Blocker Stats: A look back at 2007 (2)

ToRD 2007 Championship Poster

In hockey they say that offense wins games; defense wins championships. In roller derby, you could say something similar: jammers win games; packs win championships.

Looking back at the blocker stats from ToRD’s 2007 season, the prevalence of members of the Chicks Ahoy! and the Gore-Gore Rollergirls speaks to the dominance of the two teams. The Gores’ Lock N Roll would prove to be the most dominant blocker in ToRD’s first full season, registering in the top ten in all four major categories including leading in total assists (19), and coming second in both total hits (109) and knockdowns (25). Her value to the Gores was evident also in the fact that she was on the track for 63% of her team’s total track time.

ASSISTS

Blocker	Assists
1. Lock N Roll (GGR)	19
1. Kinky K (DTD)	19
3. Foxy Sinatra (GGR)	18
4. Bones Brigade (DTD)	12
4. Midnight Snatch (DTD)	12
6. Nasher the Smasher (CA!)	10
7. Monichrome (BSB)	9
7. Tara Part (CA!)	9
7. Aimme Zing (CA!)	9
7. Rated R (DVAS)	9

The number of assists reflects a blocker/pivot’s total of whips, pushes and bulldozers. A couple of Gores held the top of the list, but the bottom half was dominated by the Chicks and Death Track Dolls. A lot of these names would become well known to ToRD fans in the coming seasons, with the Chicks blockers forming a sold core that continues to exits (for the most part) in 2010.

HITS

Blocker	Hits
1. Foxy Sinatra (GGR)	121
2. Lock N Roll (GGR)	109
3. Brimstone Cowgirl (GGR)	103
4. Bones Brigade (DTD)	91
5. Tara Part (CA!)	69
5. Mia Culprit (DVAS)	69
7. Sierra Hotel (CA!)	62
7. Junkie Jenny (GGR)	62
9. Chili Diablo (BSB)	61
10. Aimee Zing (CA!)	59

The amazing positional blocking and hitting of the Gores showed in the total hits category as they managed to lock up the top three spots. Brimstone Cowgirl makes her only appearance in these stats, but it’s a name that will become synonymous with solid blocking and confident pack leadership in ToRD. Tara Part had a solid showing too, part of a very consistent year for the Chicks’ blocker. The Gores’ Foxy Sinatra really ran away with this category, laying out more than double the number of hits than tenth place Aimee Zing.

KNOCKDOWNS

Blocker	Knockdowns
1. Chili Diablo (BSB)	26
2. Lock N Roll (GGR)	25
3. Dolly Destricto (CA!)	22
3. Foxy Sinatra (GGR)	22
5. Mega Mouth (CA!)	17
6. Mia Culprit (DVAS)	16
6. Midnight Snatch (DTD)	16
8. Sierra Hotel (CA!)	15
9.  Tara Part (CA!)	14
9. Nasher the Smasher (CA!)	14

While the Gores may have had more overall hits, the Chicks laid the most bodies down on the track accounting for five of the top ten spots in total knockdowns. Dolly Destructo, who also had a sold year jamming, shows up here, proving herself to be on of the most versatile ToRD players of 2007.  Mia Culprit made sure that the DVAS had representation in these stats also, showing up in three of the four categories.

KNOCKDOWN %*

Blocker	KD %
1. Chili Diablo (BSB)	43%
2. Midnight Snatch (DTD)	36%
3. BlacknBlue Barbie (DTD)	32%
4. Mega Mouth (CA!)	30%
5. Nasher the Smasher (CA!)	25%
6. Sierra Hotel (CA!)	24%
6. Creepella (CA!)	24%
8. Lock N Roll (GGR)	23%
8. Mia Culprit (DVAS)	23%
10. Tara Part (CA!)	20%
10. Coupe de Kill (GGR)	20%

*minimum 45 jams as pivot / blocker

Gore-Gore Rollergirls vs. Chicks Ahoy! in ToRD's 2007 championship bout.

The 0-3 Bay Street Bruisers’ Chili Diablo takes her second category, while two Dolls round out the top three. But once again the Chicks flexed their collective muscle in this category; of the five girls in green represented, Nasher the Smasher and Mega Mouth put up the biggest knockdown percentages showing that despite all of the changes ToRD has gone through in the three years since its inaugural season, some things have stayed the same.

2008 stats are on their way; Beast of the East review/preview still to come too.

Quad City Chaos Preview: CN Power

The Quad City Chaos is a four team round robin style tournament that will be played over the 27th and 28th of March at The Hangar. It will feature four of the best roller derby rosters in Canada, the all star teams from the leagues in Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal and Vancouver. The complete schedule can be found here. I’m going to start my four part Quad City Chaos preview with, who else? The hosts, Toronto’s CN Power.

CN POWER

Games: Vs. Vancouver‘s Terminal City All Stars (2pm on the 27th); Vs. Hamilton’s Eh! Team (4:30pm on the 27th); Vs. Montreal’s New Skids on the Block (1pm on the 28th).

CN Power kicked off 2010 with a lopsided victory over the scrappy Rideau Valley Vixens, exactly the kind of confidence booster that this squad needed after an uneven 2009. The 2010 version of CN Power looks focused and organized, and they’ll need both given the nature of the competition in this tournament.

The key to the victory over the Vixens was an uncontainable early onslaught by three of ToRD‘s top jammers, Lunchbox, Land Shark, and 2009 Jammer of the Year Defecaitlin (AKA: Dust Bunny). I don’t see CN Power veering too much from that strategy this this weekend, and the return of Bambi to the lineup will give them the depth that they will need as the weekend progresses. Over the course of the tournament, keep an eye out for jams from Betty Bomber, Memphis Kitty, 2009 rookie of the year Kari Mia Beere, and Marvel S. Maven, the standout sophomore who had an amazing 100% lead percentage in the bout against the Vixens.

Hit for hit, CN Power can go shoulder to hip with any team in the country. With the likes of Mega Mouth (AKA: Mega Bouche), Nasher the Smasher, Hoff, Lady Gagya and Dolly Destructo throwing hits, there will be no shortage of toughness on this squad. The return to the line up of 2009 Triple Threat winner Dyna Hurtcha will make up for the loss of Seka Destroy, who was excellent in her CN Power debut against the Vixens. Another big hitter, Jubilee, also has returned to ToRD after a year-long hiatus and will be making her 2010 CN Power debut at the tournament.

While they will need top jamming and big hitting to match up against Terminal City and The Eh! Team, in the key Sunday afternoon bout against The New Skids, CN Power will need to wrestle control of the pack from the pack-masters from Montreal; that means pivots Brim Stone, Rebel Rock-It , and Mach Wheels will need to control a tight pack when the stripe’s on their helmets. Also the consistency and calming influence of veteran Demolition Dawn will go a long way over the course of the grueling weekend. Look for sophomore skater Panty Hoser (who was also solid in her CN Power debut) to get some very important experience leading her pack.

THE DERBY NERD THINKS

Laying down the law early will be key for ToRD. It was the quick, efficient rotation of  ToRD’s top three jammers early on in the bout against the Vixens that sealed the deal in the season opener and they will need to establish that presence at Quad City. Also, keeping calm in the pack against the relentless grinding of the Hammer City girls and the shifty play making of the Skids will be key. This is going to be a long two days, so rotating the line up to keep everyone fresh and  limiting opposing power jams by staying out of the penalty box will be keys.

THE DERBY NERD PREDICTS

A close, early win over Terminal City will give CN Power the confidence they’ll need to pull off an upset victory over the WFTDA ranked Eh! Team (giving them some much needed revenge after a tough loss in 2009); unfortunately,  I don’t think things will go as well against the powerhouse Skids on Sunday, leaving the hosts with a second place finish. But let’s hope that CN Power proves me wrong!

ROSTER (with jersey number and club teams in parantheses)

Bambi (33, Gore-Gore Rollergirls), Betty Bomber (23 Death Track Dolls), Brim Stone (21:8 Gore-Gore Rollergirls), Defecaitlin (2 Gore-Gore Rollergirls), Demolition Dawn (36 Death Track Dolls), Dolly Destructo (e^[pii] Chicks Ahoy), Dyna Hurtcha (21, Chicks Ahoy!), Hoff (65 Chicks Ahoy), Jubilee (27 Death Track Dolls), Kari Mia Beere (06 Chicks Ahoy), Lady Gag-ya (212 Gore-Gore Rollergirls), Land Shark (1/3 Death Track Dolls), Lunchbox (7-11 Gore-Gore Rollergirls), Mach Wheels (V12 Chicks Ahoy), Marvel S. Maven (22 Chicks Ahoy), Mega Mouth (26er Chicks Ahoy), Memphis Kitty (56 Smoke City Betties), Nasher the Smasher (2by4 Chicks Ahoy), Panty Hoser (99, Death Track Dolls), Rebel Rock-It (7 Chicks Ahoy).

Bambi (33, Gore-Gore Rollergirls)
Betty Bomber (Death Track Dolls)
Brim Stone (21:8 Gore-Gore Rollergirls)
Defecaitlin (7 Gore-Gore Rollergirls)
Demolition Dawn (36 Death Track Dolls)
Dolly Destructo (e^[pii] Chicks Ahoy)
Dyna Hurtcha (Chicks Ahoy!)
Hoff (65 Chicks Ahoy)
Jubilee (Death Track Dolls)
Kari Mia Beere (06 Chicks Ahoy)
Lady Gag-ya (212 Gore-Gore Rollergirls)
Landshark (Death Track Dolls)
Lunchbox (1/3 Gore-Gore Rollergirls)
Mach Wheels (V12 Chicks Ahoy)
Marvel S. Maven (22 Chicks Ahoy)
Mega Mouth (26er Chicks Ahoy)
Memphis Kitty (Smoke City Betties)
Nasher the Smasher (2by4 Chicks Ahoy)
Panty Hoser (24, Death Track Dolls)
Rebel Rock-It (7 Chicks Ahoy)

Word on the Track

Cardinal Skate Co.

The Derby Nerd can’t be about stats all the time ( at least not until the regular seasons when there actually are stats all the time…), and even though ToRD’s regular season hasn’t started yet, everyone knows that the roller derby season never really ends.

NEW DERBY RETAIL OUTLET

Toronto finally has its first roller derby retail outlet! Cardinal Skate Co. opened its doors this weekend in Bloor West Village, and it features the physical manifestation of the popular roller derby web shop Rollerbug.com. I popped by the stylish little shop on Friday night and it was amazing to walk into a store and see a wall lined with derby skates. Stop by to show your support! Tell all your friends!

FAN”S CHOICE SCRIMMAGE

ToRD hosted its third preseason scrimmage on Saturday evening. It was another well attended and entertaining affair with only one difference: a closely contested bout between two evenly matched teams. The first 32 fans in attendance were given either a black or a white tee; twenty minutes before the bout was to begin, the fans were instructed to give the tee to the roller girl of their choice. Team Black, made up by a lot of ToRD players, quickly gelled and had doubled up Team White by the end of the first half. In the second half  White, made up of a lot of visiting skaters and ToRD rookies, finally came together and poured it on, eventually winning 101-92.

There were a lot of great showings from members of ToRD’s 2010 rookie class, and some of the skaters from sister leagues continue to put up impressive showings in these scrimmages. Thames Fatale‘s Mirambo looked great playing in only her second scrimmage since returning from a long stay on the injury reserve. Her Forest City leaguemate Killson dominated the second half from the jam line, putting up a lot of White ‘s 70 second-half points. Tri City‘s Barleigh Legal laid down some huge hits for White and was another key in the comeback.

TOURNAMENT UPDATE:

ToRD is still playing coy about its upcoming tournament (March 27-28), but word on the track is that four travel teams will be playing a round robin tournament beginning Saturday afternoon and continuing into Sunday evening. One guarantee is that the derby will be amazing: CN Power will be hosting The Terminal City All Stars (Vancouver), Hammer City‘s Eh! Team (Hamilton), and Montreal‘s New Skids on the Block, arguably, the four best teams in the country. Considering that The New Skids and the Eh! Team are the only two WFTDA ranked teams in Canada, this tournament provides a great opportunity for CN Power to see how it stacks up against some of the best competition on the continent.

Look for a full tournament preview (including possible lineups!) early next week.

PS: SPEAKING OF WFTDA…

Recently, there have been a few major blowouts stateside, including  a ridiculous 409-22 Charm City victory over River City (March 14th), and an amazing 305-31 Rocky Mountain victory over Bellingham. Anyone know what the WFTDA record is for total points / margin of victory?

The Jammer Quotient Explained

Defecaitlin takes the lead

THE JAMMER QUOTIENT EXPLAINED

Since I began to watch roller derby, I’d always wondered where the stats were. From what I could tell the leagues made a huge effort to record data—all those people sitting in the centre of the track and around the penalty box pens in hands—but as a fan I wasn’t seeing them. And since roller derby is a relatively new sport (particularly in its flat track form), and I new to it, I didn’t even know which stats were important and worth following. The Derby Nerd went to work.

Every major sports league finds some way to statistically compare its players, and I wanted some way to do the same with roller derby. The JQ is the best way I could think of to compare jammers, who have the most visible role on the track.* The JQ is a statistical comparison of jammers based on their rankings in five categories. Here are the the JQ Ratings for the February 27^th,2010,CN Power (199) and Rideau Valley Vixens (49) bout at The Hangar.

Jammer	Total Points	Points Per Jam	Plus/ Minus	Jam %	Lead %	JQ
Lunchbox (CNP)	48 (9)	4.36 (9)	+36 (9)	23.4 (8)	72.7 (9)	44
Land Shark CNP)	53 (10)	3.78 (7)	+45 (10)	29.7 (9)	57.1 (7)	43
Defecaitlin (CNP)	45 (8)	4.5 (10)	+29 (8)	21.2 (6)	70 (8)	40
Marvel S. Maven (CNP)	25 (7)	4.16 (8)	+20 (7)	12.7 (3)	100 (10)	35
Soul Rekker (RVV)	19 (6)	1.18 (4)	-35 (5)	34 (10)	50 (6)	31

Below is a breakdown of the five categories used to determine the total JQ  (only the top five in each category are shown). For a condensed explanation, check here.

Total Points

Jammer	Total Points
Land Shark (CNP)	53 (10)
Lunchbox (CNP)	48 (9)
Defecaitlin (CNP)	45 (8)
Marvel S. Maven (CNP)	25 (7)
Soul Rekker (RVV)	19 (6)

When all is said and done, most points always wins. There’s no way any analysis of jammers could exclude this. Land Shark was the workhorse for CN Power putting up a remarkable 53 points.

Points Per Jam

Jammer	Points Per Jam
Defecaitlin (CNP)	4.5 (10)
Lunchbox (CNP)	4.36 (9)
Marvel S. Maven (CNP)	4.16 (8)
Land Shark (CNP)	3.78 (7)
Sister Disaster (RVV)	1.57 (6)

Points per jam is also an important indicator of a jammer’s value, particularly in situations where a team might need a guaranteed score, or if the opposing team’s jammer is in the penalty box and a team wants to be sure to put up a lot of points. Defecaitlin may not have been as busy as Lunch Box or Land Shark (jamming anyway; she did her share of mixing it up in the pack too), but she made the most of her jams, gaining well over a full score (4 points) each jam.

Plus/Minus

Jammer	Plus/ Minus
Land Shark (CNP)	+45 (10)
Lunchbox (CNP)	+36 (9)
Defecaitlin (CNP)	+29 (8)
Marvel S. Maven (CNP)	+20 (7)
Ripper A Part (RVV)	-25 (6)

The last of the pure points categories is the plus/minus. A jammer’s plus/minus indicates the difference between the amount of points a jammer scores and the amount of points the opposing jammer scores against her. This is a good indicator of how well aware a jammer is of the other players on the track at all times. Land Shark (and the other CN Power jammers) dominated in this category as well.

Jam Percentage

Jammer	Jam %
Soul Rekker (RVV)	34 (10)
Land Shark (CNP)	29.7 (9)
Lunchbox (CNP)	23.4 (8)
Ripper A Part (RVV)	23.4 (8)
Defecaitlin (CNP)	21.2 (6)

The jam percentage represents the percentage of a team’s jams that a jammer does. This is the only category that has two members of the Vixens in the top 5. Soul Rekker really stepped up for the overmatched Vixens and wore the panty every third jam for both halves, a truly remarkable performance.

Lead Percentage

Jammer	Lead %
Marvel S. Maven (CNP)	100 (10)
Lunchbox (CNP)	72.7 (9)
Defecaitlin (CNP)	70 (8)
Land Shark (CNP)	57.1 (7)
Soul Rekker (RVV)	50 (6)

The final category, the lead percentage, represents the percentage of a jammer’s jams in which she wins lead jammer. Marvel S. Maven made the most out of all the jams she got, never giving up the star on any of them. It’s interesting to note that Land Shark and Soul Rekker, who did the most jamming for each of their teams, and often against each other, had lower jam percentages. I suspect that patterns such as this (and the match ups they represent) will be most evident in the final two categories.

I’m looking forward to applying the JQ over ToRD’s full 2010 season.

Just a note: There’s a ToRD “Fan’s Choice” scrimmage this weekend that should be a lot of fun. The first fans who arrive get to choose which players are on which team. Word around the track is that there will be guests from other leagues including some fan favourites from Forest City.

(*A similar comparison could be done with blocker stats too, and I’ll start working on that soon).

The Jammer Quotient

The JQ is a statistical comparison of jammers based on their rankings in five categories. The maximum JQ a jammer can receive is 50. The table below illustrates the evaluation of a JQ for the February 27th bout between ToRD’s CN Power and the Rideau Valley Vixens (only the top 5 are shown)*.

Jammer	Total Points	Points Per Jam	Plus/ Minus	Jam %	Lead %	JQ
Lunchbox (CNP)	48 (9)	4.36 (9)	+36 (9)	23.4 (8)	72.7 (9)	44
Land Shark CNP)	53 (10)	3.78 (7)	+45 (10)	29.7 (9)	57.1 (7)	43
Defecaitlin (CNP)	45 (8)	4.5 (10)	+29 (8)	21.2 (6)	70 (8)	40
Marvel S. Maven (CNP)	25 (7)	4.16 (8)	+20 (7)	12.7 (3)	100 (10)	35
Soul Rekker (RVV)	19 (6)	1.18 (4)	-35 (5)	34 (10)	50 (6)	31

CN Power’s Lunchbox received the highest JQ. Interestingly, she didn’t actually lead in any of the five categories but placed second in four and third in the fifth (the numbers in brackets designate the ranking points, 10 for first place, etc). So for this bout, consistency was rewarded, as I imagine it always will be. Overall, all of the CN Power jammers had their way with the Vixens; despite a huge effort by Soul Rekker, the difference was in the jammers. The game was essentially over after the fourth jam when Defecaitlin (that’s Dust Bunny to all you Gore Gore fans) skated to a double grand slam and more than doubled the lead to 19-2.

This particular example doesn’t provide ideal data for a number of reasons. For one, it’s just one game, and there were only eight skaters who jammed a statically significant amount of times (I cut it off at 6 jams). The more data available, the more accurate the JQ, so during ToRD’s regular season, the teams will play enough games and get in enough jams to make a much more accurate judge of the statistical significance a jammer has to her team.

The data in this example are also skewed heavily in CN Power’s favour given the one-sided nature of the bout (199-49). I wouldn’t expect such high JQs over an extended period of time or among a much more even playing field. .

In the next post I’ll look at each category in more detail and justify the decision to include it.

* These stats are unofficial and are based on post bout analysis of video shot by Layer9.

Introducing The Derby Nerd

Lady Gagya makes some space for Land Shark.

Like any other sport, you need to watch a lot of roller derby to really understand it. But it doesn’t take too long for all of that violent frenzy to turn into something a lot more coherent. For me it happened in Montreal during a La Racaille game. I know that because I clearly remember the moment, seeing the extraordinary Iron Wench cutting her way through a pack, grabbing jerseys, accepting assists, dodging shoulders. It was at that moment when I realized that all of the chaos was actually quite orchestrated.

It’s been a few years now since a sudden surge of roller derby in Canada saw teams emerge in Toronto, Montreal, Hamilton, and other cities very soon after. We’ve gotten to the point now where the sport in Canada (at its very best) has developed to nearly the highest levels. It’s an exciting time to be a derby fan, and things just seem to keep looking up.

Almost as soon as I had my moment of derby clarity, my sports brain took over and I started to think of different ways to statistically compare the jammers. After a few false starts, I eventually developed something that I’ve been calling “The Jammer Quotient” or JQ. Its inspiration is varied, but basically it gives points to jammers based on their rankings in five different categories (total points, points per jam, plus/minus, jam %, and lead %). The top jammer in each category gets 10 points, the second 9, the third 8, etc (some fantasy sports players may recognize this points system). It might sound complicated, but it all adds up to one simple number between 10 and 50.

I’m working on a practice JQ comparison based on CN Power’s resounding 199-49 victory over the Rideau Valley Vixens on February 27^th. A one game analysis isn’t ideal, especially a bout so one sided, but it’ll make for a good practice run.

I’ll post it shortly.

coming soon: The Derby Nerd

the scores, the stats, the stories