Salt Lake City, UT

By Vile Love It

In Friday night’s final game, between Rocky Mountain Rollergirls of Denver, Colorado, (seed 3) and the host team Wasatch Roller Derby, Salt Lake City, Utah, (seed 6) there were the first 10 minutes of the game and then the rest of the game.

Photo by Donna Olmstead

Some teams take a few jams to feel out the floor, get a sense of the officiating and take the temperature of the opposition. Rocky Mountain did exactly that and, about 10 minutes into the game, they found the gas pedal, pressed it down, and didn’t let up until the last jam.

Wasatch, helped by early significant penalty calls against Rocky Mountain, gained the lead, lost the lead, and gained it back in those early minutes. It seemed as if the game was going to be a close seesaw between the two teams.

Seven minutes into the first period, Rocky Mountain’s Phantom Menace headed to the box for an old-fashioned minute on a double penalty, and Wasatch went on a scoring spree. Not long after Phantom skated back into the pack, she returned to the box again. It seemed that penalties were going to keep Rocky Mountain down and out.

Within the first 10 minutes of the game, Rocky Mountain had collected 10 penalties.

But shortly thereafter, Rocky Mountain’s skaters reined in the box trips, focused on keeping Wasatch’s jammers in the pack while their own jammers busted through Wasatch’s walls and the team from Denver took back the lead and never let it go.

For much of the first period, like a jammer stuck behind endless cycling blockers, Wasatch seemed stuck at 36 points while Rocky Mountain continuously added to their score. They didn’t have huge 30- and 40-point jams, but they consistently added a good handful of points every jam while shutting Wasatch down.

At the half, Rocky Mountain held a definitive lead: 135-40.

Rocky Mountain’s blockers were also able to provide perfectly timed offense. Oftentimes a Rocky Mountain blocker would hit a Wasatch blocker out of the way at the perfect time for her jammer to get by, or the team of Rocky Mountain blockers would move into simultaneously to sweep Wasatch’s blockers out of the way. All the while keeping Wasatch’s jammers stuck behind a slow-moving, seemingly impenetrable wall.

Wasatch’s blockers often took a passive role, particularly when they were on a power jam, instead of coordinating their offense. During a second period power jam, Wasatch found itself in the front when their jammer Ali3 Kitt3n hit the pack. They seemed at a loss for how to get her through while Rocky Mountain’s blockers worked her over in the back. This limited the host team’s ability to put up points.

Wasatch did try to use the star pass to help their beleaguered jammers and, although it did give them fresh legs during the jam, the pivot-turned-jammers did not have any more success slipping through the Rocky Mountain walls than the regular jammers.

In the end, while penalties played a part for both teams, Rocky Mountain’s pack control and extraordinary defense kept a lock on Wasatch’s jammers and the Denver team skated to a decisive victory.

Rocky Mountain advances to the semifinals to play Angel City Derby Girls on Saturday at 8 p.m. MDT while Wasatch moves into the consolation bracket and will play Oklahoma Victory Dolls at noon MDT.

Final Score

(3) Rocky Mountain Rollergirls 287
(6) Wasatch Roller Derby 92