they have to be hungry after losing twice to the Rosebuds!

Galaxy Girls - Last weekend’s victory saw the closest to healthy this team has been all season.  This weekend brings almost the entire team back to the track.  With the additions of Beatin!!BamB and Salami Stompson moving up from the SDB league teams to fill empty spots, they are looking pretty strong.  Lilly Lightning, Radom Max of Violence, Rockin' Red and all the rest are ready for whatever tomorrow brings!

Here’s the schedule for the day –

12:30 doors open
1:00 Rules Demo and Anthem
1:15-2:45 Game 1 Galaxy Girls vs. Reservoir Dolls
3:00-4:30 Game 2 Rosebuds vs. I-5 Roller Girls
4:30-4:45 Speed Dealer show
4:45 or 5:00 Game 3 Losers of 1&2 (30 minutes)
5:15 or 5:30 Game 4 Winners of 1& 2 (30 Minutes)

KO and I will be announcing the I5 v Portland game, and hopefully one of the final two as well.  I will also have pen and paper in hand to take notes on the other games and will have the recaps up as soon as possible next week!