Asheville, NC

Gotham Clinches Trip to Championships

By Beth Row

The highly anticipated semifinal matchup between Gotham Girls Roller Derby (1 seed), of New York, New York, and the Minnesota RollerGirls (4 Seed) of St. Paul, Minnesota brought hard hits and a speedy pack pace. In the end, Gotham maintained their undefeated record and secured the first spot in the WFTDA Championships for teams from the D1 Playoffs in Asheville.

Gotham’s Bonnie Thunders drew first blood with a 3-0 jam. Minnesota’s Slambda Phage hit back with a 5-point jam of her own. Minnesota picked up another lead jam over Bonnie Thunders, making it 3-9 Minnesota.

David A Carter Photography

Both teams’ blockers got into some penalty trouble and the jammers faced small packs on both sides. Both teams were trying to outrace the other, enabling the fastest packs yet in the second day of the tournament. Minnesota still held the lead at 6-12 less than 5 minutes in.

Slambda Phage again picked up lead jam for Minnesota but was called on a back block. This allowed Gotham’s Suzy Hotrod to claim the first power jam of the game. Second Hand Smoke, Medusa, Shiver Me Kimbers held Hotrod to 26-16, Gotham in the lead.

Minnesota could not keep all four blockers on the floor and Gotham added to their lead 66-16 with 15 minutes left in the first half. But Juke Boxx, Diamond Rough and the rest of the Minnesota defense didn't make it easy for Gotham. Gotham and Minnesota traded hard hits and tough defensive walls as the game continued.

Minnesota held Claire D Way back in the pack while Second Hand Smoke shot up the inside line for lead jammer status. Later in the same jam, Claire went to the box for a track cut and Smoke pulled the score to 72-43 with 7:43 left in the first half.

Things got a little crazy when Claire got out of the box and Gotham’s Sexy Slaydie and OMG WTF controlled Minnesota jammer Harmony Killerbruise. At the end of a timeout, Minnesota had 3 blockers in the box, and only Hurtude Stein against Bonnie Thunders. But Minnesota’s Slambda Phage escaped the pack and made Bonnie Thunders call it before any damage could be done.

The half ended with the score 101-47, Gotham over Minnesota.

“We really worked our butts off the last few months and we’ve really tightened up our defense,” said Minnesota’s Medusa. “I feel like it’s all coming together well. We weren’t as clean as we wanted to be, but we worked together. Decreasing our loss to Gotham by 100 points from last time was incredible. We felt like we won that game.”

Bonnie Thunders picked up the lead jam call to start the first half, but Diamond Rough hit Bonnie Thunders to the outside and drew her back as Harmony Killerbruise picked up 4 points for Minnesota. Medusa, Shiver Me Kimbers and Kayzilla owned Claire D Way while Second Hand Smoke slipped through to make the score 107-60. Minnesota continued to pick up lead jam as Slambda Phage slipped by on the outside and Hurtrude Stein, Juke Boxx, and Scarmen Hellectra held back Suzy Hotrod with 24:20 left.

Vicious Van GoGo stopped the bleeding with an apex jump, pushing the score to 111-63. Suzy Hotrod got a power jam 2 jams later when Second Hand Smoke went to the penalty box on a back block call. Hot Rod was called for a forearm as Second Hand Smoke came out of the box. The power jam trade ended with the score 131-72. Minnesota’s Slambda Phage finished off the power jam with 15 points and inched Minnesota closer at 131-86 with 16:51 left in the game. A slower-paced series of blocking packs allowed Gotham to add to their score at 156-86, 12:15 left. Both teams used their official reviews back-to-back. Gotham challenged that Second Hand Smoke committed a track cut by placing her hand out of bounds. Then Minnesota challenged that Bonnie Thunders cut the track on the next jam. Both calls stood and the game continued. Trading strong defense and lead jams brought the score to 187-96 with under seven minutes left.

But with a little over four minutes left, Minnesota’s Slambda Phage was called on a track cut, giving Suzy Hotrod a power jam. Hurtrude Stein, Diamond Rough, Scarmen Hellectra, Juke Boxx made it difficult, but Hotrod was still able to build Gotham’s lead. At the end of the jam, Phage had been released and the score read 206-101. Gotham’s Bonnie Thunders gained a power jam when Minnesota’s Harmony Killerbruise went to the box on the next jam. The game ended 234-101.

“We prepare for all of our opponents the same way, so we prepared for this game with our intense practices and just pushing each other further,” said Gotham’s Hela Skelter.

Final Score

(4) Minnesota RollerGirls 101
(1) Gotham Girls Roller Derby 234

Gotham goes on to play the winner of Windy City vs. Rocky Mountain for 1st place in the tournament. Minnesota will play the loser of Windy vs. Rocky for 3rd place and the third slot in the WFTDA Championships.