Dallas, TX

by Whacks Poetic

The big state of Texas fell in love with a little team from Sweden as the 11 skaters of Stockholm Roller Derby took the track against the Rideau Valley Roller Girls from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on the second day of 2015 International WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs Dallas. Both teams lost their games yesterday and were looking for their first win of the tournament. Stockholm came into the game having lost to Rat City Rollers of Seattle, Wash., yesterday after holding the lead at the half. Meanwhile, Rideau Valley lost to the Sun State Roller Girls of Brown Plains, Queensland, Australia, yesterday to move into the consolation bracket. Stockholm demonstrated how quickly it learned from yesterday’s experience by skating a much cleaner game and taking the win, 290-84.

Photo by Duane Baker

Dominå F. Äkt of Stockholm Roller Derby said, “Yesterday’s game was a real wake up call for us. We learned what it takes to play at the level we want. Today we were much more together and much more able to adapt.”

The game started out with a 37-2 run by the Europeans before Rideau Valley started to climb back with jammer Shania Pain picking up the bulk of the lead jammer calls for the Canadian team. Although the game had some textbook demonstrations of clean 4-0 passes by Mad Maloony, Lil Slinky and Panika De Hex on the Stockholm side and Shania Pain, Soul Rekker and Melanie Austin for the Canadians, the real difference came in the jams where Rideau Valley’s jammers weretrapped. Mad Maloony managed to average more 10 points per jam for the game and finished off the first half with an 18-0 jam to bring the score to 149-38.

Photo by Jennifer Ramos

The second half saw more penalties for both teams, and although the Canadians managed to pull jammer penalties on the opposing team and get lead jammer statuses, they didn’t seem to be able to capitalize on these opportunities having only two multiple scoring pass jams in the second half. Stockholm’s defense led by Dominå F. Äkt, CaRollin’ Thunder, Blow Me and Polygamy Winehouse shut down Rideau’s point-scorers with what might best be described as a tornado-esque blocking style. The final two jams had Rideau earn lead jammer but only manage 12 points across the two to end the game 290-84 in favor of Stockholm.

Stockholm Roller Derby will continue its quest to retain fifth place at 4 p.m. against fellow country skaters, Crime City Rollers of Malmö, Sweden. Rideau Valley will look to improve from its tenth-place seeding in tomorrow’s ninth-place game at 10 a.m. against the loser of today’s game pitting the Ohio Roller Girls of Columbus, Ohio, against the Dallas Derby Devils of Dallas, Texas.

FINAL SCORE

Stockholm Roller Derby (#5) 290
Rideau Valley Roller Girls (#10) 84