Kitchener-Waterloo, ON

By Vile Love It

The 3 seed Rideau Valley Roller Girls (Ottawa, Ontario) helped start a new chapter of WFTDA history with their win over 7 seed Gold Coast Derby Girls (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), which set up a WFTDA Playoffs final game with no U.S. teams. Rideau Valley will compete against 9 seed Bear City Rollergirls for 1st place in the Kitchener-Waterloo tournament and will representing D2 in Nashville, TN, in November at the WFTDA Championships.

Rideau won over No. 6 seed Boulder County in their first game of the tournament and Gold Coast won their game against No. 10 seed Grand Raggidy and upset No. 2 seed Queen City on Friday night.

Both teams were adept at playing in a fast, constantly rotating pack as well as a slow, tight scrum although Rideau had a slight advantage as their jammers were better able to power through Gold Coast’s snug walls.

Rideau earned the lead early in the bout 37-13 and when Gold Coast’s Bitchin N Rollin (#000) headed to the box and left Rideau’s Soul Rekker (#55) on a power jam it seemed that Rideau would seriously extend their lead.

On one pass Soul Rekker cut through Gold Coast’s blockers like a hot knife through butter. But by the time Bitchin made it back to the track Rideau was down to 2 blockers and she soon caught up on the scoreboard. By the time the jam ended Rideau only earned a 1-point advantage.

The fight for one point took on new meaning when Gold Coast’s Baller Shot Caller (#143) had lead for Gold Coast. Rideau’s Shania Pain (#24) was right behind her.

The jammers raced behind while the pack raced up front. When the jammers began to catch up one of Rideau’s blockers hung back to slow down Baller. She hit her and Baller balanced like a ballet dancer on one foot. As the whistles blew the jam ref held up one finger. She had passed the blocker’s hips and caught her point.

Halfway through the period, Gold Coast had worn away Rideau’s lead and it was 55-45 but Rideau’s jammers were able to weave through Gold Coast’s blockers with more power and speed and Rideau kept on adding the points. With just over seven minutes left in the first period the score stood at 96-64, Rideau in the lead.

Another power jam gave Gold Coast the ability to take a chunk out of Rideau’s score (96-79) but, at the end, a low block call sent Gold Coast’s jammer to the box. The teams traded momentary power jams and when the dust settled the score stood at 96-94.

But by the time the halftime whistle blew, Rideau had strengthened their lead to 120-98.

The speed and pressure of both teams kept up throughout the second period and, like the often-seen jammer races, Gold Coast kept chasing Rideau hard.

But as the second period progressed, Rideau was able to pull farther ahead and by halfway through they had a decent cushion on the scoreboard 172-128. And then

Rideau shifted into a higher gear.

With small but smart strategic moves by blockers and jammers alike, Rideau put up a significant lead and with 8 minutes left crested 200 points while Gold Coast sat at 132.

“We always keep that same pregame warm up and locker room rituals. We have everyone take about 5 minutes in silence while they are gearing up to focus on the goal and being calm. A lot of times skaters get razzled by a referee call or something they feel was unsafe, unfair or rude and we are working on not letting that rattle us,” said Rideau Bench Coach Drunky Brewster.

“We just play our game. We know our game and we feel comfortable in our game we might adjust our start if the other team prefers the front or back. Other than that we don’t change the way we play.”

Both teams maintained the same level of intensity and physicality of play throughout the entire bout but Rideau, with the help of their top jammer Soul Rekker, who scored 108 points in the bout, stemmed the scoring ability of Gold Coast and cemented their trip to the first place bout on Sunday and a trip to WFTDA.

Final Score:

Rideau Valley Roller Girls 224

Gold Coast Derby Girls 139

Champs in Nashville, TN. Gold Coast will play the Killamazoo Derby Darlins for 3rdPlace.