One of the things about junior roller derby, is that it often plays early in the morning. By early, I mean about 9:00 early. This morning found me rushing about, making my poor man's mocha and throwing together a breakfast burrito as I rushed out the door and hit the road north to Everett for the first bout of my May the 4th Derby extravaganza. SDB's Mighty Rollers, one of SDB's full contact home teams taking on I5 Roller Girl's B team.
I5 B has had a couple of tough losses, one a close one to SDB's Toxic Avenghers (173-161), and a seesaw battle against Spokane's Atomic Pixies (225-187) in the last couple of months. Mighty Rollers have, of course, been battling against their intra-league rivals (the aforementioned Avenghers).
As I hit the rink and sorted out the ticket at will call, the game had already started, and I found I5 with a 34-26 lead. I hit my seat and started furiously taking notes.
Right off the bat, it was clear these two teams were in it to win it. Hurricane Halle donned the star and hit the pack before a racing Lexi-and-I-Know-It, grabbing four points and calling it off, bringing the score to within four.
I Stole Your Cookie was up next for the Rollers, and found herself on the receiving end of some awesome blocking courtesy of her team. She rattled off one Grand slam before Tiny Terror (recently back on the track after a major injury) was sent to the penalty box on a back blocking penalty. The resulting power jam resulted in the first of a series of Mighty Roller power jams and gave 20 points and the lead (50-34) to the SDB squad.
Assalting Caramel took the remainder of the power jam for her team and was off to the races. Tiny came out of the box and almost immediately ran into trouble in the form of Mighty blockers. She passed the star to Maya Massacre who cut the track, missing Amelia Dareheart as she came back in bounds from a solid hit. Caramel extended the lead to 28 points on the power jam.
Hurricane Halle Continued the roll as she took the remainder of the power jam with Maya in the box and came away with an 8-0 decision. I Stole Your Cookie was up next for Mighty and missed the "call it" signal from the bench as Lexi zoomed past her and snagged an additional four points for a 12-8 decision, making the score 94-60.
A no decision on the next jam and a 9 point run by Mighty Roller Kick N Vixen brought the Mighty lead to 43 at 103-60, and the frustration was beginning to build in the I5 pack. The hits were getting harder and little wilder. Maya found herself the recipient of another cutting penalty and Kick N Vixen found herself on a power jam. Barbie Brutal (who had been living up to her name, landing some serious big hits and causing some trouble for the SDB pack) missed high on a shoulder check and landed it to the head of the Mighty Roller jammer. The refs assessed a gross misconduct and I5 found themselves down a very productive blocker as Barbie was ejected.
I5 was up against the clock and seemed a bit staggered by the Roller's run, and at 133-79, they had a lot of catching up to do. Two jams later, they got what they needed. Assalting Caramel was assessed a back block early in the jam and Maya Massacre was off to the races. A short Mighty pack was facing the passive offense and were having trouble with out of play penalties, making the road for Maya that much easier. Caramel came back in, but was sent back out on a low block. When the smoke cleared, Maya had a 29-9 decision. The final jam of the half brought Malice in Wonderslam into the power jam. She managed 11 points before the half wound down. I5 had found their feet and cut the Mighty Roller lead to 23 at 119-142.
If the first half was a tale of the power jam, the second half was a tale of clock control and some awesome work in the pack. The highest scoring jam was a lead demolishing 44 point power jam by Maya Massacre courtesy of an Assalting Caramel back block which brought I5 to within 8.
The first next 15 minutes were a back and forth battle. Each team grabbing points where they could, scoring 2's and 3's as the jammers fought their way through the defense and hit the pack one their initial scoring pass with their arms waving madly to call the jam before their opponent could score. Mighty Rollers had a run of 7 jams earning lead jammer and a 21-7 point advantage across those jams, but I5 answered back with a run of their own and kept it close at 195-214.
The final jam found I5 B down by 19 points as the two jammers set up at the back of the pack, ready to go. Hurrican Halle and Maya Massacre with a full pack in front of them. The whistle blew and the two hit the pack, looking desperately to get through and snag lead. Maya was out first on the inside and got the call, Caramel about 1/2 a track behind. Maya hit the pack again, looking to score, but missed a blocker on a push out and was sent to the box for cutting. A collective groan went up, but quickly became a cheer as Assalting Caramel hit the pack hard and was sent to box herself!
Maya tried in vain to take advantage of her short power jam, and both jammers found themselves on the track, neither with lead and 45 seconds to go. The blockers were doing their best to hold back the jammers as they traded hard earned fours. At the end, Maya had managed to win the battle of the jam by a four points, but the Mighty Rollers were the ones with the victory lap. Final score was 227-212.
Ones to watch
The awesome thing about watching B team derby is the opportunity to see those who are going to be the A team stars of tomorrow. To that end, here are a few that I want to call out for their performance today.
SDB -
Hurricane Halle - She snagged lead with incredible regularity and displayed some serious speed and agility. As I have mentioned to some, I am only counting 5 point passes with both jammers on the track as grand slams. Halle had 2 of the 4 I counted this game.
Amelia Dareheart - Heads up play in the pack as a blocker, and a fantastic record in this game (and others I have seen her in) of either gaining lead jammer or causing a forced call off. She's got some serious tools. I think it won't be long before she's donning the black and silver.
Assalting Caramel - While she had some trouble with the penalty box, I loved watching her skate. A bit of work on her control entering the pack, and she'll be turning those missed opportunities into some serious scoring runs.
I5 Rollergirls -
Maya Massacre - While she does bounce back and forth between the A and B teams for I5, this game should go a long way towards pushing her off the "floater" list and towards a permanent A team berth. That 44 point jam was a wonder, and her stamina! In the second half, she was out in almost every jam, and spent much of it with the jammer panty on her helmet.
Barbie Brutal - Yes, she was ejected in this game and, yes, I have seen her in serious foul trouble before. If this kid can bring herself under tighter control, she's going to be an extremely feared blocker. She hits hard and has some great timing.
Lexi and I Know It - I don't know if she named herself after Lex Cerator or not, but I like to think so. Her 12-8 decision in the first half and a good lead/force rate in the second half definitely got my attention!
No comments:
Post a Comment