Eastern Region Play-offs: Nightmare on 95 Day 1

I've got thoughts on three of Friday's bouts for you.

In the first game of the tournament, the Dutchland Derby Rollers took on our friends from Maine Roller Derby (we're playing their B team next week!). I think it was a surprise to a lot of people, but Team USA rostered skater, V-Diva, recently transferred to DDR from Lehigh Valley. Maine did well but Dutchland took the win- their next bout would've been against Gotham (#1 tournament seed) later in the day - except they chose to forfeit. Read about that over on derbynewsnetwork or pretty much any facebook wall of someone related to roller derby.

The London vs Carolina game was one I had been looking forward to. I saw London play Providence Roller Derby, and I thought they were pretty great! Last year at Regionals (back when it was "Regionals"), Carolina played Montreal, winning by only a couple points. In my mind, this was sort of an international rematch for Carolina.

Carolina literally facing of vs London

London ruled the game with smart trapping and super recycling from their blockers; and beautiful footwork by their jammers. Even with hard strikes to the hips driven by Carolina, the London jammers would rarely take a tumble, and more like do some sort of spin-around move and stay on their feet. I actually saw this move from a couple jammers this weekend, including Charm City's CC Bang Bang.
Carolina interesting strategy of starting facing the jammers. From the crowd, it seemed intimidating. I'm curious about this strategy - I'm sure we'll be hearing about it.
The final score was London 160 - Carolina 67.


Montreal vs. Steel City
So, first of all you had to wonder - is the whole league wearing unitards under their jerseys, like the coaches? Or are those just pants?
This was a low scoring game for the first 10 minutes, with a score of score 16 Steel - 6 Montreal. Steel inched up to about at 25 point lead, but in the final jams of the period, Montreal nearly shortened the gap to 49-41 - still a quite low scoring game.
Soon into the second period, we saw the first 1 point lead change.  Midway into period two, the Steel City jammer was unable to take advantage of a powerjam due to what appeared to be an equipment malfunction seconds into the jam. A minute passed as she attempted to adjust her kneepad (?) and shortly the Montreal jammer was back on the track.
Steel City's defense endeavored to be ruthless: with big girls Athena and Bonecrusher in the back of the pack, it was nearly impossible to get around them. I'd like to rephrase myself and say that they were big girls... with incredible endurance and jammer stopping hits. By the end of the period, Steel regained the lead and took the game 134 - 88.

Fun at Eastern Regionals

Miss Ida

Rev. Al Mighty & Ida Felternatch

Miss Ida, one of our announcers who is really starting to make it big in the announcing world (she also announced for Central New York this season), announced her first ever WFTDA tournament this weekend. Paired up with one of my favorites, Rev. Al Mighty, she grabbed her microphone and didn't look back. I'm way proud of her and hoping she'll announce at Nationals, too!

Great showing by the Hellions of Troy
I attended the event with fellow veterans Flexi, Shockratease, and Mathundra Storm, as well as die-hard derby supporters (HoT and announcers!) Eloda Sarcasm and Miss Ida Feltersnatch. Referee Miranda Wrights was also volunteering at the event, and upcoming HoT refs Beau T. Call and Luci D. Dream also came down on Sunday to watch.

Not only that, but we had a whole bunch of FRESH MEAT make the trip down on Saturday to catch the action. Road Kill, Chicken Florentine, Rock Lobster, Snausage, Hassenfeffer, Soyrizo, and Souvlaki (in case you didn't know - we call our fresh meat by MEAT names, haha) ... I'm SO proud so many new girls came down to check out this important event. I had barely been on the team for 6 weeks when I attended the 2009 WFTDA Nationals in November 2009. That experience definitely shaped my perspective on roller derby in a great way.

Rubbing Elbows
I met some AWESOME people that weekend! I'm on a quest to learn more and more about WFTDA, and everyone I spoke with was so helpful. I ran in to some girls from Toronto Roller Derby, who I had seen play against Buffalo back in August. I also chatted with girls from Suburbia, Long Island Roller Rebels, and Ophelia and Square Brute of Hudson Valley Horrors. I also met some way cool NSO/referees via Miranda Wrights, including Grand Poohbah (Roc City - stats), N8 (Charm City - stats), Bettie Mercury and Ian Fluenza (CT Roller Derby), and Reffalo Bill (DC Roller Girls).

Staff breaking down the skate court.

Tournaments are really fun because you meet lots of really awesome people, and also run into people you met at a previous derby event. Everyone is there to support derby, so there's always something to talk about or catch up on.

Seeing how the big leagues operate
It wasn't all about the skaters.  At the end of the tournament I got to watch the crew breakdown the skatecourt, which was being borrowed from Gotham.   I think I've skated on this type of surface once before.  I just thought it was interesting to see the process of setting up the skating service.  The squares (12"x12" I think) are broken down by 16 (4 square) panels and stacked several high on platforms then loaded into a truck. Have rink will travel.

Star Struck

Miranda Wrights was my ride home after the tournament on Sunday night. She had some volunteer stuff to wrap up so I hung around her and got to talk with some of her pals. Miranda's been invovled with derby for a long time: she started her derby career with Brew City from Madison, WI. We were casually chatting with her old team mate, Grace Killy, we someone casually mentioned she was the President of WFTDA. Ahhhh, wow! She was so incredibly nice. I also met The Ruffian from Dominion Roller Derby and had a casual conversation with her about WFTDA membership. Later that night when I was doing some googling, I discovered she's the Vice President of WFTDA. Wow!

Eastern Regionals Recap

I was at Eastern Regionals pretty much all weekend.  I got there after the first two games on Friday and Saturday, but from then on it was non-stop roller derby.

My favorite teams of the weekend were Montreal, Steel City, and Charm City.  As I anticipated, Montreal seemed to be the sweetheart team of the weekend.  In their first game, they held their own against Boston, but it's not too much of a surprise that Boston took the win.  On Saturday, they lost by only 2 points to Carolina, which later that night one NSO described to me as a "comedy of errors."  Montreal ended up taking 7th place after a strong bout against Providence.

Steel City's Hurricane Heather jamming past out of play
blockers from Carolina.

The first game I caught on Friday was Steel City vs. Charm City, which was a terrific match.  Right off the bat they utilized "slow game" strategies, meaning once the jam whistle blew, nobody raced off the line, but instead held back - perhaps in an effort to intimidate the jammer.  Our league has done a little bit of this strategy, but Steel City has nailed it.  Throughout the weekend, their "steel curtain" was incredible.  Charm City, however, featured tough cookies such as Dolly Rocket and Joy Collision.  Dolly seemed almost villainous as she played with a serious scowl on her face and took out anyone in her way showing no mercy.  I won't completely buy into it though - I sat next to her grandparents during the first bout and when she came over to say hello to them I saw her genuinely smile.  Even though derby girls can be fierce on the track, off the track they're still human.

This game was a great way to warm us all up for the rest of the weekend - I think it was my favorite game of the tournament.  Even though I came into the weekend with my eye on Steel City (and kept it there the rest of the weekend - they ended up taking 5th place), I began rooting for Charm City as well.

Philly vs. Gotham.  Notice how some blockers started
closer to the jammer line.  Getting ready to execute the
"slow game" strategy.

This weekend I learned that during regional playoffs, the most important game isn't the last game for first or second place, but the one decides third and fourth.  Out of ten teams, only the top three teams advance to the Championships.  That meant the game to watch would be Charm City vs. Boston.  Last year, Boston, Philly, and Gotham were the top three.

The score was neck-and-neck for the first 45 minutes of the game, until Charm City started pulling ahead, kept their defense strong, and won the game by 34 points.  Wooo!  I don't believe Charm City has never gone to the Championships before, so there was much celebrating.  Advancing teams will be: Gotham, Philly, and Charm City.

Catch some good recaps on all the bouts from Derby News Network here: http://derbynewsnetwork.com/2010/09/eastern_region_playoffs_recaps

I learned some other interesting things and met some cool people this weekend, which I'll talk about in my next post.

East Coast Regionals this Weekend

I'm starting to read up on the teams for Eastern Regionals this weekend.  Derby in the Burbs, hosted by Suburbia Roller Derby this year, will take place on Friday, September 24 - Sunday, September 26.

One special thing about this year's event is that it's the first time a team outside the U.S. will be competing.  the New Skids on the Block, Montreal Roller Derby's travel team, will take on Boston on Friday afternoon for Game 4.  I've seen both teams play, but more recently Montreal at East Coast Extravaganza back in July.

Like I wrote about Minnesota, I'm gonna say that Montreal is going to be the exciting team to watch this weekend - and not just because they'll be hard to miss wearing neon.  Not only are they an all around fun group of girls, but their hitting power and blocking ability is also quite impressive.  Geaux Montreal!



Shockratease is coming down on Friday with me and she's excited to see Steel City (Pittsburgh).  I just watched a video of them on youtube.  They look like a fun and hardworking team!

Then of course there is Gotham, whose All Star team never disappoints.  DNN has some interesting commentary on their strategy, which I've never noticed before so I'll have to pay attention.  Also excited to meet some of the girls from Suburbia (although they're not playing).  Lets go New York Derby!

Don't forget that you can watch the whole tournament live for free on Derby News Network!

For more "informed" commentary, check out DNN's preview article or the preview from Roller Derby Inside Track.  Better to consider their thoughts over my speculation when it's time to fill out your bracket.

Recap: North Central Regionals

The weekend of September 10-12 was the beginning of this year's Big 5 WFTDA events.  The first of four regional tournaments leading up to Nationals.  The North Central Regionals: Thunda on the Tundra!

On Friday, I was excited to hear that my favorite midwest derby team, the Minnesota Rollergirls, easily won their first bout of the day (while I was at work, so I missed it).  Friday night, I did get to watch them play the #2 ranked Detroit Derby Girls on Derby News Network (DNN).  What a game!  It was neck and neck through out.  Not sure anyone saw that coming, but I was excited!  Read more about Day 1 here.

Note Mr. T's Yankees t-shirt and my London
Rollergirls shirt.  You know who we really love.

Saturday and Sunday I was in NYC with Mr. T visiting his sister.  We went to a Mets game on Saturday (they won, woohoo!)  Mr. T actually loves the Yankees but we got hooked up with these seats so who doesn't love a baseball game?

So, while the Mets and Phillies fans were sweating over who would win the second game of the series, I was desperately checking DNN/twitter/facebook/anything to figure out who was playing who and who was winning.  Minnesota had to play Madison, WI, another tournament favorite, to make the top three.  Again, another close game but Minnesota came out on TOP!  WFTDA Day 2 Recap.  Sunday, however, Minnesota would have to take on Chicago's Windy City Roller Girls - tournament favorite and #1 going into it all.

Far left: derby booty.

Sunday we went to an art reception at New Rochelle.  I knew Minnesota didn't play Windy City until later in the evening, so I enjoyed the afternoon.  As we were getting on the bus I knew it was about that time.  I figured out I could get play-by-play text updates on DNN, so using my dying iPhone, between dozing off on the bus, I caught bits of the game.  Windy City ended up winning the tournament, but Minnesota will advance in the #2 position.  Sweet!  Full WFTDA tournament recap here.

The next play off tournament takes place September 24-26 - Eastern Regionals in Westchester!  It's Derby in the Burbs hosted by Suburbia Roller Derby.  Luckily, I will be there in person!

Oh, by the way, one cool derby website I discovered that weekend: Roller Derby Inside Track!  Pretty new, but lots of good articles already.  It also features one of the most interesting people I follow on twitter: @CoachCaesar.  Check it out!