Nashville, TN

By Lexistential Crisis

The final day of international 2014 WFTDA Championships started with an exciting Division 2 Third Place game between Berlin, Germany’s Bear City Roller Derby (Kitchener-Waterloo #2, #45) and Las Vegas, Nevada’s Fabulous Sin City Rollergirls (Duluth #2, #50). The game was not decided until the very last jam, and is the second (out of only three) D2 games at Championships to be decided by one point.

Photo by Steve Jurkovic

Bear City came out strong in the first half of the game, and their jammers played clean until jam 13 when Master Blaster cut the track. With under 14 minutes left in the half Bear City led with a score of 54-35. For the rest of the second half the momentum swung in Sin City’s direction as they picked up points on a few quick, fast jams to eventually take the lead. Around the six-minute mark Sin City led the game 64-62.

Sin City’s strong blockers were able to prevent Bear City from scoring in the last seven jams of the first half and kept their score at 62. Geneva Conviction and Bust’N Ace snuck around Bear City’s defense to bring their team to 100 points at halftime.

In the second half the scoring almost evenly changed in Bear City’s favor, as they outscored Sin City 102-63. Bear City began their comeback by executing well-timed defense-to-offense switches and making small point gains throughout the early jams of the second half. In the wake of two jammer penalties for Sin City Donner Doro and Master Blaster scored 12 and nine points to take the lead back for the first time since Jam 20. Around the 10-minute mark Bear City held a one-point lead of 142 over Sin City’s 141.

Photo by Steve Jurkovic

Master Blaster quickly added two points to their lead to make the score 144-141 in the next jam, but 21 Guns, Anti Hero, and Domme Juan surrounded Bear City’s jammer in the following jam to allow their jammer to earn lead and tie the game at 144. DissLoKate scored one point in the next jam to take the lead for Sin City, but was sent to the box for a back block at the end of the jam. Master Blaster took advantage of the power jam start and earned lead status in less than 10 seconds. She scored a few points before also being sent to the penalty box for a high block. Throughout the two minutes of that jam Bear City scored 16 points while Sin City added 18 points to their total to end the jam with a lead of 163-160.

With two minutes left on the clock, Donner Doro was declared lead jammer and quickly called off the jam to start a new one. Master Blaster and Geneva Conviction pushed through tough walls in the next jam, and lead jammer status went to Master Blaster, though Geneva Conviction was less than a half-lap behind her. After Master Blaster scored two points the score was 162-163 in favor of Sin City. The final jam was almost identical to the one before it as Master Blaster earned lead while Geneva Conviction chased her down. Paulina Pocket, Lizzy Slaughter, and Karo-Bolage prevented Sin City from scoring while Master Blaster was able to score two points as she quickly called off the jam. After a quick discussion and an official review from Sin City, the final score was set at 164-163 for Bear City.

Photo by Donna Olmstead

Both teams showed their versatility as multiple skaters blocked and jammed throughout the entire game. Sin City’s Bust’N Ace, Geneva Conviction, Dairy Heir, Dixie Dash, and Shabamm all played strong defense in the pack and also wore the star as jammers. Master Blaster and Paulina Pocket did the same for Bear City. Sin City’s most effective double threats Bust’n Ace and Geneva Conviction explained that, “All season it’s been one of our goals to have that depth and versatility to be able to block or jam.” They showed off that depth by having eight skaters jam throughout the game.

Bear City didn’t show the same jammer depth with a short roster of only 10, but instead had a strong three-jammer rotation of Master Blaster, Donner Doro, and Paulina Pocket. At pivotal moments of the game Bear City switched to a two jammer rotation of Master Blaster and Donner Doro while Paulina Pocket provided strong defense and offensive support as a blocker. Master Blaster jammed in 25 out of 49 jams and scored 114 of Bear City’s points. Geneva Conviction, Bust’N Ace, and DissLoKate led scoring for Sin City with 45, 44, and 38 points, respectively.

Bear City finishes the season at 3rd Place in Division 2 and Sin City finishes at 4th.

Final Score

Fabulous Sin City Rollergirls (Duluth #2) 163
Bear City Roller Derby (Kitchener-Waterloo #2) 164