Saint Paul, MN

by Shelly Shankya

In a rematch of the Division 2 Cleveland 1st Place game, the third place Division 2 game on the final day of the 2015 International WFTDA Championship was slow to roll for the Kansas City Roller Warriors (#1 D1 Cleveland, #34) and the Demolition City Dynamite Dolls (#2 D1 Cleveland, #29). Perhaps it was nerves due to the ESPN broadcast or the early morning start, or knowing that the grudge match would be difficult: regardless, the teams took a couple jams to feel each other out before Demolition was able to dig in their toe stops and begin their run for third place.

Photo by Ryan Quick

A noticeable absence from the Kansas City bench, veteran blocker Bruz-Her did not skate in the game, and her absence could not be understated; she blocked during more jams - a total of 355 jams prior to this weekend - than any other blocker in Division 2 play during the 2015 season. And, while the blocker bench for Kansas City is deep, the defense from Demolition City out-blocked Kansas City, giving jammer Godjilla lead jammer in the third jam, and assisting her in a 9-point run. The jammers looked jumbled in turns one and two, and despite a pull back by Kansas City’s Kill Shot, Godjlla gave her team a 9-point lead that the team would go on to extend by another 11 in the following two jams.

“We played so many D1 teams this season, teams like Ohio, and they kept telling us that our defense is strong, that our walls are hard to beat,” Demolition City captain and blocker Shelby N. Pain said. “So after our loss on Friday, we knew we had to go back to our bread and butter, our defense.”

Dynamite Dolls’ blockers Bangs McCoy, Stepheree, and Shelby recycled Kansas City jammer Case Closed repeatedly, exhausting the skater, and making sure jammer Hurtz Donuts could skate unopposed to pull in nine more points. And without the leadership from Bruz-Her, the Kansas City blockers lacked the togetherness that the Warriors so frequently brought to the track in 2015. Jammer penalties by JessiKaboom for Kansas City proved to be problematic for the team, as well. In total, she spent five penalties in the box during the game. Her first trip the to box netted her five points while the Kansas City blockers Foxxi Brown and Rump Wrecker held jammer Slaughtermelons, but in subsequent jams in the first, Kaboom’s penalties lost her team 10 points. However, with 16:00 remaining in the period, Kaboom received a low block call as she engaged Demolition jammer Bambi ThumpHer, forcing Bambi to the back of the pack as the Kansas City team reformed around the downed skater.

Photo by Danny Ngan

For both periods, the Dynamite Dolls captured lead status more frequently, yet when Kansas City jammer Turtle Power took to the start line, the Demolition pack was seriously depleted; she had only Bangs McCoy to beat. Using the open track, Turtle Power scored 18 points to Hurtz Donut’s 8. That jam, followed by Case Closed’s 5-0 jam in the thirteenth jam put Kansas City within one point, a position they held for three jams; the score was 47-48.

Godjilla fell at the top of turn one, and it was a tough loss for the team, while she sat her required three jams. Demolition City followed the injury with renewed vigor, scoring 25-0 in the next two jams: 10 points on a power jam for Bambi ThumpHer and 15 points from a second power jam from Hurtz Donuts. The period ended shortly therafter with the Dynamite Dolls in a 24-point lead, 76-52 over the Roller Warriors.

The Demolition City “bread and butter” defense went back to work at the start of the second period, holding Kansas City jammer Turtle Power and forcing a star cover pass to pivot Rump Wrecker. Blockers Boss A-Train and Steel Stitches held Wrecker until Dynamite Doll jammer Godjilla went to the box on a track cut. On the second of Demolition City’s jammer penalties in the second period, Kansas City jammer Kaboom took advantage of the opportunity, bridging the 25-point gap with 20 points of her own. The score with just over 22:00 to go was 80-85, and it looked like Kansas City had, perhaps, found its togetherness. When given the opportunity to push past the Demolition skaters on forearm penalty to pivot-turned jammer Bangs McCoy, jammer Case Closed lacked the gas to force the lead change, but she did have enough to put the team within three points, 94-97.

The middle jams of the period saw small point gains for each team, as well as shared jammer penalties - one for each team - and Demolition City had the slight advantage until a sneaky 4-point jam from Case Closed tied the game at 113. Kaboom shifted the game to Kansas City’s favor with a 5-point jam followed by a 16-12 exchange between KC veteran Track Rat and Bambi ThumpHer. Track Rat played during the 2015 season, but didn’t play during Playoffs. The score with just over 5:00 in the game had Kansas City with a 9-point lead, 134-125. As the scoreboard showed a lead for the Roller Warriors, the Kasnas City fans screamed for the team to “Burn it down!” until the arena went silent as jammers Kaboom and Godjilla fell at the top of turns three and four in what resulted in an injury timeout. The fall was from clean action on the track, but the two left the track with assistance, though on their own skates.

And while all of the skaters sat silently at their benches, two blockers for Demolition City fouled out of the game, blockers Stepheree and Flex A Belle. Both blockers announced their retirement earlier in the season. The absence of their blocking acumen was present, but didn’t put a dent in Hurtz Donut’s will on the following jam. She scored nine points in the following jam, the game’s penultimate, bringing things to a tied game with only 1:50 remaining on the clock.

The two teams went with veterans for the final jam: Kansas City sent Track Rat to the line, and Bambi ThumpHer went on the track to Demolition City. The jam started with a 2-2 pack advantage that quickly went in Demolition City’s favor as Rump Wrecker ended up being the only blocker for Kansas City; and then the team lost it’s jammer as Track Rat went to the box on a track cut. Bambi used her blockers Bangs McCoy and Shelby N. Pain to neutralize Wrecker’s presence and score 10 points. After doing so, she waited for the penalty clock to roll to zero and called off the jam, ending the game. The result was a reversal of the Division 2 Cleveland final game; Demolition took the win 149-139 and left the weekend as the Division 2 Third Place team.

“We had a mental block at Friday’s game [against Nashville], and we all fell flat when we got behind,” Shelby N. Pain said. “We had a come-to-Jesus talk yesterday and knew we had to refocus our game play. Our reset was mental; we decided to point out the good things that happened in our game, and the positive energy pushed us through today’s game.”

FINAL SCORE

Kansas City Roller Warriors (Cleveland #1) 139
Demolition City Roller Derby (Cleveland #2) 149