Word on the Track: Montreal Downs Boston, Saskatoon wins RDAC Champs, WFTDA Releases Rankings

MONTREAL TAKES TWO ON WEEKEND ROADTRIP

Montreal New Skids are now 3-0 in sanctioned play to kick off 2013.

New Skids on the Block (MTLRD) 17^th 188 vs. Boston Massacre (BDD) 21^st 117

New Skids (MTLRD) 17^th 333 vs. Port Authorities (Maine RD) 60^th 38

Montreal Roller Derby’s New Skids on the Block played its second game of the season on Saturday, scoring an important 71-point victory against the Boston Massacre, in what was the first bout of the season for the Boston Derby Dames travel team. It was the fourth win in a row for Montreal over their long-time rivals since February 2011. Previous to that win, the Massacre had defeated the Skids in three straight dating back to 2009.

But believe it or not, Montreal and Boston’s rivalry dates back even further. The Derby Dames B-travel team, the Boston B Party, has been playing Montreal teams (house league and travel) since 2008. This past Saturday, Les Sexpos defeated the B Party 211-148. The last time these two particular teams met was in 2011, a one-point victory by Boston.

On Sunday, the Skids hit up Maine Roller Derby’s Port Authority for a sanctioned hangover matchup. Montreal won it handily, 333 to 38. It was the second WFTDA sanctioned meeting between the two teams, and the first since a 79-point Montreal victory victory in May 2011. Maine, which had consistently been an East Region “bubble playoff team” (they finished 11^th in the region last season), now find themselves buried deep in WFTDA’s Division Two (60^th overall).

SASKATOON DEFEATS REGINA IN ALL-SASKATCHEWAN RDAC CHAMPIONSHIP

RDAC held its first championship, featuring teams from three of its regions.

Saskatoon Roller Derby defeated their cross-province rivals, Pile O’ Bones Derby Club, 245 to 188, in an all-Saskatchewan final at this weekend’s Roller Derby Association of Canada (RDAC) championship in Edmonton, Alberta. Played in the stunning Ica Palace at the West Edmonton Mall and broadcast expertly (in awesome high def) by AMJ Productions and Canuck Derby TV, the tournament didn’t quite live up to its billing as a national championship, but was nonetheless a great showcase of the flat track game featuring teams from disparate regions of Canada.

It was an excellent opportunity especially for the Saskatchewan finalists, who have largely remained out of the eye of the larger Canadian derby community due to their comparative lack of inter-regional play. And they were strong, clearly dominating a tournament that suffered for excitement in the opening round for a lack of parity but brought closer, more competitive games on Sunday.

With western champions Terminal City, eastern champs Toronto Roller Derby (Bay Street Bruisers) and eastern runners-up Forest City absent from the tournament, expectations fell to West Kootenay and E-Ville. Ranked 6^th and 11^th in Canada respectively, they were the top ranked Canadian teams left in the tournament. But Pile O’ Bones Derby Club’s Sugar Skulls (Regina) and Saskatoon Roller Derby’s The Mindfox (who’d been ranked 12^th and 13^th respectively), proved that they belong in the discussion of the top travel teams in Canada. Saskatoon’s Mind Fox, especially, were well ahead of the competition, winning their games by an average of about 107 points (and even in the close, 57-point championship game, the result never seemed in doubt as they led 169-77 at half).

While the Atlantic Canadian teams from Moncton and Saint John, New Brunswick, finished at the bottom of the pack, they entered the final tournament ranked 20^th and 28^th in Canada, so actually performed above expectations. Moncton defended their Atlantic Championship when they defeated Fog City in a back-and-forth placement game that was closer than the final score indicated. Also, strong individual performances and great strategic thought—if not executed perfectly yet—from both teams, proved that even only three years into existence, Atlantic Canadian roller derby is on an upward rise. Kootenay Kannibelles and E-Ville Dead both seem to be rebuilding, especially West Kootenay after a considerable roster shakeup last year, and played below expectations established after impressive 2012 seasons.

RDAC Championship Final Standings

1. The Mindfox (Saskatoon Roller Derby) (Defeated Sugar Skulls 245-188 in the final)

2. Sugar Skulls (Pile O’ Bones Derby Club)

3.E-Ville Dead (E-Ville Roller Derby)(Defeated Kootenay Kannibelles 164-158 in 3rd place game)

4. Kootenay Kannibelles (West Kootenay Roller Derby)

5. Lumbersmacks (Muddy River Rollers) (defeated Shipyard Sirens 238-187 in 5th place game)

6. Shipyard Sirens (Fog City Rollers)

** All games are archived on Canuck Derby TV.**

WFTDA RELEASES FIRST DIVISIONAL POWER RANKING

The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) released its first rankings since shifting to a numerical-based divisional ranking system for 2013. Under the current ranking system, teams have the opportunity to earn their way into Division One (top 40) by July to qualify for the Division One Payoffs. The next twenty teams will play in two Division Two playoff tournaments (locations recently announced). The Division Two finals will also take place on the same weekend as the Division One Championships in Milwaukee, Wisconsin).

As of today, Montreal (17^th) and Vancouver’s Terminal City (39^th) are both in Division One, while Toronto (49^th), Tri-City (50^th), and Rideau Valley (71^st) are firmly placed into Division Two. Hammer City, Canada’s other full-WFTDA team, is in Division Three (133^rd  overall).

All Division One teams make the playoffs, but in Division Two only the top twenty teams make it, which means that while Toronto and Tri-City are in solid positions, Rideau Valley Vixens have some work to do to move up the ten spots to nab a playoff spot. Both Toronto and Rideau Valley will be playing in this weekend’s Quad City Chaos, a good opportunity to advance their positions.

CANADIAN POWER RANKINGS ANNOUNCED

Just in case you missed it, last week it was announced on The Derby Nerd that The Nerd will be joined by Captain Lou El Bammo, Dick Pounder and Andi Struction in producing Canada’s first National Power Ranking. Read all about it here.

Introducing: The Canadian Power Ranking

On Monday, April 1^st, the first ever truly national Canadian Power Ranking will be released on the Derby Nerd.

Captain Lou brings years of coaching and announcing experience to the Power Rankings.

For the past two years, Rollergirl.ca, most recently in conjunction with flattrackstats.com, has been doing a fantastic job in providing a consistent numbers-based ranking system for Canadian teams, which has provided an excellent source of comparative information about the burgeoning Canadian roller derby community and has led to some great cross-country discussion. In much the same way that the Derby News Network’s Power Rankings complement flattrackstats.com, the Canadian Power Ranking will be working to complement this great endeavor by adding a slightly more subjective look at things—although through objective lenses, of course.

Power rankings simply add value to the comparative discussion of teams; unlike purely statistical ranking systems, power rankings are a human (some would say opinion)-based system able to take a much wider range of variables into play. Power rankings can account for circumstances beyond the control of numbers, like changes in rosters (through injury, transfer etc.) and winning streaks—things that stats-based systems need time to account for. The best, most reliable power rankings, therefore, require more than one brain to be truly representational.

So, the Nerd is not going about this alone: to ensure broad, regional, unbiased decision making, some of our country’s finest derby nerds will be working together equally on the power rankings.

Captain Lou El Bammo comes to the team armed with an overwhelming amount of knowledge gleaned from days as a coach and bench manager with the Tri-City Roller Girls, where he worked with house league team the Venus Fly Tramps and the WFTDA travel team, the Thunder. Currently he’s on the coaching staff of the Royal City Roller Girls’ travel team, the Brute-Leggers. Along with watching the game from that side of the bench, he’s also been active on the mic, acting as a play-by-play and colour commentator for Rogers TV, Canuck Derby TV, and WFTDA.TV.

Andi Struction brings both a skater and an announcer’s perspective. (Photo by Stephen Giang for SeattleWeekly.com)

The Nerd and Capt. Lou will be joined by a few representatives from western Canada. Dick Pounder was recently appointed Head Announcer for the Roller Derby Association of Canada (RDAC) and has been announcing games in Alberta and for the emerging Calgary Roller Derby Association for years. On top of that, he’s been known to lace up the skates and get out there on the track as well (skating previously for the Glenmore Reservoir Dogs and currently with the Red Deer Dreadnauts), so knows the game from inside and out.

And finally, Vancouver’s Andi Struction also brings that inside/out perspective to the proceedings. A skater with Terminal City Roller Girls since 2006 and currently an assistant captain with the house league team, Faster Pussycats, Andi is also a noted commentator and announcer. A former co-host of the Derby Deeds podcast, she’s been honing her chops on the mic at such major events as the Big O, Flat Track Fever and the RDAC regionals over the past few years

Announcer Dick Pounder has also played the game, so knows the game from the inside as well. (Photo by Steve Recsky)

Captain Lou also sees the Canadian Power Rankings as being an important part of the Canadian roller derby discussion: “Canada is really big and teams are really far apart…which makes it harder for the math to be properly predictive. There just isn’t enough correlative games to make a truly accurate list (based purely on stats),” he says, discussing the importance of this endeavor, and “since we don’t have a proper cross-pollination of games, creating a Power Rankings crew filled with people who have a lot of derby knowledge and are able to sift through disparate datasets to filter out the best of the best is the optimal solution.”

Andi Struction thinks the timing is right and is excited about the future of the sport in this country. ” ‘Canadian’ roller derby didn’t really exist because the east and west teams didn’t really have a chance to play each other,” she said. Dick Pounder agrees that this will be a big year for Canadian derby: “The WFTDA factor should prove to be interesting in Canada this year.”

Andi is also optimistic about the top leagues joining the WFTDA, which would encourage more top-level play. “With Calgary and Kootenay joining the ranks (soon), the eastern teams could potentially do western Canadian tours and hit three WFTDA birds with one stone.”

As alluded to, the Power Rankings Team will be limited by some of the challenges of living in a massive country like Canada with very little cross-region play. Some things to keep in mind about the Canadian Power Rankings:

• The rankings will be a consensus-based: much like the system used by the DNN (and consistent across many sports). All four voters will present their personal choices to each other and then engage in debate until a consensus is reached.
• The rankings will be quarterly: at least to start. Due to the lack of inter-region play, allowing time for a wider number of games seems advantageous right now.
• The rankings will only consider A-level travel teams. It’s just simpler that way, and as more and more Canadian leagues follow the WFTDA model, the opportunity for A-level interleague play has been increasing as well, and it is becoming much easier to speculate how these teams would fare against one another.
  

  The Derby Nerd rounds out the Power Rankings team. (Photo by Todd Burgess)

We’re only a few weeks away from the inaugural ranking on April 1^st, but there is a lot going down in those few weeks that will affect that premier ranking: The RDAC Championship is this weekend in Edmonton featuring A-level travel teams from the West, Saskatchewan and the Maritimes, while ToRD’s fourth annual Quad City Chaos (March 23^rd, 24^th) will feature two of Canada’s top teams, ToRD’s CN Power and the Rideau Valley Vixens, facing off against top level WFTDA competition. Both tournaments will be boutcast on Canuck Derby TV.

It’s going to be an exciting year for Canadian roller derby, all involved in putting together this Canadian Power Ranking are proud to be bringing another angle to the exciting discussion that will take place. Captain Lou also hopes that these rankings will inspire more than just healthy debate: “I’m hoping that new leagues just starting out will be able to look at the Power Rankings list and use it as inspiration to keep going through the hard times (and) I really hope that a Canadian Roller Derby Power Rankings list will inspire more cross-Canada roller derby bouts, so that east will meet west more often than they have in the past.”

Check back in on April 1st for the first Canadian Power Ranking.

ToRD Closes Out Home Season with Double Header Against Royal City

ToRD hosts Royal City in a double header. Doors at The Bunker open at 5:00 PM.

When ToRD’s Bay Street Bruisers and Royal City’s Brute Leggers met in Guelph’s Sleeman Centre this past June, the newly formed B-Team from Toronto was playing its second competitive game since being reborn as a travel team (the home team version of the Bruisers disbanded in 2009). Meanwhile, the Brute Leggers, another relatively newly formed travel team, were already well into a busy breakout season, holding a 3-2 record coming off of a hard-fought eight-point victory over Kingston’s Disloyalists.

The Bruisers would burst out to a substantial early lead in the June showdown, and would hold off a significant Brute Leggers second-half pushback for a 176-153 victory. That Bruisers’ win was the first of four in a row, which included a Roller Derby Association of Canada (RDAC) Eastern Canadian championship. The Brute Leggers have continued their busy season and now stand at 5-7 on year, but currently find themselves on a three-game losing streak that includes losses to Tri-City hometeam (and Beast of the East champs) the Vicious Dishes, the Renegade Derby Dames Misfit Militia, and GTA’s G-sTARs.

ToRD’s other farm team, the D-VAS, played for much bigger stakes the last time they met Royal City’s farm team, The Top Herloins. In the semi-finals of this year’s Fresh and Furious tournament, the D-VAS took an early lead only to have the Herloins pull ahead and hold off a late D-VAS surge for a miniscule two-point victory.

The Bruisers held off the Brute Leggers for a 20 point win at a June showdown in Guelph. (Photo by Neil Gunner)

Both teams, however, are composed of young, mostly inexperienced skaters who have been going through a season of massive growth. It has to be assumed that much has changed between both of these teams since that July showdown four months ago. The D-VAS recently exhibited that growth with an impressive victory over The Disloyalists, avenging an early season 259 point loss. They defeated the Kingston team by a similar margin as the Brute Leggers did, which implies that this D-VAS team has developed significantly this season.

But just because the Bruisers and Brute Leggers represent teams higher up each league’s competitive ladder doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been change in the teams. The Bruisers present a much different roster from the one that squared off against Royal City in the summer. Overall, there are nine new skaters on the team, and five on the game-day roster who weren’t on the team in June. The Brute Leggers, who contain skaters that also play on the Top Herloins, have gone through an immense change, and since they started playing publicly in May of last year, have played a remarkable 23 games, picking up a lot of valuable track experience along the way.

The Top Herloins defeated the D-VAS by two points at the Fresh and Furious: GTA Drift. (Photo by Neil Gunner)

On top of the potential competitive nature of the bout, this D-VAS team will be playing its last game together before ToRD’s house league entry draft next month. Due to CN Power’s recent commitment to having its skaters commit fully to only the travel team roster, there are a lot of spaces open on ToRD’s four home teams; virtually all of the current roster of D-VAS will be drafted into the league for the 2013 season. The core of this team has been skating together for nearly two years now, and will soon find themselves distributed over four teams.  As for the D-VAS: word on the track is that there is a very talented crop of fresh meat ready to fill the spaces that will be opened on the farm team.

For the Brute Leggers, this will mark the conclusion of a busy, ground-breaking season that saw them pick up third place in RDAC’s Eastern Canadian Championship (which they also hosted!), but even more importantly play a lot of games. They played a range of talent level and didn’t back down from any challenges and have set the stage for a big 2013 season.

The Bruisers now represent the all-star skaters of ToRD’s houseleague, and with a handful of games already scheduled for south of the border, are looking to finish 2012 strong with the roster that will represent the team for the bulk of 2013. After this weekend, the Bruisers will hit the road with their big sisters CN Power and head to Grand Rapids to take on the G-Rap Attack in a double header featuring CN Power’s WFTDA sanctioned showdown with Grand Raggidy. A win on Saturday would go a long way in building confidence for the trip.

***The games will be played at The Bunker in Downsview Park.  Doors open at 5:00 PM, with the opening whistle of the D-VAS vs. Top Herloins game set for 6:00 PM. The Bay Street Bruisers vs. Brute Leggers bout will start at 8:00 PM.  Tickets are available online or at a handful of locations downtown.

***  The Caplansky’s food truck will be returning for the game, so come for dinner!

Bruisers Sit Atop Throne as Eastern Champions

ToRD’s Bay Street Bruisers, 2012 RDAC Eastern Canadian Championship (Photo by Greg Russell)

You could look at the outcome of the Roller Derby Association of Canada’s 2012 Eastern Canadian Championship and see that the status-quo had been maintained: No one would have been surprised to see Toronto, Forest City and Royal City finish as the top three teams in the tournament. But if that is all that you took away from this weekend, you’d be missing almost the whole story. With four of the ten games being settled by 10 points or less and only two breaking the 100-point differential, the real story was in the parity. There was fantastic, exciting roller derby provided during nearly every game with the tournament’s only winless team, Capital City’s Dolly Rogers, providing some of the most exciting moments, losing by miniscule margins of 9, 6, and 5 points. The tournament’s lowest ranked team, Nickel City’s Sister Slag, grew almost exponentially. They started the tournament getting knocked around by the eventual champs in the opening game before pushing a vastly more experienced team to the limit in their second. Then in the second of back-to-back games, they upset their favoured opponents to claim 6^th spot.

It was a tournament that delivered on both fronts: great derby, but a great learning experience for the teams as well.

ROUND ONE

Sister Slag was paying close attention during their opening round loss to the Bruisers. (Photo by Neil Gunner)

The only significantly one-sided bouts occurred (unsurprisingly) in the opening round. Second seed Bay Street Bruisers (Toronto) took down seventh seed Nickel City’s Sister Slag (Sudbury) by 137 points, though the far less experienced team from Sudbury certainly had moments, and used a strong opening and then final ten minutes to keep the score down. In the only other lopsided score of the weekend, third seed Misfit Militia (from Aliston’s Renegade Derby Dames) tore up the track against the G-sTARs (GTAR), building on a 160-10 half-time lead and riding some stifling pack work to a 326-point victory. The win sent a clear message and set up a highly anticipated semifinal matchup up between the tournament’s second and third seeds.

The final first-round bout lived up to the billing as the closest seeds the Brute Leggers (fourth) and the Dolly Rogers (fifth) swapped leads throughout (Capital City was up at half) to kick off the tournament with a thoroughly entertaining game that would be indicative of much of the weekend’s matchups. The Royal City hosts were able to put together a customarily strong second half to pull ahead and hold on for the 142-131 victory and an opportunity to face off against the defending champions, Forest City, in the semfinal.

The G-sTARs defeated the Dolly Rogers on their way to a fifth place finish. (Photo by Neil Gunner)

CONSOLATION ROUND

The opening round divided the teams into the consolation bracket and the single-elimination medal round, with the three losing teams from the opening round playing a round robin to determine the bottom three spots in the tournament. This round began with a showdown between the fifth and sixth ranked teams in the tournament, and it too did not disappoint finishing with the G-sTARs clutching a 140-134 victory against the Capital City Derby Dolls. Growing through a tough rebuild, the GTA skaters looked like a far different team this time around, shaking off their opening–round loss to win both of its consolation games. Built around veterans like Newfie Bullet, Lee Way Wreck’em and Holly de Havilland, and featuring a promising skater in Paper Jam, they were able to close out their tournament with a 19-point win over Sister Slag to secure fifth spot.

The Dolly Rogers used this tournament to announce its presence. Led by strong pack work from the likes of Whips N. Chaynes and eventual team MVP Delicate Plow’her, some crafty jamming from Sneaky Dekey and consistency from Ha-Lou-Ween (not to mention double-threat performances from Violently Jill and Deanna Destroi), Capital City impressed with their ability and preparation, but showed that they still lack the all-important game experience that allowed them to close out wins.  They closed out their tournament the way they began it, with a thrilling back-and-forth game characterized by large swings in momentum, only this time it was with a surprisingly resilient Sister Slag. Led by Elle Hoar (whose role seemed to grow as the tournament went on), and paced offensively by Legzy Megzy and Red Hot and Anna Maul, the Nickel City skaters seemed to grow closer together during the tournament and finished as a much tighter and more polished team than they were when it began. They closed out the final consolation game with a natural grand slam to break a tie and secure sixth place with the 149-144 victory.

MEDAL ROUND

The Brute Leggers were taken out of their game by Forest City’s physicality. (Photo by Greg Russell)

Perhaps the greatest level of tension and excitement came in the semifinals where the top four seeds squared off. In the first semi-final, the Brute Leggers dominated Forest City early on. With an offence paced by Hot Cross Guns and Hellcat of Panar and a pack anchored by Kim Scarsmashian, Forest City—responding with a jammer crew of Andi Slamberg, Mighty Thor and Torque e Mada and a veteran pack now ubiquitous in eastern Canadian derby—was only able to score 7 points over the first twenty minutes of the half. But with London blocker Mirambo raising the intensity level, knocking Royal City off balance, the defending champs began to claw back and were down 60-38 at half. Never able to get their heads back into it and thrown off by Forest City’s intense physicality, the hosts managed only 26 second-half points to fall 145-86.

The Bay Street Bruisers needed a late comeback to get passed the Misfit Militia, in one of the most exciting games of the tournament. (Photo by Neil Gunner).

In the second semi-final, the Misfit Militia roared off of the jammer line and barely looked back, throwing everything they could at the Bay Street Bruisers who could never really get anything going in  the first half. Consistent jamming from Randy Roll-lin and Zombabe and dominant pack work from Renny Rumble had the Bruisers stumped throughout. The Militia had a 27-point half-time lead. The dominance continued in the second half, but the persistence of jammers Bala Reina and titmouse, and the on-track leadership of eventual team MVP Chronic had the Bruisers sticking around, never letting the lead grow past 50 points, and when the penalty calls started going their way, they were ready. A 29-point Bala Reina power jam (much of it orchestrated with the Bruisers having only two Blockers, Chronic and Miss Kitty La Peur, on the track) with only ten minutes remaining had Toronto within 12 points and holding all the momentum. They controlled things for the final ten minutes aas frustration mounted for the Renegade Derby Dames and were able to hold on to advance to the final.

The Brute Leggers pulled it together to defeat the Misfit Militia in the third place game. (Photo by Greg Russell)

The Misfit Militia never seemed to recover from the defeat, while the Brute Leggers pulled it together after their emotional loss to come back to control the third place bout most of the way and skated to the 190-129 victory. The championship game provided an entertaining first half that saw the Bruisers storm out 42-9 lead at the halfway mark. Strong jamming from Bala Reina and Bellefast continued to pace the Bruisers who were able to impose their style of play on the game early, and never let Forest City get comofortable. Although penalty troubles allowed London to get back into it only a few minutes later (they even briefly took the lead at the 10-minute mark), the Bruisers regained control to lead 78-54 at the half. The second half was all Bruisers with the lead increasing steadily to 135-86 at the midway point, before they held on for the 163-88 victory and took home the 2012 RDAC Eastern Canadian Championship.

The Bay Street Bruisers and Forest City All Stars (Eastern Region) join the Terminal City All Stars and Kootenay Kannibelles (West), Saskatoon Roller Derby and Pile O’ Bones Derby Club (central) at the Canadian championship. The Atlantic representatives will be determined at a tournament in St. John’s in September.

Bruisers’ jammer (and one of the team MVPs) Bala Reina was dominant in the final. (Photo by Greg Russell)

COMPLETE RESULTS

First Round Brute Leggers (Royal City Roller Girls) 142 vs. Dolly Rogers (Capital City Derby Dolls) 131 Misfit Militia (Renegade Derby Dames) 354 vs. G-sTARs (GTA Rollergirls) 28 Bay Street Bruisers (Toronto Roller Derby) 253 vs. Sister Slag (Nichel City Roller Derby) 116

Consolation Pool G-sTARs (1-0) 140 vs. Dolly Rogers (0-1) 134 G-sTARs (2-0) 194 vs. Sister Slag (0-1) 173 Sister Slag (1-1) 149 vs. Dolly Rogers (0-2) 144

Medal Round Semifinals Forest City All Stars 145 vs. Brute Leggers 86 Misfit Militia 130 vs. Bay Street Bruisers 140 Third Place Brute Leggers 190 vs. Misfit Militia 129 Championship Forest City 88 vs. Bay Street Bruisers 163

Dames of Thrones Preview: Eastern Champs Second RDAC Regional Tournament

A TALE OF TWO TOURNAMENTS

Last month the Terminal City All Stars won the 2012 RDAC Western Canadian Championship in fairly convincing fashion: holding off a more than game West Kootenay Kannibelles team in the final, 159-75. The Kanibelles turned a lot of heads with their dominant performance in the tournament, and with E-Ville upending Red Deer’s Belladonnas in the third place game, it was clear that the top four teams in the region had performed as expected, and the top two teams had qualified for the Canadian Championship.

It will be a slightly different story at this weekend’s Dames of Thrones: RDAC Eastern Canadian Championships.

With the top leagues in the east focused squarely on the WFTDA, the Eastern Championship has developed into an Eastern Canadian B-Team Championship (although Montreal and Tri-City will not be sending their B-Teams).  Nonetheless, with the absence of the top teams in the region, this tournament will feature a fairly even field of teams that should provide a close, exciting tournament. A lot of these leagues are looking to work their way into that upper-echelon of derby, and this weekend will provide them with a platform on which to do that. With a wide open field, the scene is set for a team to make some waves and announce itself as a the Next Big Thing in Canadian Derby.

THE TEAMS

The Forest City All Stars won the inaugural Eastern Canadian Championship last year in Ottawa. (Photo by Neil Jeffry)

The Favourites

Given the relative lack of play between participants, it’s somewhat challenging to pick favourites, but as defending champions (winners of the precursor CWRDA Championships last year), London’s Forest City All Stars are the team everyone is gunning for. Formed out of Forest City’s two hometeams, the All Stars came together exclusively for last year’s Eastern Canadian Championship and took the tournament by storm, scoring one-sided victories at every level (and defeating a Rideau Valley B-Team for the championship). The All Stars have seen limited action this year, but have scored lopsided victories over Blue Water (Port Huron, Michigan) and Lansing’s Mitten Mavens in preparation for the tournament. Part of eastern Canada’s first wave of leagues, Forest City has the most experienced core of skaters in the tournament, and boasts a roster very used to these big-game situations.

The Bruisers and the Brute-Leggers recently faced off with the Bruisers winning 176-153. (Photo by Neil Gunner)

The Contenders

One of Canada’s top leagues, Toronto Roller Derby, will be sending its B-Team, the Bay Street Bruisers, to compete in the tournament and should be looked upon as a threat. Although the teams itself has not been playing together long (the B-Travel team was born this year and has only two games under its belt), it is made up of an experienced roster of skaters from ToRD’s four houseleague teams. 1-1 on the season thus far, they enter the tournament as the #2 seed on the strength of a recent victory over the Royal City Brute-Leggers. The Brute-Leggers have been rounding into form over two years now and have been very busy this year, compiling a 6-3 record on the season. But two of those losses have come to the Bruisers and the Thames Fatales (Forest City’s top hometeam), which should give Toronto and London some confidence heading in.

The Dark Horse

Renegade Derby Dames’ Misfit Militia, could be the dark horse pick of the tournament.

If there is one team that could shake up the top, it could be the Renegade Derby Dames’ Misfit Militia. Training in relative quiet in Aliston, Ontario, there isn’t a lot to base judgement of this team on, but it is a squad made up of a core of very strong skaters. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that they have had uneven results this year: They’ve faced off against two tournament participants in their only two bouts of the  season, dominating the Derby Debutantes before falling in a tight one against Capital City’s Dolly Rogers (who will also be participating).

The Field

Ottawa’s Dolly Rogers lead the pack of the rest of the participants and have had an interesting season as well. The team is 4-3 on the season but seem to rounding into form and are coming off of back-to-back victories that included a 283 point thrashing of Peterborough. Dolly Rogers skater Lobster, veteran skater with Capital City, said the team was not too surprised with their victory over Peterborough and will be use it as “a bit of a confidence boost.” The team Brazil representative at the World cup added that “this tournament’s going to be what we need right now: a challenge.”

Capital City’s Dolly Rogers defeated the Renegade Derby Dames earlier in the year.

Although GTAR’s G-sTARs did exceptionally well at last year’s tournament, finishing in  third place, the team has gone through a recent roster overhaul that sees them slipping into a mid-season rebuild that could hamper their chances this weekend. The G-sTARs are 1-6 on the season with a lot of losses coming against stiff competition, but the sole victory was in their final tournament tune-up against Durham’s Atom Smashers that ended the six-game slide.  Nickel City’s Sister Slag has the least amount of game play this year. Playing out of Sudbury, Nickel City has followed an optimistic 2011 (going 2-4 in their first season of bouting) with a quiet 2012. Their only competition has come in a one-sided victory over the Derby Debutantes, GTAR’s B-Team, in May.

THE OPENING ROUND

While the defending champion Forest City All Stars will receive a bye to the semifinals, the other six teams kick things off in the opening round. First whistle blows at 8:30 AM, with the host Brute-Leggers facing off against the Dolly Rogers. Up next (10:15) will be the Misfit Militia against the G-sTARs; the Misfit Militia crushed the G-sTARs’ little sister (the Derby Debutantes) early this season, so the GTA skaters will be looking for revenge. The opening round ends with the Bay Street Bruisers squaring off against the Sister Slag at 2:00 PM.

The winners of these three games will advance to the final four, while the losers will continue the tournament in a round-robin consolation bracket to determine final seedings.

***Dames of Thrones: RDAC Eastern Canadian Championship will be boutcast live all weekend by the fine folks at Canuck Derby TV. Check here for the complete schedule.

Who is the Second Best Team in Canada?

A few weeks ago on the popular podcast Derby Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, co-host and Canadian correspondent Andi Struction, declared that the Terminal City All Stars were the second best team in Canada. Along with American based announcer and Roller Derby Radio co-host Bob Noxious, they also speculated that the West Kootenay Kannibelles could be the third best team in the country.

Admittedly, I was surprised by the confidence with which this statement was made, and then as the days after the podcast passed, I was also surprised at the reaction I was getting from eastern Canadians: it seemed that a lot of people in eastern Canada felt very strongly that Toronto’s CN Power was clearly the second best team in Canadian; still others expressed to me with some certainty that the Tri-City Thunder were the second best team in Canada.

Montreal`s New Skids on the Block scrum start in a victory over Suburbia`s Suburban Brawl this spring. (Photo by Richard Lafortune)

I was surprised by all of the strong reactions because to me, it seemed obvious that there was no clear number two in Canada. That after the consensus number one (Montreal Roller Derby’s New Skids on the Block), there was no discernible difference between Terminal City, Toronto, or Tri-City. To borrow a cliché from another sport, I believe that on any given Sunday, either of these teams would be capable of beating the other. But this debate also made it clear to me—because naively it wasn’t clear to me before—that there is a pretty clear divide between the eastern roller derby communities and the western ones (with the central region generally getting lumped in with the west and the Atlantic provinces considered with the east).

But, at least a discussion of this idea has been sparked. Generally, we Canadians have a reputation, fair or otherwise, for being polite. I think this has spilled over into derby: We’re generally pretty fair and positive in the derby community—which is excellent—but it can cloud our judgement in terms of ranking teams. Here’s the way I have it playing out in the east and west.

EAST

1. Montreal (New Skids on the Block, MTLRD)

2. Toronto (CN Power, ToRD)

3. Tri-City (Thunder, Tri-City Rollergirls)

4. Rideau Valley (Vixens, RVRG)

5. Hammer City (Eh! Team, HCRG)

CN Power and Tri-City Thunder met at this year`s Quad City Chaos with CN Power holding on for the 141-107 victory. (Photo by Neil Gunner)

The east is heavily skewed toward the WFTDA, as all these teams are full members. (I only looked at top level travel teams; Montreal’s B-Team, Les Sexpos, are certainly in the top five competitively, and Toronto’s B-Team, the Bay Street Bruisers, are also ranked ahead of Hammer City on rollergirl.ca’s flat track rankings). The top three are clearly ahead of the others, and I’ve put Toronto over Tri-City here based on the fact that Toronto beat Tri-City earlier in the year, but competitively, I’d put them on the same level. After a few years of wallowing out of the competitive picture, Hammer City finally seems to have rebuilt its team to relatively competitive level and a recent victory over Royal City’s Brute Leggers (an eastern team on the rise) shows that they belong back in the Top 5.

WEST

1. Terminal City (All Stars, TCRG)

2. West Kootenay (Kannibelles, WKWRD)

3. Edmonton (E-Ville Dead, E-Ville Roller Derby)

4. Red Deer (Belladonnas, RDRDA)

5. Edmonton (Oil City All Stars, OCDG)

Terminal City remains the dominant team in Western Canada.

I’m not as familiar with the western teams as I am the eastern ones, but I have watched as much as I possibly could, and these “power rankings” also reflect the rollergirl.ca rankings. Only Terminal City is a full WFTDA league and this is played out in the competitive distance Terminal City has over the other teams in the west (although West Kootenay Kannibelles is on the rise). While for the past 12 months anyway, E-Ville has paced themselves ahead of Red Deer and Oil City, competitively I see them on a similar level.

If we look at Terminal City, Toronto and Tri City alone and with different stats, they are even closer:

• WFTDA has them ranked almost precisely the same in their respective regions: CN Power (15 NC), Terminal City (16 W), Tri-City (17 NC).

• falttrackstats has only a 17 point difference between 42nd ranked Terminal City, 45th Tri-City and 49th Toronto. When you consider that there are no common opponents between the eastern teams and Terminal City (and Montreal’s gap is a considerable 73 points ahead of this pack), the 17 point difference is fairly insignificant. (**rollergirl.ca has the gap as slightly larger, 30 points separating the three teams, but falttrackstats focuses on only matchups with higher-level teams, so in this particular case is probably more accurate)

While I do think West Kootenay is on the rise, I put them at the same level as Rideau Valley right now, reaching for, but not quite at that upper echelon yet, and would probably have to say that they are tied for fifth. Both teams have world-class talent (Beretta Lynch on the Kannibelles, Semi-Precious on the Vixens, for example), but lack the bench depth of the top four and the competitive level of experience. If I had to make a prediction, I would put the Vixens ahead of the Kannibelles in the long run. They are already WFTDA members and have been playing higher level teams more consistently, but they also have a contained houseleague that is operating at a high level. Right now the West Kootenay Women’s Roller Derby is operating an unwieldy seven houseleague teams which could very well dilute their talent in the long run (ToRD learned this lesson the hard way, when from 2007-2008 they had a very successful six-team houseleague, yet their travel team’s competitive level fell considerably and both Montreal and Hammer City leap-frogged them; a turn around that wasn’t abated until Toronto repurposed two of the teams and refocused as a four-team houseleague: the competitive level of the travel team jumped almost immediately).

So here’s how I see things realistically:

CANADA

1. Montreal

2. Terminal City, Toronto, Tri-City

5. Rideau Valley, West Kootenay

In 2010, the top four teams in Canada met in an unofficial Canadian Championship at ToRD`s first ever Quad City Chaos. (Photo by Derek Lang)

I honestly believe that the only way to settle it would be to play and unfortunately that’s not going to happen any time soon. While the RDAC tournament in the west featured the top teams (with Terminal City and West Kootenay advancing), the top teams in the east are not participating in the RDAC Eastern Championship this year. Actually out of the top five leagues in the east, only Toronto is sending its B-Team to the tournament. The other participating teams are of varying levels of experience (this was similar to last year’s CWRDA tournaments, the predecessor to the RDAC tournaments).

Hopefully someday soon we’ll be able to have a true Canadian championship and put this speculation to rest!

***My knowledge of central Canadian derby is admittedly pretty limited, but I haven’t seen anything (results or otherwise) that would put any of the teams there in contention. While derby in the Atlantic provinces is also booming right now, the competitive level is not at that of the rest of eastern Canada yet.

***Respectful disagreement and debate is strongly encouraged!