The standings explained

The standings over to the right are calculated using a standard formula found in sports.

((Win_a - Win_b) + (Loss_b - Loss_a)) * ½ to find out how many games behind one team is from the other.  “Games Behind” is used to determine how many games the trailing team has to win and the leading team has to lose before they have an equal record.

Win_a = Wins by leader

Loss_a = Losses by leader

Win_b = Wins by trailer

Loss_b = Losses by trailer

If you end up with a positive number, team A is ahead by that number of games.  

If it's not obvious which team trails, just sub in the numbers consistently and if you get a negative number, you know that team actually leads by that number of games.

To use our current standings, I5 has a 2-0 record while Galaxy Girls have a 2-1 record.

((2-2)+(1-0)) *1/2 = ½, meaning SDB is ½ game behind I5.  So what does THAT mean?  It means they have an unequal number of games played.  I5 would have to lose one game and SDB play no games before their record would be equal.

If you apply this formula across all 6 leagues with their current records, you end up with the standings as they appear on my chart. 

And what about the PF and PA fields?  That’s the tie breaker.  If two teams end up with an equal record, the difference between PF (Points For) and PA (Points against) decides who is in the lead.  Should that be equal at the end of the season AND their record be the same?  Then it falls to who beat whom in the regular season. 

If that game ended in a tie (a rarity, but a possibility) and their records be the same and their PF-PA differential be the same?  Then they are well and truly tied for ranking headed into Championships.   I would imagine they would have to do as in many other sports and play a tie breaker to determine the seeding.

I5 wins big against Rosebuds 251-114

This past Sunday, I5 went to Portland for the first Rosebuds home game at the Hangar in Oaks Park since 2011

When I5 and the Rosebuds met twice in one day at Wild West Showdown a couple of weeks ago, everyone knew it was going to be a battle both times, and it was!  Both teams fought hard for every point, and the scores remained fairly close both times.  This time?  It was a battle, and both teams fought hard for every point, but I5 took full advantage of every opportunity in a 251-114 victory.

The Buds took an early lead as very strong defense allowed Tempest Fugit to lap a struggling Maya Massacre for a grand slam the hard way.  Up 13-5 they looked to capitalize, but Dee Stroir had different plans.  She and her defense worked in harmony to answer the grand slam, giving I5 the lead 14-13.  Rainbow Dash answered once again, passing the I5 jammer on the track and throwing up another Grand Slam to get the lead 20-14 for the Buds.

Then came the 1-2 punch that rocked Portland on their heals.  Dee Stroir grabbed 2 grand slams for 13 points, and Lex Celerator found herself the beneficiary of a power jam thanks to Little Bo Weep being coerced into cutting the track.  She scored 24, giving I5 the lead 51-20.

Portland fought back hard, grabbing lead in four of the next 5 jams, but the I5 walls and the speed of their jammers held the Buds to a mere 6 points across that period.  I5 started to switch gears and the lead began to grow.  In the final 10 jams of the first half, the Buds scored 10 points thanks to a power jam handed to Little Bo Weep by Lex Celerator cutting the track.  Over that same period I-5 scored 78.  At halftime, the score stood at 133-36 in I5's favor.

During half time, there was a massive dance party on the track.  This seemed to energized the Rosebuds as they outscored I5 15-6 in the first five jams before Dee and Lex combined for another 47 points after their team killed a Portland killed power jam opportunity (holding both Rainbow Dash and A-shock scoreless).

From there, it really became a tale of the Power Jams.  The teams split on lead jammer (each one gaining lead half of the jams in the second half).  When not in power jams, they were fairly even on points, speaking to the evenness of these two teams.  The difference really came in the power jams.  Portland had 3 opportunities for 48 points, I5 had 5 for 87 points.  I5's penalty killing prowess combined with the speed and agility of their jammers just edged out Portland's power.

In the end, I5 stood victorious.

I5 wins squeaker over Galaxy Girls

It used to be kind of a cross town rivalry.  I5 practiced in the North end, and the Galaxy Girls had Ballard and Southgate.  These days, you can see both of their logos on on the Southgate wall, and the rivalry is a little more intense.

These teams have traded the 1-3 spots in rankings over the past few seasons along with the Rosebuds, and any combination of those three teams?  You know it's going to be a war on the track.  And what a war!

It started right off the bat with Lilly Lightning heading to the box with a high block 30 seconds in allowing the other half of the speed 1-2 punch of I-5, Dee Stroir, to slam 30 points on the scoreboard, rock the Galaxy Girls back on their heals and take a 32-3 lead after one jam.

It took practically no time for the Galaxy to reorganize and get their feet.  Awesome defense by a power line of Flyin Hawaiian, Rosie D KreamHer and Brutiful Beast held I5 and Beatin Bam!B slugged out a 4-0 decision. The Galaxy Girls began the climb back.

And here comes the BOOM.  Lex Celerator put the star on her helmet and trusted her defense.  her defesne?  Delivered,  holding back the Galaxy jammer and allowing Lex to increase their score by 15 on 3 quick passes before Galaxy was finally able to force the call off.

The next few jams saw some intense work from the starting whistle.  Walls and modified walls (one skater in front pushing backwards on her teammates to hold the jammer within the pack and stop the "no pack call"?  that's definitely a modified wall!).  Both defenses were all over the jammers, allowing nothing to get through.  Second and third efforts, forward cycling of blockers, pack extension after forcing the jammer out to get the max benefit... everything was on display.  It was easy to see why these kids are considered some of the best in the world.

Finally, an opportunity broke in The galaxy Girls' favor.  a forearm called on Dee Stroir allowed Enurgizer Bunny to score 20 in a 3-3 pack before Dee was allowed back in and scored 9 of her own!  I5 maintained the lead 56-32, but things were beginning to turn for the Galaxy.

56-32
56-42
56-50

An 18 point run purely on the back of some of the fiercest defense I have seen in these past 4-5 years brought Galaxy to within 6, and I though sure they would take the lead!

The Archer took the track jamming against Bunny and threw a shoulder a tad high in the scrum and was sent to the box on a high block penalty.  Bunny was off!  She took the lead 64-63, but then cut the track in turn 4 allowing the Archer a chance to redeem herself.  By the end of the jam, I5 barely had their hooks in a one point lead 67-66!

The next jam was 0-0, but a mere two minutes later at 12:45 left in the first half Enurgizer Bunny took the slow skate to the box for a low block with Lex on the track as the opposing jammer.  I5 was once again ahead by nearly 20 at 82-66.

To give you an idea of how tough the defense was?  It was taking 30-40 seconds for the jammers to get through the initial scrum.  The defenses were holding SO hard that the no pack calls were extremely hard to garner.  If it looked like a wall was about to crack the out of play mark, a bridge would appear and the hold would continue, or the push backwards would get more fierce.  Then the jammers would be out and around on the scoring pass?  And just have to get through that same tough defense.

The hits these jammers were absorbing would lay a linebacker low and they were spinning out of them, or skating on one foot after being hit to stay in, or leaping past blockers, or juking just enough to avoid the hit and be off once again.  The footwork and grace?  Astounding.

It was no wonder that on power jam after power jam the jammer were luck if they gained a single grand slam.  At the half,  I5 stood with a 21 point lead 119-98.

Over the first 10 minutes, the Galaxy Girls were doing a good job of getting lead and grabbing what few points they could before making the call.  They outscored I5 30-8 in that period and grabbed their first lead of the game 128-127!

Two jams later, I5 jammer Short Fuse, took the lead back, 132-128.

It would take another 8 minutes and some more of that incredible defense actively penalty killing against power jams before Bam!B snagged the lead again (144-142) with 15 minutes left. It is a testament to that defense that the finakl 15 minutes of the half only saw the score advance by approximately 30 points.

At 2:00 left, the Galaxy Girls found themselves on top by 5 at 173-168.  The jammers were off and slugged their way through.  On the scoring ass, SDB jammer Poison Izzie skated out of bounds avoiding slamming into the back of an I5 wall and got sent to the box for her trouble.  Maya Massacre had all the power, but only managed to gain four before calling it off. at 172-173.

00:00:40 left.  Lex Celerator gets the star with Poison Izzie in the box, and down by 1.  She took the single Grand Slam and skated out the clock.  I5 wins 177-173!

Roller Punks taken down by Reservoir Dolls

I was late on Saturday.  A whole 30 minutes late.  It happens... but it meant I had missed the entire first half of one of the games I most wanted to see!  I always love watching the Reservoir Dolls, and I was very much looking forward to seeing them play against the newest kids on the A team block, the Puget Sound Roller Punks.  That second half did not disappoint.

I raced to the track just 5 minutes into the second half to find the ECRG squad up 201-147 after a racing Tiny Badness took advantage of a track cut and the ensuing power jam.  Spunkee followed up with 10 more and the Punks looked to be in some serious trouble, down nearly 70.

The Roller Punks had some great opportunities at 17:40 and 13:35 on the clock, but some excellent blocking  by a couple of names I am going to be watching in the upcoming season:  Beautiful Deadly, and Cassidy.  They managed to kill those opportunities and hold PSRP to only 5 points in those chances.

After trading rounds of penalty box musical chairs just a few minutes later, the punks had narrowed that lead to 50, and were looking to make that comeback complete.  The Dolls were just as determined to give no ground.  With time getting short, it was a battle to see would come out on top!

At 8:20, a cut track gave a power jam to T-WrecksHer, but a very tough 3 wall held her to 8 before she was completely blocked in and handed the remainder of the power jam to Smack who managed a 6-2 decision before being forced to hit her hips and call it off.

The battle continued, and the penalties began to rack up for the Reservoir Dolls, who took full advantage of some short packs and brought the game back to within 30 with 4:00 to go.

The Punks' final opportunity game at 00:00:11.  The Dolls had their jammer off the floor thanks to a penalty in the previous jam.

The Punks called a time out with the score looming 244-207 in the Dolls' favor.  The whistle blew and the jam was off!  The punks had a 4-3 pack advantage and the jammer was finding holes thanks to some excellent offensive blocking.  Halfway through the jam, the Dolls' jammer was released, but committed a back block as she zoomed back on the track and another of her teammates fell victim to a forced cut, bringing the advantage in the pack firmly in the Punks' favor 4-2!

It was an heroic effort, but at the end of the 2 minutes, the Roller Punks found themselves 10 points behind.  Reservoir Dolls Win 244-234

Wild West Showdown at a glance

This past weekend was the Wild West Showdown.  For the first time, the juniors were mixed into the main venue where they played a 9 team, double elimination tournament.  The 6 A teams all met in the first round for a ranked bout, meaning each team now has at least one game for the rankings in July.  

The visitors?  Greater Edmonton Junior Derby (Oh, Canada!), Foco Jr derby (Fort Collins, Colorado), and the Nashville Nashvillians.  

This was a double elimination tournament playing full 60 minute bouts.  16 bouts, two days, SO MUCH JR DERBY! Huge hits, broken records, awesome agility, brilliantly executed strategy, quick adaptation and learning... As usual, the kids did great things.

But 16 games?  That's a lot of stats!  As such  I decided very quickly that keeping full stats across all of the games would not be possible if I valued my sanity.  I also had to choose which games I wanted to cover fully, since there were some overlaps on scheduling. I did get Melanie Adams to keep stats for the Rosebuds bout I wasn't able to cover until the second half.  She should have something written up soon.

Over the next few days, I will be posting up write-ups of each of the bouts, as well as offering some of the observations on the tournament.

I *will* say; Northwest Roller Derby?  Still the prettiest.  Here are the scores over the weekend. 

Bout 1: Greater Edmonton defeated the Fort Collins Spartan Babes 253-121; 
Bout 2 (NW Ranked): Emerald City defeated Port Scandalous 244-234; 
Bout 3 (NW Ranked): Rose City 263 over Kitsap 128;
Bout 4 (NW Ranked): I-5 Rollergirls defeated Seattle Derby Brats 177-173

Bout 5: Nashville defeats Greater Edmonton 335-132; 
Bout 6: Port Scandalous defeats FoCo 410-116 (Foco Eliminated); 
Bout 7: Seattle defeated Greater Edmonton 355-129 (Edmonton eliminated) 
Bout 8: Kitsap D-Bombers defeated Port Scandalous Roller Punks eliminating them by 234-216; 

Bout 9: Rose City defeats Emerald City 235-112; 
Bout 10: I-5 defeats Nashville 348-173; 
Bout#11 Galaxy Girls eliminated Reservoir Dolls 172-71 in an abbreviated 30 minute bout (It was nearly 10pm); 

Bout 12: Kitsap Wins over Nashville 265-165 (Nashville eliminated); 
Bout 13: I-5 hands Portland their first loss 201-159; 
Bout 14: Galaxy Defeats D=Bombers 237-114 (Kitsap Eliminated)
Bout 15: the Rosebuds defeated Galaxy Girls 182-159 (SDB Eliminated) 

Wild West Championship: I-5  is undefeated for the weekend, 162-128 over the Rosebuds.