Asheville, NC

Rocky Mountain Advances

By Beth Row

The Rocky Mountain Rollergirls, from Denver, Colorado, employed their characteristic slow defensive strategy from the start of Game 6 on Friday. To the credit of their opponents, Houston Roller Derby, they showed they can also be effective at a slower game pace in the first half. Power jams were the difference in the second half as Rocky Mountain prevailed 246 to 102 over Houston.

Sweet Mary Pain scored first with 4 points for Rocky Mountain at the start of the game. But, four jams in, Houston had tied it up at 8-8. Syrenge busted through a 2 pack of blockers from Rocky Mountain and picked up 4 points. The jam ended 8-12 in favor of Houston.

Things continued to go in Houston’s favor early in the game. At 23:19 left in the first half, Alpha Q Up was sent to the penalty box for Rocky Mountain and Freight Train picked up lead jammer for Houston. Freight Train called it after 9 points with Alpha still in the box, bringing the score to 9-23. Syrenge and Branimal both took turns as jammer to finish out Alpha’s penalty. Alpha was released with under 20 minutes left in the half and 9-32 on the scoreboard.

The two teams traded points and lead jams to leave 19-37 as the score and 15:27, Houston still holding on to the lead, but Rocky Mountain began to chip away. Toxic Taunic picked up points while the Rocky Mountain defense held Syrenge effectively. The score was 28-37 with 14:25 to play.

Both teams continued to be effective at slow, defensive derby and the score remained low on both sides. Death By Chocolate and Branimal both scored four points and called it, holding on to a slim 36-53 lead.

“The game was fun,” said Branimal, a rookie skater who recently joined Houston’s All Stars. “They had strong walls and it was tough, but we learned a lot.”

Rocky Mountain was finally able to regain the lead with just two blockers on the track they started on the pivot line and forced Syrenge to cut. Casstrator called the jam off after securing the lead change with 56-53 and 6:15 left in the first half.

Alpha Q Up began to increasing Rocky Mountain’s lead but was boxed on a forearm penalty. Rocky Mountain’s defense effectively killed the power jam. At only 3:30 left in the first half, Rocky Mountain maintained their lead with 70-58. Houston called an official review to contest Alpha’s 3 scored points in the previous jam. After the review, the points stood.

With only one minute left in the first half, Rocky Mountain had managed to score 30 points in the last five jams and pushed their lead to 80-59. The final jam of the first half ended with Casstrator in the box for Rocky Mountain and Houston’s Death by Chocolate cutting Rocky’s lead to 80-74 at the half.

“It was a little rough at first. We tried to go into the game trying to think about controlling our penalties and keeping it cool and just playing our game, and I think that backfired a little bit because we ended up being a little too mellow and still getting the penalties,” said Rocky Mountain’s Sweet Mary Pain. “At halftime we said let’s play our game, let’s get the intensity back up and that worked out better.”

Freight Train secured lead jammer to start the second period as Casstrator started from the box. Freight Train called it after another lead change with 80-83 Houston lead.

After a series of low scoring and scoreless jams from both teams, Branimal got called for a track cut and Sweet Mary Pain exploited the opportunity. Houston had several blockers sent to the box for out of play and a high block and Sweet Mary Pain pushed the score to 114-87 with 20:45 left in the game. Branimal escaped the penalty box with a 124-87 Rocky Mtn lead. On the very next jam, Casstrator was called for a track cut and the power jam went to Houston’s, Syrenge. Rocky Mountain’s defense remained strong and Gayan, May Q. Pay, Winona Fighter successfully killed the power jam.

“The best thing that we did for this game was our penalty kills,” said Rocky Mountain’s Sweet Mary Pain.

A botched star pass by Houston would give Rocky Mountain an additional scoring opportunity. Jekyll & Heidi tried to pass the star pass out of bounds to Death by Chocolate. Death by Chocolate continued to skate around with the star on, sending both the pivot and the jammer to the box for Houston. Rocky Mountain looked to increase their lead.

Both teams returned to exchanging low-scoring jams and showed impressive defensive recycling for the next few minutes. The score was 193-102, with 4:33 left on the clock as Houston took a time out.

A penalty on Houston’s Freight Train followed the timeout and the score reached 208-102 with 2:17 left in the game before she was released. Freight Train went back to the box on a track cut just as soon as she was released and that brought the game to a conclusion.

Final Score

(2) Rocky Mountain Rollergirls 246
(7) Houston Roller Derby 102

Rocky Mountain will go on to play Windy City in the semifinals Saturday. Houston will play the winner of game 8, either Nashville or Mad Rollin’ Dolls.