Kitchener-Waterloo, ON

By Vile Love It

In the fight for third place the 7 seed Gold Coast Derby Grrls (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) and the 4 seed Killamazoo Derby Darlins (Killamazoo, MI) met in another amazing game that had fans gasping and cheering as the action burned up the track. In a seat- gripping finish the Derby Darlins edged out the skaters from Gold Coast to take third place for the second year in a row.

Photo bySteve Jurkovic

Gold Coast won their first two games against Grand Raggidy and Queen City, but lost against Rideau Valley on Saturday night. Killamazoo won their first game against The Chicago Outfit, but lost against Bear City on Saturday. Both teams’ consolation game was for third and fourth place.

Killamazoo took a strong initial lead as their jammers were able to navigate Gold Coast’s walls and put up points, while Killamazoo’s blockers locked down Gold Coast’s jammers. It wasn’t until the fifth jam of the game when Gold Coast was able to put points on the scoreboard. Shortly afterward, Gold Coast’s Bitchin N’ Rollin headed to the box and Killamazoo squashed any idea of a Gold Coast scoring run.

Gold Coast was finally able to find a good jammer rotation. With 12:30 on the clock, through a series of power jams and stellar jamming they cut Killamazoo’s lead to 8.

Throughout the rest of the period, Gold Coast edged closer and then Killamazoo pushed further ahead. At the half, Killamazoo held a 35-point lead. The score was 99-64.

“Baller Shot Caller’s skate broke three times during this bout and it wasn’t so much as not having her on the track as it was the mental anguish of it and the additional chaos that it caused on the bench,” said Gold Coast’s Coach Bear Lee Human. “We have a league of 32 individuals and that’s not just skaters, that’s everyone. We practice indoors once a week and four of our normal skaters couldn’t make it to the tournament and we did this. I couldn’t be more proud of what they accomplished this weekend. These ladies are amazing.”

Gold Coast came out hard in the second half and, with a power jam, Bitchin N’ Rolling brought the score to 98-95 (Killamazoo lead). Within three more jams, Gold Coast served up the first lead change of the game. Killamazoo took the lead back quickly, but Gold Coast wasn’t deterred and fought back. With 18:30 left in the game, Gold Coast tied it up and then was given a power jam. When the track stopped sizzling from that jam, Gold Coast was back in the lead 112-124.

Killamazoo turned the heat back up and, with all of their blockers on the track, they were able to shut Gold Coast down in the next two jams, bringing the score back to a tie. Then, in the next jam, Killamazoo took back the lead.

And then, Gold Coast was in the lead.

And then Killamazoo pulled to within 1.

The push and pull of the scoreboard didn’t seem to end until Killamazoo’s Doobie Trap headed to the box on a track cut, leaving Bitchin N’ Rollin to score. With 3:35 left on the clock, Gold Coast led 139-150.

But as derby fans know, an 11-point lead is nothing and 3:35 is still enough derby to play to make up the difference and then some.

Both jammers headed to the box one after the other and then, headed back onto the track. Heckler made quick work of the Gold Coast defense while Baller Shot Caller was stuck in Killamazoo’s wall. When the derby dust settled, it was only a 6-point game with 1:30 on the clock.

In an incredible crazy last two jams that had the best-of-everything derby, including incredible juking, blocking, cycling, swirling, swarming accompanied by the ooing and aahing of the growing crowd, the Killamazoo Derby Darlins squeaked out the win to gain third place against the Gold Coast Derby Girls in one of the most exciting games of the tournament.

“We normally are a second half team, but we were really tired. We took the time out toward the end of the game when we were down, and we just had a talk that we had to dig it out,” said Killamazoo’s Miss B. Haven. “We had to find the energy and we really worked hard to do that and I’m really proud that we were able to find what we needed to win the game.”

Killamazoo Derby Darlins finish third. Gold Coast Derby Grrls finish fourth.

Final Score:

Killamazoo Derby Darlins 180

Gold Coast Derby Grrls 162