Sacramento, CA

by Vile Love It

The No. 3 seed Denver Roller Dolls and the No. 2 seed Minnesota RollerGirls met on the road to Champs in a grinding bout that had the pack moving so slowly at times as the jammers tried to chisel their way through the defensive walls, it seemed that the play was in slow motion. But once Denver caught the momentum, they picked up speed and skated away with the win. They will play the Gotham Girls Roller Derby for 1st place on Sunday and make the trip to the international 2014 WFTDA Championships in Nashville Oct. 31-Nov. 2 to play for the coveted Hydra.

photo by David Costa

The first half of the first period was close. Denver got an early power jam and Wilhem picked up 20 points. But Minnesota chipped away at their lead and caught up. Halfway through the first period it was a 1-point game.

But the pendulum swung in Denver’s favor after that and in a series of shut out jams, they pressed down on the gas pedal and added point after point to the scoreboard.

At the half Denver held a 49-97 lead.

When you’ve got 30 more minutes to play, surpassing a 48-point lead is doable. Unfortunately, when you’re playing the #4 ranked team in the world, it’s pretty difficult.

Denver’s defense was nearly impenetrable. Minnesota’s jammers were stymied jam after jam by the braced walls and constant recycling of the Denver blockers. There weren’t a significant number of huge hits by either team, the blockers just held firm and didn’t let those jammers go.

On the start of many jams, one team would have a tripod wall up front and the other would have a similar formation in the back. And the pack would slowly make its way around the track. Minnesota’s walls were equally as tight, when they were able to make them. Denver was just a bit better at making and keeping the defense together.

Denver did a good job with the sneaky star pass. Their pivot and jammer had the track awareness to know when and where to pass the star and when they used it, it successfully shut down Minnesota’s lead jam advantage.

The first half penalties were fairly lopsided. Minnesota had 21 penalties (3 jammer) and Denver only had 14 penalties (4 jammer). Denver won lead jam 12 times to Minnesota’s 7 and they used it to shut Minnesota down in almost half of the jams in both periods.

Through the second period the penalties evened out, leaving Minnesota with 33 trips (4 jammer) and Denver with 29 (6 jammer).

In the end, Minnesota’s jammers were never able to find enough chinks in the Denver armor to get through for lead jam or to make enough significant scoring passes and Denver skated away with the win.

Minnesota might be down, but they are not out of the fight to make it to WFTDA Championships. On Sunday they will play the Rat City Rollergirls at 4 p.m. (Pacific) for third place. Denver will take on Gotham Girls Roller Derby at 6 p.m. for first place.

FINAL SCORE:

Denver Roller Dolls 189

Minnesota RollerGirls 93