Rosebuds roll to 4-0 over Galaxy Girls 190-92

All season long, the Rosebuds have displayed an impressive array of both offensive and defensive weapons, confounding their opponents with dazzling pack work, jammers both strong and speedy, and a seemingly unwavering focus on the track.  The Galaxy Girls have also been an incredible, physical presence able to strike quickly and take advantage of opportunities.  Saturday was no different.

It started off with the Galaxy Girls being blanked over a period of 5 jams.  Lilly Lightning, Dislykher and Flyin' Hawaiian could not seem to find the combination for the wall safe that was the Rosebuds' pack. With Lilly Lightning on the receiving end of some "love" from the referees, the Buds found themselves with multiple power jam opportunities and bolted to 31-5 within the first few minutes of the bout.

And that was not about to stop.  The Galaxy Girls found themselves either chasing the Buds' jammers and forcing early call offs, or being forced to call off their own.  Neither team seemed to be able to get much when both jammers were on the track. 0's, 3's and 2's dotted the score sheet, but when opportunities arose, the Rosebuds were able to capitalize in grand form, posting up multi-pass jams.  They just weren't seeming to give the Galaxy Girls those same opportunities.

Jam after jam, these two teams were battling in the pack, holding back jammers and each other, pulling out every stop (I even saw some interesting use of trickery, faking out a blocker who had been hit out of bounds by pretending to be the one who did the deed).  It was an amazing display of blocker prowess.  Galaxy was beginning to slowly claw back the points until about half way through the first half when the Girls gave up a 20 point power jam which put the Rosebuds up by 47 points.  The battle continued, but the Buds were on top 87-43 at the half.

The second half saw more of the same tough, physical play as the first.  The Galaxy Girls were fighting hard and matching the Rosebuds point for point.  In fact, until the last few minutes of the game if you took into account only the second half, Portland only had a 1 point advantage (44 - 45).  The last four jams saw the Galaxy Girl jammer in the box, allowing a 58 -8 point romp by the Rosebuds.  When the final whistle blew, the Buds took the first lap with the scoreboard reading 192 - 90.

Three cheers for Portland -

Sumthang Sassy- This skater was amazing on the jammer line.  With 2, 20+ point jams to her credit, she contributed in a very big way. 

Jesus Feist - While she did get a good power jam with 15 points of her own, Jesus was, as usual, a force in the pack.  With opening for her jammer and multiple assists, as well as big hits, Jesus gets the second cheer.

 Tempest Fuget - Always a force in the pack, Tempest was off particular note as a leader amongst blockers.  With multiple stops and big hits to her credit, she is my pick for the third cheer

Three cheers for Seattle -

Rosie D Kreamher - Two shoulders, no waiting.  One jam saw her sweep left and remove half the Buds' blocker corps, then sweep right and remove the other half.  Holy wow, this girl can hit!

Evil O - Also a force ion the pack with jammer stops and big hits of her own, Evil O deserves some serious recognition.  Her ingenuity should also be recognized.  the second cheer goes to Evil O!

Beatin' Bambi - In a game that did not see a lot of bright spots for the Galaxy jammers, Bambi seemed to have the Buds' number.  An 87% lead jammer rate (7 of 8) definitely earns her the final star for the Galaxy Girls.

NOTE!

The I-5 Roller Girls pulled out a tough bout against the Reservoir Dolls 163 - 141 to gain a solid hold of second place for the season. Congratulations, I-5!

It's almost July! SO MUCH DERBY!

Last weekend, there was an awesome bout between the Portland Rosebuds and the Reservoir Dolls. While I was not there, someone else was and wrote an awesome article about it.

That bout set up this weekend's A team bouts so very nicely!  With three teams (I5, SDB and the Rosebuds) completing their divisional play schedules this weekend, the picture in July is beginning to take shape!  remember that the tournament in July is seeded based on the rankings in the regular season with the first place team getting a bye in the first round.

First up is the Rose City Rosebuds v SDB Galaxy Girls.  The Buds are going into this weekend 3-0 in A team play (and undefeated in all play this season... 5-0?).  Galaxy has lost one game, against I-5, right at the beginning of their season putting them at 2-1.  Should they win against Rose City, both teams will be at 3-1.  But that's not all!

I-5 is travelling down to Eugene this weekend to play against the Reservoir Dolls themselves.  Also at 2-1, an I-5 win there along with an SDB win would give us a three way tie for first, meaning the tie-breakers agreed on at the beginning of the season would take effect.

But what if I5 and SDB lose?  Then we have a two way tie for second (with both teams at 2-2), with a potential three way tie when the Dolls finish off their season at the end of June against Kitsap.

So, in short, there are a lot of fun scenarios heading into July.  This weekend is going to be one to watch!  I will be at the SDB v Rose City game, through I wish I could clone myself and be in both places this weekend.  It's going to be exciting!

As if that weren't enough Junior derby for the weekend, Port Scandalous Roller Punks are taking on the Cherry Bomb Brawlers from Spokane in Port Orchard this weekend.  Right, I need 3 of me?  No, 4.  My own SJRD girls are participating in a 15 minute positional expo at the OWRD bout on Sunday.

Oh, and just because, here's an awesome video Jesus Feist made.