CN Power hosted its first ever WFTDA sanctioned homegame against the Roc City Roc Stars. (Photos by Kevin Konnyu)
Roc Stars 108 vs. CN Power 171
CN Power continues its slow climb up the competitive ladder of the WFTDA after putting together a near perfect performance against a tough and wily Roc City team on Saturday in the first ever sanctioned WFTDA home bout hosted by ToRD. For about 50 minutes CN Power (ranked 17th in the North Central) was in control, dominating portions of the game, before focus was lost in the final 10 minutes and Roc City (17th in the East) was able to mount a comeback and erase what had been a 100-point deficit for much of the second half, but it would prove too little too late as CN Power held on for the 63-point victory.
An early 25-point CN Power power jam blew the game wide open early in the first half.
Coming off of a wild, penalty filled victory against the overly physical Fort Wayne Bomb Squad only two weeks ago, CN Power put together a much more controlled performance against the Roc Stars from Rochester. Things were quite tense from the beginning, with both teams performing well from the opening whistle. Each team seemed cautious at first, and as the points slowly accumulated on each side (5-4 for the visitors five minutes in), it looked as though each team was waiting for the other to make a mistake. Short, well-defended jams typified the action in the early going of the bout, and there wasn’t a mistake made until a very well-timed last-line hit by Jubilee forced a momentum cut from the Roc City jammer and gave CN Power the power jam with Bambi wearing the star. The host team executed perfectly locking in a tight trap and allowing Bambi to quickly ring up 25 points to blow the game wide open: 29-5.
Aston Martini spent some time with the star for the fourth game in a row.
The Roc Stars seemed a little stunned at this point and the ToRD skaters took over the next few jams to pad their lead, and very slowly the hosts built that lead to 70 points. CN Power went with a slightly different offensive look in this one, slotting Aston Martini and Rebel Rock-It into a more regular spot in the jammer rotation (along with DefeCaitlin, Bambi and Dyna Hurtcha–who, quite effectively, was able to spend more time in the pack) and the broader rotation gave their offense a more varied look. The Roc Stars though, were not about to go down without a fight, and pushed back at the end of the first half, with physical jammer Shockin’ Audrey putting points up on the board to cut into the Toronto lead, 81-24 at the half.
Panty Hoser (99) delivered some big hits for CN Power (in the penalty box with Tara Part, who had another strong game as well).
Seeing that an undisciplined CN Power at full strength may have been hard to beat, Roc City (who mounted a major second-half comeback against Tri-City Thunder only a few weeks before) began to mix things up. The jam starts shifted in the second half to the jammer line where they stayed for almost every jam in the half. Roc city tracked a deep jammer rotation in Kell’d on Impact and Shockin’ Audrey, along with the the very physical Natasha Musquashya (who loved to mix it up off the jammer line) and the triple threat Asa Clubs (who seemed to get stronger as the bout went on). In the pack, JoJo Thrasher and Roxy D. Sniper kept Toronto honest. But CN Power had some stand outs of their own including a monster bout from Panty Hoser, who played the most physical game of her CN Power career. The hosts kept things simple and took advantage of every pack advantage and power jam to build a 144-45 point lead midway through the half.
With the game seemingly getting out of control, animated Roc City bench manager Grid Iron called for an Official Review of a Bambi 9-point jam; it proved to be a timely request as the points were stricken and Bambi was thrown in the box. Roc City fought back hard here as the discipline seen in the Toronto skaters evaporated. Roc City ended the game coming on strong, holding CN Power to about 15 points over the final ten minutes, but it was too little too late as CN Power scored the big victory.
Read Justice Feelgood Marshall's full recap of the bout on the Derby News Network (and see photos by Fotodog).
SKIDS SPLIT NORTH CENTRAL ROAD TRIP
Montreal’s New Skids on the Block kicked off their competitive WFTDA season this weekend, going 1-1 on a road trip through Minnesota. In Saturday’s marquee matchup, the 6th ranked Skids took on the North Central’s 2nd ranked Minnesota All Stars (fresh off a 2012 that saw them make the quarterfinals at the WFTDA championship) in St. Paul. With Georgia W. Tush still recovering from a major collarbone break and Iron Wench off of the continent, they tracked a comparatively inexperienced jammer rotation, and while defensively they were able to stay in the game, four jammer penalties were the difference in this one as Minnesota dominated early and then held on as the Montreal skaters made their (now expected) late-game push. Final score 136-95 for Minnesota.
Montreal managed some level of revenge, heading to the second of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis, to take on North Star Roller Girls, who are ten spots lower than Minnesota, ranked 12th in the North Central. The Skids evened up their 2012 WFTDA record with a convincing 261-51 victory.
Next up for Montreal is an intriguing April 7th matchup against No Coast Derby Girls, who are ranked 6th in the South Central (No Coast plays out of Lincoln, Nebraska).
Terminal City All Stars played in their first Wild West Showdown.
TERMINAL CITY GOES 1-2 AT WILD WEST SHOWDOWN
Vancouver’s Terminal City All Stars have been the talk of the West in early 2012, debuting with an impressive 3-0 record at the Big O tournament, which included a big victory over Pikes Peak and (in this Nerd’s unofficial estimation) climbing up to about 17th in the rankings. They continued their hot streak at the team’s first ever appearance at the Wild West Showdown. In their opening bout of the tournament on Saturday, the All Stars upset 12th ranked Emerald City 129-109, but fell twice on Sunday to 8th ranked Jet City (141-74) and 15th ranked Santa Cruz (97-84).
Despite the (respectable) losses, Terminal City continues to look very comfortable in the West and although still early in the season, are playing within striking distance of the WFTDA playoffs.
CANADA’S WFTDA TEAMS (Ranking, Region, 2012 Record)
New Skids on the Block, Montreal Roller Derby (6th East): 1-1
Tri-City Thunder, Tri-City Rollergirls (16th North Central): 1-0
CN Power, Toronto Roller Derby (17th North Central): 2-0
Terminal City All Stars, Terminal City Roller Girls (23rd West): 5-2
The Derby Nerd 
And as usual, Montreal dominated the visual style category. Those travel blacks are sharp!
Good write up Nerd. I agree that Panty Hoser looked very strong out there and I was super impressed with the way she has stepped up her game. I was also surprised with how effective the jamming of Aston Martini and Rebel was. The usual jammer of rotation of Dyna, Bambi and Def is tough enough without having the two coming off the bench and racking up points too. One other hi-lite for me was Brim, with the stripe, holding off the entire Roc Star team single handedly while CN Power was dealing with some penalty trouble. Stellar positional blocking from the Team Canada skater.
Good call Capt. Lou!
I think Brim Stone (and Tara Part as well) are such solid skaters and on-track leaders that their excellent play is often taken for granted; thanks for pointing it out!
Hey Nerd, thanks for keeping Canada WFTDA’s games up to date for everyone. I will give you some added numbers for Terminal City.
They are currently at 5-2 for sanctioned games this season as they outscored Tacoma’s
Dock Yard Dames (21W) 215-85 in their first sanctioned game of the 2012 season.
We will get another crack at Santa Cruz and our first game against a rising Silicon Valley in April on a California road trip. Next up though is a couple games in Portland and Oly at the end of this month.
Thanks for the update and the schedule!
Exciting stuff with matchups in Portland and Oly!