Kitchener-Waterloo, ON

[By Whacks Poetic

Fresh off their exciting battle to the end win this morning, Bear City Roller Derby from Berlin, Germany took on the DC Rollergirls (Washington, DC), on the first day of the WFTDA 2014 Division 2 Playoffs in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.  The teams had met previously this year with DC taking the win, 151-117.  The game would be much closer this time around with the European team continuing to write their Cinderella narrative by upsetting the tournament’s number one seed, 166-156.

James Calder

After five minutes of single scoring passes, DC was up 10-2.   In the sixth jam, DC jammer Rocky Brawlboa spent a minute in the box and Bear City took the lead 18-15.  Single scoring passes continued to be the trend but with more of them going Bear City’s way. When the DC jammers got out first, Bear City was close behind, managing to steal points twice in the first half. With 15 minutes gone, the scoreboard read 44-21.  The duo of Master Blaster and Donner Doro continued Bear City’s winning ways one pass at a time until DC jammer, Yankee Scandal was sent to the box on a back block.  Master Blaster then opened Bear City’s lead to 90-25 with a 34-point jam. The remaining 10 minutes of the half continued seeing DC unable to capitalize when they attained lead jammer status with a notable exception of Miller-Miller who managed to put up 9-0 jam against Kozmic Bruise in the second to last jam. The score at half time was 115-52 for the German Bombshells.

“Playing Bear City is always exciting for us.  At the half, we knew we had to come back with intensity and we could make it close,” said Grand Theft Autumn, DC Rollergirls Bench Coach.

DC started out the second half incredibly strong taking 3 of the first 5 lead jammer statuses and bringing the gap to within 15 points, 119-104, with the help of a couple penalties to Bear City’s jammers.  Bear City brought it back under control and continued their single scoring pass style and inching their score upwards to 133-109.  DC managed to control Bear City, holding them scoreless for 5 jams while adding 13 to their point total making it 133-122 for the European team with just under 15 minutes to go.  Master Blaster would provide a brief reprieve to Bear City’s scoreless streak picking up 3 points in the fifteenth jam of the half.  DC continues on their scoring streak unabated to bring the score to within 5, 137-132 with less than 8 minutes remaining. DC briefly took their first lead of the second half in jam 20 before Rocky Brawlboa went to the box on a back block and Catherine Beat-Her Bonez took the star from Donner Doro, putting up 10 points in the process, leaving the score after jam 20 at 151-144 for Bear City. 

The team from Washington was not done, however, and just a jam later, Master Blaster would go to the penalty box wearing the star for Bear City and Rocky Brawlboa would retake the lead for her team 156-151.  Two track cuts for Viva Violence would leave Bear City’s Donner Doro unopposed for a minute in the penultimate jam, enough time to retake the lead, 166-156 calling it with Viva Violence still in the box. With 40 seconds on the clock, DC called a timeout.

Master Blaster, Bear City skater on lining up for the final jam.  “All we had to do is get lead and I knew, I was confident, that we could do that.”

Master Blaster started the final jam on the jammer line, quickly attained lead and called it as the crowd counted down to 0 with the period clock.

Final Score

(1) DC Rollergirls 156
(9) Bear City Roller Derby 166

Bear City continues on track for a spot at the WFTDA 2014 Championships in Nashville, TN facing off against the Killamazoo Derby Darlins from Kalamazoo, Michigan at 2 pm EDT Saturday. The DC Rollergirls will play at 4 pm against either Grand Raggidy Rollergirls from Grand Rapids, Michigan, or the Chicago Outfit from Chicago, Illinois.