Kitchener-Waterloo, ON

By Whacks Poetic

The fifth place game featured the top two teams coming into the WFTDA 2014 Division 2 Kitchener-Waterloo Playoffs, a tournament notable for its upsets and international flavour. The DC Rollergirls (Washington, DC) entered the tournament as the top seed but fell to ninth seed Bear City Roller Derby from Berlin, Germany, in the quarterfinals. Queen City Roller Girls from Buffalo, NY, entered as the second seed but a loss to seventh seed Gold Coast Roller Grrls in their Friday game found them in the relegation bracket alongside their DC comrades. Queen City would win the relegation bracket though, taking home fifth place for the tournament, 226-144.

Photo bySean Murphy

The first half was a closely fought battle. Each jam was a fight for lead and a fight for everypoint. Queen City came out with a quick 4-0 thanks to LiBRAWLian, but DC responded with a 4-0 jam of their own. The third jam would see LiBRAWLian open up a large lead for Queen City with a 19-points jam, but Rocky Brawlboa responded in the fourth jam with 21 points of her own to retake the lead for DC, 25-23. A couple jams of jostling later and the score was tied at 32 with ten minutes gone.

Grand Theft Autumn, DC Rollergirls Captain, “We were excited to be facing a team we’ve never played before. We’ve played similar opponents and knew it would be evenly matched if we kept everyone on the track.”

Queen City and DC then traded single scoring passes before Queen City began to pull away, leaving a 20-point score differential halfway through the period. With a little over five minutes to go, DC would take the lead once more, 72-71, with a 5-0 jam by Yankee Scandal. A 4-0 jam and a 19-0 jam by Miss Fire and LiBRAWLian, respectively, would build the lead to over 20. However, by the end of the half, DC would pull it to 18 with a 10-point jam by Rocky Brawlboa, leaving the scoreboard reading 100-82 for the skaters from Buffalo.

Queen City began the second half on fire with a 15-0 jam by LiBRAWLian, quickly followed by a 14-0 jam by Abercrombie and Fists. InSINerator and LiBRAWLian added 29 points to Queen City’s total as DC jammer Miller-Miller sat in the box for three penalties. With just under fifteen minutes to go, Queen City led 196-109. DC’s prospects would begin to look up as Yankee Scandal, Jill Hill, and Viva Violence went on a scoring streak, putting up 28 points across five jams and keeping Queen City to two points in seven jams. With five minutes left, the score favored Queen City, 198-137.

LiBRAWLian would score the final points of the game in the second-to-last jam, raising her total to 146 for the game and leaving the scoreboard, 226-144 for Queen City.Guy O. Tine, Queen City coach on the team’s tournament progression, “On Friday, everyone was disappointed but we emphasized relaxing and getting a good night’s sleep in preparation for Saturday’s game. We definitely played into the weekend and got better with each bout. Today, we executed the way we should."

Queen City Roller Girls finish fifth. DC Rollergirls finish sixth.

Final Score:

DC Rollergirls 144

Queen City Roller Girls 226