Quad City Chaos Preview: New Skids on the Block

Montreal’s New Skids on the Block have certainly been the busiest team in Canada in 2010, and just may be the hottest team in WFTDA! Having played in a number of games south of the border this year, the skaters are coming to Toronto in game shape. They’ve just returned from an east coast road trip that saw them go 3-0 making some pretty good competition look pretty bad. According to flattrackstats.com, their current winning streak has them sitting in 8th place in WFTDA’s Eastern Region, a huge leap from 13th where they started the year. Needless to say, this is a very good team with very few weaknesses. To make matters worse for the competition at Quad City, the Skids only carried an 11 person roster on their road trip, meaning they’ll have plenty of fresh faces for the tournament.

NEW SKIDS ON THE BLOCK

Games: Vs. Vancouver’s Terminal City All Stars (6:30pm on the 27th); Vs. ToRD’s CN Power (1pm on the 28th).

The New Skids on the Block are making quite a name for themselves by their ability to handle a pack, and who’s going to argue with players like Smack Daddy, Trash ‘N Smash, Nameless Whorror, Bone Machine, Wrath Poutine, Jess Bandit…well you get the idea. This is not a pack to take lightly. There is power, skill and depth up front and it will take a huge effort by an opposing pivot to wrestle control away from them. Word on the track is that key veteran Beater Pan Tease has been nursing a knee injury that caused her to sit out the recent round trip. Although her name is penciled into the roster, it remains to be seen how much of a role she will have at Quad City. For the fan’s sake, let’s hope she’s healed up and ready to go.

There is no less depth at jammer on this team. Led by the phenomenal Iron Wench, the Skids will undoubtedly rotate Georgia W. Tush, Izzy Skellington,  Ewan Wotarmy, and Romeo at the jam line, but don’t be surprised to see some of the blockers mentioned above (and even some who haven’t been!) get a shot with a star. This is a diverse, well-organized team that can mix it up positionally based on the situation.

THE DERBY NERD THINKS

Their jammer’s ability to neutralize the other team’s jammer will be key.These are jammers who can mix it up with other jammers and even blockers if needs be, but they also have the endurance to out pace a pack. But despite the unbelievable depth at jammer, victory in this tournament will be based on the Skids’ pack control. Their ability to trap blockers and pace packs will be what separates them from the competition.

THE DERBY NERD PREDICTS

The Skids will go undefeated in the tournament and take first over all, but it won’t be easy. While I don’t think the Skids are invincible (and The Eh! Team was within spitting distance in a bout against them last year, losing by only 4 points), they are simply too hot right now. They have burst out of the gates in 2010 and have been playing a lot of games against some solid competition, so I think they are ahead of the other teams in terms of game-readiness.

THE ROSTER

(Jersey number and club team in parentheses)

Beater Pan-Tease (1976 Les Filles du Roi),  Bone Machine (1111 La Racaille), Cheese Grater (289 Contrabanditas), Ewan Wotarmy (7734 Les Contrabanditas), Georgia W Tush (Contrabanditas), Iron Wench (516 La Racaille), Izzy Skellington (182, La Racaille), Jess Bandit (8 Les Filles du Roi), Lady J (86), Lyn-dah Kicks (75 La Racaille), No Holds Bard (2X4 La Racaille), Romeo (222 Les Filles du Roi), Smack Daddy (3X Les Filles du Roi), Trash N’ Smash (1.18 Contrabanditas), Karla Shnikov (AK 47 Contrabanditas), Lil Mama (2 Les Filles du Roi), Nameless Whorror (202 Les Filles du Roi), Rae Volver (38 Les Filles du Roi), Wrath Poutine (30 La Racaille)

Beater Pan-Tease (1976 Les Filles du Roi),  Bone Machine   (1111  ), Cheese Grater (289), (Ewan Wotarmy 7734 Les Contrabanditas), Georgia W Tush (Contrabanditas), Iron Wench (516 La Racaille), Izzy Skellington (182, La Racaille), Jess Bandit (8), Lady J (86), Lyn-dah Kicks (75), No Holds Bard (2X4), Romeo (222 Les Filles du Roi), Smack Daddy (3X Les Filles du Roi), Trash N’ Smash (Contrabanditas), Karla Shnikov (AK 47), Lil Mama (2), Nameless Whorror  (202), Rae Volver (38), Wrath Poutine (30 La Racaille)