Fort Wayne, IN

Ohio pulls second upset win over Montreal

By Whacks Poetic

Sixth seed Ohio Roller Girls from Columbus, Ohio were looking to repeat their upsetting ways of last night when they took on 2 seed, Montreal Roller Derby, on Day 2. The two teams have not met on the track since 2009, when Ohio snuck past Montreal winning 102-98. Ohio managed to prove that they belong in anyone’s list of top WFTDA teams, beating Montreal 212-149 and securing a place in the 2013 WFTDA Championships, November 8th-10th in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The tone of the game could often be determined by looking at the penalty box. When Montreal managed to keep their side of the box empty, they outperformed the Columbus, Ohio team. Unfortunately for the Canucks, there were normally several skaters occupying a chair in the penalty area.

Photo by John Wijsman

Montreal started the game on the right foot, taking lead jammer status in the first three jams and scoring 20 points when The Smacktivist went to the box for a forearm in the second jam. Ohio took the lead six and a half minutes in after Iron Wench was penalized for an illegal forearm. Iron Wench managed to retake the lead in the same jam after she returned from the box with the score after seven-and-a-half minutes being 28-27 for Montreal. The last lead change of the game occurred in the very jam with Montreal jammer, Mel E Juana was penalized twice and Ohio won the jam 15-9. Mel E Juana started the next jam from the penalty box and there was always at least one Montreal blocker to keep her company. The Smacktivist capitalized on Montreal’s penalties to score 29 points, often only having to pass one Montreal blocker to gain all 5 points.

Five minutes later, The Smacktivist outdid that jam by scoring 30 points while Greta Bobo sat in the box as the Montreal jammer for a forearm, again sometimes only facing one Montreal opponent on the track. With about ten minutes left in the first half, Montreal put up 28 uncontested points prior to once again falling prey to jammer penalties when Lil’ Mama went to the box for skating out of bounds in the second-to-last jam of the half. When the final whistle went for the period, Ohio Rollergirls were leading by over 60 points, 138-76.

The second half started with Ohio continuing their path to Championships, outscoring Montreal 42 to 20 in the first ten jams driving the score up to 180-96. Montreal then gave fans a glimpse of the team they can be when they stay out of the penalty box, taking lead in the next three jams and putting up 30 points and shutting their American opponents out, bringing the score to 180-126 for Ohio with 12 minutes left in the game. Unfortunately, the clean play didn’t last, with Iron Wench committing a back block with 10-and-a-half minutes remaining in the bout and then illegally engaging before the start of the next jam, allowing Ohio to score 21 points. The score with five minutes remaining was 205-134 and, although Montreal is well known for pulling out unlikely victories in the second half, this time it was not meant to be. They managed to keep their jammers out of the box for the last five minutes and outscored Ohio 15-3 for the remainder of the game but it was truly a case of too little, too late and Ohio clinched their spot in Championships with a final score of 212-149.

“We’ve never thought of ourselves as underdogs," said Ohio's Amy Spears. "Maybe we should have been ranked a little higher than we are. Maybe having everyone else think of us as underdogs gave us kind of a secret weapon in that regard. We were confident about this. When we saw the brackets, we were confident that this would be the outcome and we’re absolutely thrilled. I’ve been playing for eight years and I’m going to Championships!”

Ohio Rollergirls will be playing the Denver Roller Dolls tomorrow at 6 pm. Montreal Roller Derby will be facing the London Rollergirls in a fight for a spot in the 2013 WFTDA Championship tournament at 4 pm tomorrow in the third place game. This will be the fourth time these teams have met and the third time in WFTDA Playoffs.

“I think it’s now a classic playoff game [London versus Montreal] which usually ends up being one of the favorite bouts of the year. I hope we get our act together and stay out of the box and then it’ll be a great game!” said Montreal's Georgia W. Tush.

Final Score

(6) Ohio Roller Girls 212
(2) Montreal Roller Derby 149