Toronto Roller Derby

Me in front of Toronto's venue

This summer Mr. T and I both got our passports.  Last week, we spent a week in Canada and for part of it we were in Toronto.  We were lucky enough to catch a Toronto Roller Derby vs. Queen City (Buffalo, NY) game on Saturday night.  It was awesome!  ToRD's space is in what looks like a refurbished airplane hanger (it's also called "The Hanger", so go figure).  The event was a double header, with ToRD's upcoming girls (The D-VAS - Deadly Viper Assassination Squad) against Durham Region Roller Derby (also from Canada).  They played a shorter game (two 20 minute periods) which was fun to watch - it's great to see new girls working on their skills, especially since I was (am) in "their skates" just so recently.  Although evenly matched for the most part, the D-VAS pulled ahead to end the game with a final score of 105-63.

Mr. T rocking Hellions gear!

But the main event was ToRD vs. Queen City.  It was a great match between both league's star teams: ToRD's CN Power vs. Queen City's Lake Effect Furies.  Watching them warm up was even entertaining.  Both teams had solid warm up drills, and the Furies especially demonstrated their teamwork.  One impressive drill was where they all skated single file, and the front skater would call out a skill (plow stop, turn around toe stop, etc) and they would all do it perfectly in unison.  Every single girl could plow stop in under ten feet (more like five) - without crashing into the girl in front of her.  Tight!

The first period they seemed like they would be evenly matched.  Up until the end of the first period, the score was within about 5 points, with the lead switching between teams.  At the end of the first period, the Lake Effect Furie's were ahead, but not by much.

A couple jammers lined up and
ready to roll!

The second period is when the Furies really started to blow things up.  Their game play remained tight throughout the period, where CN Power on the other hand seemed to be tiring out.  They kept fighting, and still had a few impressive jams.  At one point, CN Power had an impressive 15 point jam by one of their star jammers, DefeCaitlin, and the crowd went wild.  Soon after, however, the Furies had an equally impressive 15 point, which also made the other half of the crowd go nuts - there were tons of Queen City fans at the bout, too!  CN Power seemed to be sending out DefeCaitlin every few jams to try to shorten the gap. If anyone could do it, it would be her.  She skated strong all throughout.  But it wasn't enough, and the game ended with a score of 110-79 with the Lake Effect Furies on top.

One last thing I want to say about the bout was that the two teams played each other with great sports(wo)menship.  Opposing jammers chatted as they lined on up; blockers gave and took strong hits and then acknowledged each other for their stamina.  You could tell these skaters are in sister leagues.