Dolls and Gores Draw First Blood in ToRD 2013 House League Opener

The Dolls ended a six-year losing streak against the Chicks in the home opener. (Photo by Greg Russell)

Six years, six regular season losses, three playoff defeats—that is the dominance that Chicks Ahoy! has had over the Death Track Dolls in Toronto Roller Derby’s first six seasons. And it all ended on Saturday night.

In front of a packed house, ToRD kicked off its sixth season with a doubleheader featuring all four Toronto house league teams. In the opener, years of frustration finally turned into a night of celebration as a deep, balanced Dolls team took a 79-point victory over the defending champions, signaling a shift in power in the league. While the Smoke City Betties ended their long losing streak over the Gore-Gore Rollergirls last season, they were not able to summon the same kind of performance in the opener, as the Gores played simple, well-controlled derby on their way to a 57 point win that declared that this Gores team may not be due for as major a rebuild as some thought.

Jammer Bellefast and Dolls blockers approach a Chicks wall of Biggley Smallz, Dyna Hurtcha and Robber Blind. (Photo by Neil Gunner)

Death Track Dolls 191 vs. Chicks Ahoy! 112

The Dolls burst out of the gate, taking the first two lead jammer statuses (going to Bellefast and Getcha Kicks) before Chicks’ rookie Chevy Chase Her broke the streak, only to find herself sent to the penalty box for a low block. Scrappy jammer Santilly In Yo Face did her best despite a tough penalty kill led by Dyna Hurtcha, pulling the Dolls ahead by 10 points. Two jams later the Dolls found themselves on a second power jam, this time skated by Bellefast. Early on, the Dolls were pounding on the Chicks, pulling ahead substantially, 41-8, only 8 minutes into the half.

Roadside BombShel was in the midst of a strong game jamming before being seriously injured in the second half. (Photo by Neil Gunner)

The Chicks came alive at this point as the Dolls began to run into penalty troubles. The pushback was led by a Roadside BombShel skated power jam with only two Dolls blockers (Ames to Kill and Scacasm)on the track. With Getcha Kicks running into serious penalty issues midway through the half—and her blocker teammates following suit—the Chicks roared back and even took over the lead, 49-47, with 12 minutes to play in the period. Roadside—who converted back to jamming after a solid season of blocking in 2012—and Chevy Chase Her paced the offense, with Chevy scoring 24 points on a power jam to pad the lead. But as this Chicks team rebuilds, there will be ups and downs, and they weren’t able to maintain their lead.

Once the Dolls overcame their penalty issues and settled into the game, they were eventually able to chip away at that lead and virtually neutralized the Chicks offense for the final 10 minutes of the half, taking a 111-71 lead at the break.

Chicks veteran Kookie Doe and Dolls rooke transfer Rainbow Fight battle in the second half. Both had strong games. (Photo by Greg Russell)

The Dolls depth at jammer, with Bellefast, Getcha Kicks, Santilly and rookie transfer Rainbow Fight providing a variety of styles and approaches, kept the Chicks defense from any sort of consistency, and the Dolls packs had the same sort of dominant depth with a few solid lines led by Ames and Scarcasm on one side and Speedin Hawking and Sinead O’Clobber on the other. While co captains Dyna Hurtcha and Kookie Doe along with a strong veteran leadership from Biggley Smallz, Robber Blind and Furious Georgia (who continued her strong offensive play) held a young team together, it was that punishing Dolls pack work that led to a tragedy on the track.

Enjoying one of the games of her career (she was second in scoring on the Chicks with 19 points at half), Roadside suffered a tragic major leg break near the midway point of the second half. When the teams returned to action after a lengthy break, the Chicks couldn’t find the momentum to claw back, and even with Dyna Hurtcha taking a jam and Kookie Doe wearing the star more, managed only 18 points in the second half of the period, suffering their first loss to the Dolls ever and their first ToRD loss of any kind in two years.

Gores rookie Taranosaurus Rex fights a Betties three-wall. (Photo by Greg Russell)

Smoke City Betties 110 vs. Gore-Gore Rollergirls 167

After an inconsistent, but promising 2012, the Smoke City Betties entered the season with high expectations. The Gores, after slowly losing a massive chunk of a roster that had taken part in every single Battle For the Boot, came into this season with much more muted expectations. From the opening whistle to the last, this Gores team showed that it doesn’t plan to rebuild this year. They made it quite clear that they plan on competing in 2013.

Two rookies, Gore jammer Lexi Con and Betties transfer Tomy Knockers duel at the front of the pack. (Photo by Neil Gunner)

Co-captain Santa Muerte kicked things off jamming, taking 3 points before passing the star to one of many impressive rookies on the night, Lexi Con, who immediately made her presence known.  The Betties packs looked loose early on, and they seemed a little caught off guard by the explosive Goes start and found themselves deep in a hole, down 20-6, 8 minutes in to he game. For a team that had relied so much on a few key jammers throughout the years, the Gores showed a variety of skaters in that position last night, led by Lexi Con but also veteran blocker Foxy Sinatra, whose explosive style was also hard to contain and co captain Kandy Barr.  R.I.Pink continued her progress with the star and a few promising rookies, Taranosaurus Rex and Viktory Lapp, rounded out a surprisingly deep rotation.

Betties co captain Hailey Copter had a typically strong performance. (Photo by Neil Gunner)

Despite the early push from the Gores, they were unable to leave behind the Betties, and after a bench time out calmed down the skaters in blue, the Betties outscored the Gores 20-9 over the remaining few jams of the half, but remained down, 86-35 at the break.

The Betties looked solid from the jam line as well, led by co captain Hailey Copter (formerly titmouse) and featuring Woleverina, transfer skater Udre, and 2012 breakout skater Slaptrick Swayze who continues to make her presence felt with her calm, steady jamming. The Betties continued the strong play to start the second half, outscoring the Gores 39-18 over the first ten minutes.

While there were strong individual performances in the pack from the likes of Renny Rumble, Tomy Knockers (who may have sustained a wrist injury during the game), Platinum Bomb and Tushy Galore (formerly Sin D Drop-Her) to name a few, they were not able to sustain the same tight formations for long stretches as the Gores were, allowing the Gores to stay in it. For the Gores to be sucesful this season, they need veterans in the pack to step up and assume larger roles, which we saw especially from the likes of Junkie Jenny, but also from Emma Dilemma and Miss Kitty La Peur in the second half.

Usual pack menace Foxy Sinatra (in a massive collision with Udre and Platinum Bomb) had a surprisingly strong night jamming for the Gores. (Photo by Greg Russell)

The Gores ran out the clock, closing out the game with strong, well-managed jams from Foxy, and then fittingly from rookies T-Rex and Lexi. Although the Gores led from start to finish, they never fully distanced themselves from the Betties, and while their 167-110 victory was definitive, the Betties always just seemed a jam or two away from putting it all together and getting back into it.

If there was an underlying story of the night, it was the strong play of the so-called rookies on the track. This is clearly the highest level of rookie class ever, based on the large number of transfers and the time many spent on the D-VAS last season. After a fantastically skilled night of derby, the future looks bright.

**I’ll take a look specifically at how that impressive rookie class performed in my next post on Thursday**

**Check out layer9.ca for archived videos of the bouts**

Disloyalists Dismantle D-VAS, Continue Ontario Dominance

The 2012 D-VAS hosted Kingston’s Disloyalists in their first (non intrasquad) bout of the year. (Photo by Greg Russell).

The Disloyalists (KDG) 314 vs. The D-VAS (ToRD) 55

Kingston Derby Girls’ Disloyalists have come a long way in the past year. Previously, they were just another of the many leagues popping up in the burgeoning Ontario derby scene; at last year’s 2 Fresh 2 Furious they had their moments (one of their unnamed teams lost to the D-VAS in the quarterfinals), but still looked very much like a league finding itself. They played some tight games against some of the other newer leagues in the sport, but didn’t do much to distance themselves from the likes of Durham Region Roller Derby or the Royal City Rollergirls. But as physical a sport as roller derby is, there comes a point when the difference between two teams will be defined by their knowledge of the game, by that elusive but all important “track sense”: once you get it, the game changes and the improvements become exponential. In 2012, the Disloyalists have certainly gotten it.

Coming off of two one-sided victories over previous rivals in Durham and South Simcoe in the past two weeks, the Disloyalists rolled into Toronto in the midst of their first significant winning streak and continued those winning ways with a thoroughly dominant performance over ToRD’s D-VAS. Of course, this D-VAS team is not the same D-VAS team Kingston last encountered, and the inexperience was evident as they played their first game against outside competition in 2012. Kingston got going early, led by 100 at the half and pulled away at the end of the 259-point victory.

Kingston’s LaVallee of the Dolls anchors an athletic and tough Disloyalists jammer rotation. (Photo by Neil Gunner)

Things got rolling quickly for the Disloyalists with Lavallee of the Dolls picking up 6 on the first jam. Sticking with a tight jammer rotation in the early going to Lavallee, Luci Fleur and Johnston (with Yo! Shanity Slam and the triple threat Manic Breeze sneaking into the rotation as well), the Disloyalists rushed out to a lead but couldn’t quite distance themselves from the D-VAS. The Toronto team went with a much wider jammer rotation giving at least six skaters a shot with the star. Lexi Con got the D-VAS on the board first and Joss Wheelin (who wore both helmet covers with confidence on the night) picked up an early 2 points as well, but the D-VAS couldn’t do much to penetrate the tough pack defense from Kingston and found themselves down 29-5 ten minutes in.

Mazel Tough had a strong positional game for the D-VAS and was solid one on one. (Photo by Greg Russell)

With Meanstreak on the track jamming, Kingston’s Luci Fleur was sent to the box on a major track cut giving the D-VAS a chance to make up some ground early, but in a jam indicative of the way things would go for the D-VAS, they negated the power jam with a penalty of their own, and further penalties from pack players led to a formidable Kingston pack advantage as well and the subsequent 19-point jam from Luci Fleur blew the game wide open and gave Kingston momentum. While strategic miscues were reflective of the lack of experience, the D-VAS had great individual moments throughout, and the smooth skating Tomy Knockers (playing her first ever game in Toronto Roller Derby) scored some nice late-half jammer take outs, while Mazel Tough had her best game with the D-VAS showing a strong positional awareness and performing very well one on one. But the fast strategic transitions of the Disloyalists had the D-VAS constantly a step behind, and they stared at a big 131-29 deficit at the half.

Recent transfer Tomy Knockers (laying down a strong offensive block) had a solid game for the D-VAS. (Photo by Neil Gunner)

The D-VAS came flying out to start the second half, and a massive 20-point pick up by Wackedher on a power jam pivoted by Joss Wheelin (and aided by some nice recycling from the D-VAS pack led by Tomy Knockers) had them clawing their way back into it. But the pushback wouldn’t last. Two strong Kingston pivots Little Orphan-Maker Annie and Banger Management worked together on a jam to neutralize D-VAS jammer Machete Maiden, and a couple of natural grand slams restored the Disloyalists’ lead to 155-49 five minutes into the half. Again the D-VAS had their moments: both Babushkill and Mean Streak continue to be solid performers and Joss Wheelin and Lexi Con are beginning to exhibit diverse talents on the track transitioning from blocker to jamming very smoothly, and the improvements were evident as the game wore on and they began to respond to situations more efficiently and accurately (like a well executed Viktory Lapp power jam pivoted by Joss at the midway point on the half); they also kept their spirits up and made sure to celebrate small victories (like an Armageddon Rose  jammer take out on Vagina Dentata late in the game). But the Disloyalists never looked like they were out of control at any point. Widening their jammer rotation late didn’t change things either, and the depth of the pack made sure that the D-VAS could never truly mount a significant comeback. Luci Fleur closed things out for the Disloyalists, scoring 17 points on the final jam of the bout to push her team over 300 points, cruising to the 314-55 victory.

In the end, the depth and experience of the Disloyalists overwhelmed the D-VAS. (Photo by Greg Russell)

For the Disloyalists, this is just another victory in what will undoubtedly continue to be a break out year for them (and they’ve certainly earned themselves a shot at a more experienced ToRD team like the newly resurrected Bay Street Bruisers, for example). For the D-VAS this game provided perfect, much-needed experience against a strategically sound team that is on the rise and is the first step in a year-long process that will prepare them for ToRD’s 2012 entry draft (held in the fall); all of these little experiences (no matter how challenging) will pay off immeasurably in terms of experience gained and knowledge acquired.

**Next up for the D-VAS is a showdown in Brantford against the Belles of the Brawl on May 26^th, while the Disloyalists have a little break in their busy schedule before taking on the Royal City Rollergirls next month in Guelph.