Saint Paul, MN

by Shelly Shankya

The highly anticipated first semifinal of the 2015 International WFTDA Championships featured Rose City Rollers Wheels of Justice from Portland, Ore. (#1 D1 Dallas, #2) against the London Rollergirls London Brawling of London, England (#1 D1 Jacksonville, #3), and the game didn’t disappoint. The two teams met earlier in the 2015 as London hosted the Wheels of Justice in August where the host team defeated Portland 193-129. And prior to that barn-burner, the teams exchanged one win and one loss in previous years’ play.

Photo by Danforth Johnson

While Lexi Lightspeed took the first lead jammer status in the game, a late call-off put Portland on the board with four unanswered points. Lexi was swallowed back into the pack by blockers Jessica Chestnut, Jes Rivas, and Serelson, confounding the jammer and giving Loren Mutch the opportunity to sneak four points past the London Brawling. For the first three jams of the game, London remained scoreless, as Rose City put up 15.

The scoreless streak came to an end when Rogue Runner, the pivotal player from Game 5 against Arch Rival, pulled off 2 points to put the team on the scoreboard. In the following jam, however, London jammer Lexi received a cut track penalty forced by Whitney Griffin, Serelson and Rivas’ unrelenting hits. Scald Eagle scored 13 to Lexi’s four. By that point in the game - the sixth jam - Rose managed a strong lead, 28-6, and the momentum was palpable. It was so palpable, in fact, that Loren Mutch false started two jams later; she gave the right of way, but then managed a lead jammer status with a leap in the straightaway past the London pack.

Scald Eagle and Stefanie Mainey lined up in the eighth jam, and while London blocker Juke Boxx hit Scald out and drew her back to the jammer start line from turn two, Scald managed to sneak by Mainey to gain lead jammer. It was the first of several such back-and-forth jams between the two top scorers. The blocking knocks continued for each team, but Rose City came out on top of those hits in the majority of jams for the first period. At one point the Rose City blockers populated the penalty box, giving London a 4-1 pack advantage with Chestnut as the lone blocker, yet Scald managed lead jammer over Trisha Smackanawa, pulling in 10 points for the Wheels of Justice. The additional 10 points put Rose up 76-32 with just over 8:00 left in the first.

Jammer Stefanie Mainey defied the laws of physics, staying on her feet to grab lead jammer in the following jam and, despite also getting a low block call, somehow managed 21 points to LickerNSplit’s four. The jam was the shot in the arm that London needed to ignite their fervor. In the last four jams of the period, London outscored Rose 20-11. The teams skated into half with an 18-point differential in Rose’s favor, 91-73. Mainey put up 35 points for London while Scald put up 44 of Rose’s points.

Jammer penalties continued to haunt the London Brawling - they put up three in the first - and Mainey committed a cut track in the second jam of the second period, clearing the way for Scald to score 20. On her last pass, Scald took a whip off of teammate Rivas and signaled her thanks while skating away from the pack with a large smile. The London blockers continued to fight, however, and Die Die, Juke Boxx and Arocha kept jammer LickerNSplit, forcing her to pass the star cover to pivot Chestnut. During the first 10:00 of the second period, London and Rose City shared lead jammer status almost equally, Rose City edging London only slightly with five to London’s four lead jammer calls.

The last 15 minutes of the game was a different story, though, nearly a different game, as London found its calling, holding Rose scoreless for six jams while they went on a 19-0 run, bringing the point differential to a mere 19 points, the closest it had been since the start of the second half. In one of the matchups between Scald and Mainey, the two entered turn two and Mainey gained lead while Scald broke her skate; she had to push off and glide with her good skate to avoid being sucked back into the aggressive pack led by JukeBoxx. Not knowing about Scald’s skate kerfuffle, Mainey called off the jam, scoring only three.

“It happened while I was skating against Stef, and I went into turn two, but my pivot stem popped out of my pivot cup when I Ianded the jump coming out of the pack,” Scald Eagle said.

Emergency skate repair put Scald back on the track just two jams later when she almost successfully pulled Mainey back to the front of the pack after a hit out, but Mainey snuck through for lead and four points. The final jam featured the two jammers once again, but this time Scald got lead. At that point with just 1:10 left, it was a chance for her to wait out the clock, which she did after scoring six points; she looked to her bench and called it off when the period clock read 0:00.

Rose City advances to the Championship game, their second time in so many years. London moves to the third place game.

FINAL SCORE

London Rollergirls (Jacksonville #1) 154
Rose City Rollers (Dallas #1) 166