Derby roadtrip to see Mid-Hudson Misfits

Me, Lilly, and Jez

On Friday night I took a little roadtrip to Oneonta with Jezibelle N Hell and her kiddo Lilly (aka my sidekick) to check out the Mid-Hudson Misfits first game ever!  They were hosted by the Oneonta Roller Derby's Derailing Darlings.  I've been out to their venue (Interskate 88) a couple other times for their bouts, including their first one against Central New York (CNY).  I really love all the strings of lights they hang from the ceiling at the venue!

The bout was fun - not a very fast level of play, but I still saw team work and basic strategy.  Oneonta was pretty aggressive with their hits and their jammers liked to go one-on-one with the other jammer.  The Misfits were down by about 70 points at halftime, but they started the second half strong.  Oneonta wasn't ready to give up their big lead, though.  I recall Squirrel Jam having a crazy awesome power jam - it was awesome!!  There were definitely a couple confusing points with too many people in the box.

The Misfits came to our practice a couple weeks ago to scrimmage, so there were lots of faces I recognized on the track.

Squirrel Jam, Ophelia Knockers, Tetta Vendetta, Square Broot

I have known Square Broot (I love her name!!) and Ophelia Knockers since I started playing roller derby!  I was really happy to see them play!  I also saw Miranda Wrights back on skates (yay!) and hung out with Pushup Zebra and Hispanic Attack.

The only bummer was the ride home -- snowstorm!!  Some people say Jezibelle is a crazy driver...but she definitely knows how to drive in the snow.  But then once the snow was clear - I'll admit... she's pretty crazy.  Overall, great roadtrip down I-88!

ahhh -- snow storm! (or are we going warp speed?)

And lastly... enough of my crappy iphone photos... make sure to check out Hispanic Attack's photos on facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.535078453211331.1073741832.176823115703535&type=1

Photo by Hispanic Attack

Scrimmage vs Mid-Hudson Misfits

On Sunday night the Hellions hosted the Mid-Hudson Misfits, a team from Ulster County, NY. We had two new skaters playing who had never bouted: Painted Lady and Felony Femme! MHM had several newer skaters as well.

Felony Femme,  black jammer, breaks through the pack.
Photo by Linda Conley

Painted Lady, right, works in a wall with Bloody Knuckles Betty, Wicked Irish,
and Trixie Firecracker to hold back the MHM jammer.
Photo by Linda Conley

The teams and officials started showing up around 6:30 and as always it was a group effort to tape down the track. Anya Tailgate's boyfriend recently made an awesome contraption that easily lays down rope and tape all in one go! We had several visiting officials for the scrimmage as well, including LudaChris Speed and a referee named "Goodeye Might". Please say his name outloud and laugh when it gives you an Australian accent. I love it!

 Some skaters also invited some friends and family, so we had a tiny crowd to catch the action. One of our superfans, Special Ed, even made MHM some welcome signs!

Betty and Wheezy work together to
hold back the MHM jammer.
Photo by Linda Conley

For this scrimmage I jammed (instead of blocking) almsot exclusively. We used about a 3 or 4 person jammer rotation. Honestly, I wish I had warmed up a little better for the scrimmage. I did some easy laps and stetched, but not what I typically do before an actual bout. Reminder newsflash to me: a scrimmage is treated pretty much just like an actual bout! Even though I felt a little lethargic, I think I jammed pretty well - very much in part due to the excellent blockers on my team.

Me, one-on-one against the MHM jammer!  Looks like she has the upper hand,
or should I say leg, in this photo though :)
Photo by Linda Conley

Wicked Irish giving me a little push to help me break past the last two pink blockers.
Photo by Linda Conley

Even though MHM is newer, they still had some good concepts of strategy and a couple good jammers. They were also very, very nice! I love when derby girls are friendly or chatty on the line. I have a lot more fun. I have known Square Brute and Opehlia Knockers of MHM for almost my whole derby career- they are so nice!

Ophelia Knockers and Square Brute (in pink, left) work together to hold me as jammer back.
Photo by Linda Conley

The Hellions won the scrimmage but I think we all had fun and it was a good learning experience.

Excitingly, the Mid-Hudson Misftis just announced their season schedule! Their first bout is Friday March 15 against Oneonta Roller Derby.