Milwaukee, WI

By Shelly Shankya

The Denver Roller Dolls had an inauspicious start to their game against the Angel City Derby Girls as jammer Julie Adams got a back block major in the opening jam of Game 6. Despite the rocky start, Denver straightened up their play and climbed to a steep lead over Angel City.

Photo by Bob Ayers

The point spread stayed relatively small as the players got steady on the track, scoring single-digit points until a jammer swap-out in the box as Denver’s jammer Urrk’n Martin went to the box on a back block, followed by a cut track forced on Angel City’s Ghetto Fabu-Lez by Denver blocker Shaina Serelson. That power jam/penalty kill, coupled with the blocker recycling on Angel City jammers gave the Mile High Club the upper hand by the middle of the first period.

Denver continued to dominate the women in gold and red, holding them scoreless for 15 of the 23 jams in the first period. Their work came at a price, however, as Denver’s blockers Ariel Quigley and Serelson finished the half with four and five penalties, respectively. Angel City had the pack advantage on a few jams, but their blockers failed to put a dent in the scoring power Denver jammers displayed. Jammer Mickispeedia scored 17 points for Angel City and was the leading jammer for the team. Amanda Sharpless led the Denver jammers, scoring 42 points.

“We realized we were a little penalty heavy in the first half, so we backed off, and we played smarter,” Denver jammer Sharpless said. “We played with a little less brawn, and tried to push their skaters to the outside and keep our arms in to avoid penalties.”

The first half ended with an official review from Angel City, contesting that Denver Ashley Bucsek left the penalty box illegally. The call was not overturned, however. The score at the end of the half stood at 115-48.

Jules Doyle

There were a handful of times when Angel City tried to mount a comeback against the Denver Roller Dolls Mile High Club, but their attempts fell short. Each time the Hollywood Scarlets got the chance to increase their score, the Mile High skaters redoubled their efforts, squashing the Scarlets’ hopes.

The pack speed continued to pick up pace, and Serelson continued to be the stick in Angel City’s craw, holding jammer Ghetto Fabu-lez back for more than half a track, finishing her with a huge hit to the outside. With assistance from Serelson and Kelly Rivas, Denver jammers managed to sneak through around the outside on a few occasions, giving the Mile High skaters the lead jammer advantage frequently throughout the half.

“As a jammer I didn’t have any penalties in today’s game,” Sharpless said. “The help from my blockers, staying on the track helped me skate cleanly also.”

Denver suffered a loss halfway through the second period as captain and blocker Quigley fouled out of the game with 15:00 remaining. Angel City wasn’t able to capitalize on the loss, however, as Denver blocker defense held the Angel jammers to single-digits throughout the remainder of the game, with the exception of the last jam when Angel City scored 14 points following the expulsion of Kelly Rivas on an egregious high block.

“It’s never fun to lose skaters to penalties, but I feel like we’re a strong enough team that even when we lose one to two skaters, we still work cohesively as a group,” Sharpless said. “We’re a cohesive team, and that sets us apart from other teams in the tournament. We’re like a murder of crows, always together.”

Final Score

Denver Roller Dolls (Fort Wayne #1) 200
Angel City Derby Girls (Richmond #3) 125

The game ended with Denver handily in the lead, 200-125. Denver skates on to play the Texas Rollergirls at 6:30 pm CST Saturday in the first semi-final game of the day.