|
02 August 2010
BLOCK PARTY - July 18, 2010
On the 18th July the London Rollergirls rounded off their second full home season with a very different line up to last years – the Ultraviolent Femmes having broken their losing streak of last season in style and bagged themselves a place in the final against title holders Suffra Jets. But before the full capacity crowd would see whether the Suffra Jets could be toppled from their top spot, the third placed Steam Rollers opened the championship; taking on Rainy City’s Motley Crew.
The Steam Rollers put on a strong defensive show from the start, using their trademark dynamic walls to slow the Rainy jammers at the front of the pack, while seasoned SR jammers Axis of Evon and Fox Sake displayed impressive agility by nipping through the pack time and time again to gain lead status. In a change to the usual Steam Roller line up, Sky Rockit played a predominantly offensive pack role, consistently breaking apart the Rainy City walls and proving to be as impressive a blocker as she is a jammer. Steam Roller newbies La Muñeca, Erin No Bragh and Vigour Mortis all put in strong pack performances, proving effective at holding the inside line and generally making life very difficult for the Rainy City jammers. Powerjams by Evon, Fox and el VICIOUS (skating her final bout for the Steam Rollers) saw the home team take an early lead which they were able to build on steadily throughout the period, ending the first half with a comfortable lead of 120 – 20.
For their part, the Manchester team fought hard and were certainly no pushovers: Lady GoGo, Feral Fairy, Dee-mise and, in particular, captain Missy Rascal displayed formidablestrength and agility as jammers, while Rogue Doll and R.E.D did an excellent job in the middle and front of the pack. Rainy City’s half time talk must have been quite something, as the second period saw some tighter pack work and improved tactics from Rainy City, and the Steam Rollers were slower to accumulate points as a result. A powerjam by Feral Fairy gave the visitors a chance to close the points differential even further, but the Steam Rollers kept the pack fast, and in the end the home team won through, with the score Steam Rollers 181- Rainy City 96.
Penalty Queens were Raw Heidi for the Steam Rollers and Mama Firefly for the Motley Crew, with Jammers on both sides being awarded MVP, Axis of Evon for London and Missy Rascal for Manchester.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eagerly anticipated by derby fans to the point that the bout sold out in record time, you could feel the tension in the room as the returning champions Suffra Jets and first time finalists Ultraviolent Femmes took to the track to decide who would be our top team for the 2009-10 season.
It seemed good for the Femmes from the first jam - with Vagablonde going up against Poison Arrow on the Jammer line and Kamikaze Kitten and Ninjette working together to hold back Stefanie Mainey in the back Vagablonde powered through to lead jammer putting 4 on the board for the Femmes and 0 for the Jets. The lead didn’t last long, with the Suffra Jets equalizing in the second jam and then, following some trademark Stefanie Mainey blocking at the back in the third jam holding the Femmes scoreless, the score leapt to 4-17.
The balance of power swung back steadily as the Femmes chipped away at the lead. At one point, Kamikaze Kitten gained lead jammer but hung back to positionally block Jets jammer Grievous Bodily Charm, holding her for just long enough for GBC to be sucked back into the pack and for Kami to slam on the accelerator for a 4-0 jam. At this point it became clear that Stefanie Mainey would be a fixed feature of the Jet-pack having been on in every single jam thus far. The Femmes capitalized on a rare Stef-free pack for one jam to close the gap ever more steadily; and in the following jam Vagablonde executed one of her trademark leaps past through the Jets’ defense bringing the score back to only a 2 point difference at 22-20. The score continued to creep up in tiny increments from with both teams, with highly defensive play and a great deal of tactical jamming.
The first significant gap opened up when Stefanie Mainey lined up against The Bowmanator; Stef easily gaining lead jammer status, Kamikaze Kitten and Mouchete both being boxed and a huge hit from Dot Slash on the Bowmanator. Stef made jamming look easy as she took ten points to the Bowmanator’s 0, taking the score to 30/26. The Femmes continued to try to chip away at the score difference, but disaster struck in the last jam of the period with The Bexorcist stepping up to Jam against Kami and three UF blockers being sent to the box. With Mouchete and Vagablonde already in there, Missyle Elliot was waved on, but the damage was done with The Bexorcist gaining a double grand slam for 10 points, closing out the first half with the scoreboard reading 49 - 29 to the Jets, the biggest score difference of the game so far. In roller derby, however, 20 points is barely a strong lead.
The Femmes came out with defense to the max in the second period with the first 3 jams remaining scoreless following highly tactical jamming. The fourth jam saw both jammers go to the box in quick succession, with no real powerjam advantage to either team and following a full 2 minutes with 6 points clocked up for both Grievous and Kami taking the score to 54 - 34.
It looked like the Femmes might have an advantage when Stefanie Mainey was boxed, but following a HUGE hit from Sinister Mary Clarence on Jets’ jammer Grievous she too was boxed along with Snoop Dodge, while Grievous called it scoring 4 to Kami’s 0. With Stef in the box, the Jets delayed the start of the next jam to run down the clock, dawdling behind the line and not moving until the ‘no pack’ call was heard, and taking advantage of the confusion, Poison Arrow swept through to claim Lead Jammer for a 9 - 0 jam. With the score line at 63 - 34 for the Jets half way through the second period their lead was starting to look daunting. The Femmes are known for their tenacity though, and continued to chip away at the Jets’ lead in the next jam scoring 3 to the Jets’ 0 as Vagablonde leapt past Bad Faith at the front to gain lead jammer and calling it off before Poison Arrow could reach the pack.
In the following jam Stefanie Mainey lined up next to Kamikaze Kitten with the crowd at fever pitch excitement to see this battle of the titans - but with a block to Kami before they hit the pack Stef was sent to the box, giving the Femmes a powerjam advantage which they exploited to the full. The Femmes brought the pack to a near standstill allowing Kami to rack up a triple grand slam of 15 points. With Stef back on track and still to complete her first pass the 2 minutes ended with the scoreline at 63 – 60, and the crowd holding their breath!
The Femmes’ luck ended there, with the Jets answering over the next 2 jams with their own 15-0 scorelines after a powerjam situation and with only Ninjette on the track after multiple boxings of the Femmes’ blockers. The Suffra Jets consolidated their now 30 point lead with a string of low scoring but effective jams, consistently gaining lead jammer and only allowing the Femmes to gain one or two points. A chance came for the Femmes when Stef took a break from blocking in one jam - with Poison Arrow firmly trapped behind a powerful defensive wall of Lola and Metallikat the Femmes took the score to 97 - 72 with less than 2 minutes remaining on the clock - a not unassailable lead for the Jets. Stefanie Mainey lined up to jam against Vagablonde, who gained lead jammer and grabbed 4 points and called it off, but not before Stef had snuck in 2 points of her own, leaving the scoreboard at 99 - 76 with less than a minute on the clock.
The Suffra Jets lost The Bexorcist as she fouled out after 7 trips to the box as Stefanie Mainey lined up for the final jam of the game against Kamikaze Kitten. Stef began by slowly positionally blocking Kami, a move not at all popular with the crowd! In an attempt to escape Kamikaze Kitten cut track and was sent to the box - miming a ‘boo hoo’ to the crowd as she goes and receiving huge cheers in return. The Femmes did their best to hold Stef in the back, but following a boxing for Ninjette Stef escaped and called it after one lap with the final score of 107 - 76, and the Suffra Jets once again queens of the track and taking the title of 2010 London Rollergirls season champions.
Penalty queen awards went to the Bexorcist for the Jets and Kamikaze Kitten took both penalty queen and MVP awards. Of course for the Suffra Jets MVP was Stefanie Mainey. In fact Stefanie Mainey was THE force to be reckoned with for much of the game - remained on for all but one jam in the first half and all but one in the second, only resting during a few box trips. When she remained on the track as a blocker after jamming I heard a member of the crowd behind me mutter “my god, she’s a machine”.
The London Rollergirls have had an AMAZING 2009-10 home season, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that has been a part of it, the skaters who work so hard to make the sport a success, the refs who keep us in check, the non skating support crew who put up with us all, and of course the derby fans and derby leagues who come to our bouts, support us, cheer, make signs and make each game so much fun to play. The 2010-11 season is going to be bigger and better than ever, with some big changes and even more public games, so watch this space for exciting news about that coming up soon. Will the Suffra Jets be able to do the triple, or will next season belong to someone else? Don’t miss it!
Derby love,
London Rollergirls
(Thanks to Baron Von Strange for the highlights packages!)
