Kalamazoo, MI

Tri-City takes down Paper Valley for 5th place

By Vile Love It

The bout for 5th place between the Tri-City Roller Girls (seed 8, ranked 60) from Kitchener, Ontario, and the Paper Valley Roller Girls (seed 7, ranked 55) from Appleton, Wisconsin, was a flip-flopped game where Tri-City commandeered the first period and Paper Valley controlled the second period.

Paper Valley did what almost no other team in the tournament was able to do; nearly eradicate their penalties between the first and second period. In the first period, they sat in the box for 29 minutes (5 of those were jammer penalties). In the second period, they only sat for nine minutes (3 of those by their jammers). Tri-City had 18 minutes (3 jammer) in the first half and 23 minutes (4 jammer) in the second.

In the first half, Tri-City was able to take full advantage of their power jams and between Ova’Kill (#11), Freudian Whip (#22), and Skate Pastor (#10) the Tri-City jammers earned 22, 25, 15, and 24 points in those jams. Four of the power jams Tri-City had in the first period were back to back when both Kat Von Devious (#191) and Pissy Pistol (#6) each hit the box twice in a row. Despite Ova’Kill sitting between Kat Von Devious’ penalties, the Tri-City blockers were able to control the remains of the Paper Valley players on the track while their jammers lapped the pack, collecting points.

Tri-City earned 13 lead jams and when they weren’t on the power jam, they were able to limit Paper Valley’s scoring ability. By the half, the Canadian team held a commanding lead 142-59.

But the second period was an entirely different story for both teams.

Between the Paper Valley defense and jammer penalties (4 in the second), Tri-City was scoreless for 66% of the second half and, at one point, Tri-City went eight consecutive jams without a point. It seemed as if the Tri-City train had finally become derailed.

“We totally surpassed our expectations for this tournament and I am so proud of everything we accomplished,” said Tri-City Captain Sofanda Beatin’ (#420). “One of the things we are taking out of the tournament is that we know that in the past we used to be a second-half dominating team. But during this game in particular, we struggled during the second half. We’re going to take that and everything else we learned back home and work on those in the next season.”

Paper Valley pummeled at the Tri-City offense while their jammers earned lead jam after lead jam and did their best to pull their team back into the game. The Paper Valley jammers scored 110 points in the second half compared to Tri-City’s 61 points.

Late in the second period, Tri-City’s jammer Freudian Whip (#22) had back-to-back penalties and Paper Valley’s Pissy Pistol was able to pull her team to within 46 points. There were minutes left in the bout and it looked as if Paper Valley could pull out the come back of the tournament.

But then Tri-City found the groove they had for the rest of the tournament and they buckled down and kept their lead. Paper Valley came to within 40 points but no closer.

“It was a tough game,” said Paper Valley’s Captain Blazin Britches (#26). “We lost it in the first half of the first period, but we were able to pull it back together in the second. And in the end, we finished strong.

“We came in 7th seed and left in 6th place. That’s quite an accomplishment. I’m happy with the way we played and our accomplishments.”

Final Score

(8) Tri-City Roller Girls 203
(7) Paper Valley Roller Girls 169