Season Three Championship Preview
"If we play our game and keep our heads, the Championship is ours for the taking."
Slice Andice, captain of the Steam Rollers, doesn't doubt her team's ability to take the LRG season championship trophy in July. The Harbour Grudges, however, will have other ideas. They are "a force to be reckoned with," according to co-captain Sky Rockit. This self-described "ragtag bunch of transfers and total newbies" will be focusing on breaking up the Rollers' "killer walls" in an attempt to grab the trophy for themselves to cap a successful first season for LRG's youngest team.
That match-up between the league's best offense and best defense will be a thrilling encounter; over the course of season three no team has scored as many points as the Grudges, and no team has conceded fewer points than the Steam Rollers. It also sees the league's two highest scoring jammers go head-to-head, with ever-presents Sky Rockit and Fox Sake leading the points scored table for the season with 302 and 290 points respectively. They're backed up by Lola Vulkano, whose 200 points for the Grudges have been key to keeping her team on course, while Axis of Evon's contribution of 240 points for the Steam Rollers in just four games in an injury-hit season have kept the Steam Rollers in the hunt.
Lola Vulkano faces that killer Steam Rollers front wall
When the teams met for the first time back in November, the Steam Rollers edged a fast-paced high quality encounter 102 to 83. The Grudges got their revenge in March, beating the Steam Rollers 79 to 71, when both teams were missing key skaters. The Grudges are undefeated outside of that bout, while the Steam Rollers suffered a shock defeat to the otherwise winless Ultraviolent Femmes in December.
The championship bout, the first in LRG history not to feature the Suffra Jets, will be the Steam Rollers' second shot at glory, but the last chance for many of their skaters. Veterans Axis of Evon, Nuke-Leah and Spooky Von Strange and rookies Indie Hannah and R. Meg Eddon will all be skating their last bouts for the Steam Rollers, with other departures rumoured. Vice-captain Nuke-Leah thinks this is likely to light something of a fire under Team Steam: "Not that we needed any more motivation to work hard, but I think the fact that we are losing so many people has added an extra sparkle to the possibility of winning the season."
Derby can be brutal at times, and this has taken its toll during the season, according to Sky Rockit: "We've had so many injuries we're considering changing our name to the Harbour Crutches," she explains. The keys to her team's success have been the way the season-old outfit has come together to become "a team with a real identity." The injuries have helped strengthen the team, too, according to Sky: "Playing bouts without key players such as Stef and Glory has showed that we're not just reliant on superstars, we all work well together."
The jammers fight at the front of the pack during the Steam Rollers and Harbour Grudges' first bout.
Before the Steam Rollers take on the Harbour Grudges, however, there is an old score to settle -- a rerun of last year's championship bout between the Ultraviolent Femmes and the Suffra Jets. While the Suffra Jets won both regular-season encounters between the two sides, they were both nailbiting affairs, so expect more of the same this time around.
It's not just the teams looking to get the crowd going, though. Holly Gaiman, founder of LRG's very own cheerleading squad, promises great things from the Jeerios in July: "For the championship we're picking up our game. Expect moves inspired by swing, tango and traditional cheerleading. Heads will roll, baby... heads will roll."
All photos (c) Steve Newton
