Detroit, MI

By The Oxford Commakaze

Bear City Roller Derby of Berlin, Germany, didn’t make the cross-ocean trip to the 2015 International WFTDA Division 2 Playoffs Detroit lightly -- they came to win and show the world what international derby can do. And they did, picking up their second win of the weekend over the Emerald City Roller Girls of Eugene, Oregon, in a battle of strategy and derby game just as much as a battle of skill and endurance.

Photo by Alexei Dodson/Rust Belt Raw

“Our approach is always to give the best. We want to improve roller derby and improve rankings-wise for the whole of Europe,” said Bear City’s Emmazon, explaining that playoff wins for European teams can help all European teams thanks to the math of the rankings calculator. “Europe has been under-ranked so badly, and you now see it. … We’re excited that Europe is rising, and that we’re having the approach to go back to Europe with this approach and experience.”

After a first jam with a 1-2 jammer punch popping through the pack right after another for a scoreless call, Emerald City’s Wonder Dread put the first points on the board with a hit-and-quit jam as Bear City quickly lost two blockers to the penalty box. Ogden tossed up four more for Emerald after a super-fast speed lap with Berlin’s Donner Doro right on her heels forced her to call the jam off after passing one blocker -- but that was the only Bear City blocker on the track, giving Emerald all four points for the blockers in the box, too.

It took Bear City four jams to get on the board, but it did so in a big way with a 30-0 double power jam for Master Blaster, avoiding a trap on the inside line set by Emerald blocker Neel as jammer Ogden went to the box for two cut track penalties in a row. Emerald pulled the game tight again shortly after with a 28-point jam of its own, but Bear City put up its own 15 points in that jam to keep the score 44-57 in its favor.

The score stayed tight as the teams traded power jams and low-scoring jams with Jenesin for Emerald and Emmazon for Bear City providing the shutdown defense and penalty-drawing maneuvers each team needed, but Bear City gained just a little more each time to pull a 48-point lead, 76-124. A 24-point power jam for Emerald’s Ogden cut that jam in half, though, as Bear City’s two remaining blockers executed the same strategy of blocking backwards to close off the jammer’s lanes, but were just barely out of sync to provide Ogden the opportunity she needed, closing the game a minute` later with a score of 110-138 in Bear City’s favor.

A power start for Bear City to kick off the second half pushed its lead to 40 points, but both teams rolled to a stall just two jams later as rapid-succession jammer escapes led to scoreless and ultra-low-scoring jams, with Bear City putting up 5 points in three jams and Emerald City putting up none at all. Revolving jammer penalties gave big points to each team 10 minutes in for the biggest point runs of the half, but the jam ended with identical 18-point gains, making the jam a wash, and traded jammer penalties in the next back-to-back jams left a 147-203 lead for Bear City with less than half the period left.

But a streak of defensive success for Emerald City paid off, holding Bear City to just 4 points in nearly ten minutes while Emerald posted 34, including 13 from pivot-turned-jammer The StrangeHer as an attempt to force Bear City to call the jam turned into a two-minute jam she capitalized upon. Small-point jams for each team brought the score to 183-220 with 4:48 left on the clock, but Emerald City still had all three time outs and an official review at its disposal, which it started to dole out to stop Master Blaster’s masterful clock-burning techniques as the clock dwindled.

And it nearly paid off: By using their clock-stopping opportunities judiciously, Emerald City forced six full jams in less than five minutes, gaining 31 points to Bear City’s 12. With just 20 points separating the teams and 7 seconds on the clock, all Emerald City needed was lead jam and a little luck. But that was on Bear City’s side as Master Blaster picked up lead jammer status within four seconds and watched the clock wind down, calling the jam off with a final score of 216-236 for Bear City.

“We really had to fight for it, but we’re super happy. … Last year we just had nail-biters. It always came down to on average under a ten-point differential every game, so we’re kinda used to that pressure,” Emmazon said. “Of course, flying over the ocean coming here is exciting anyway, and it’s super exciting to win more than one game. Now we’re just happy and feel relieved for Sunday.”

Bear City will move on to play Wasatch Roller Derby of Salt Lake City, Utah, for fifth place at 2 p.m. tomorrow. Emerald City will play the Sac City Rollers of Sacramento, Calif., for seventh place at 12 p.m. tomorrow.

FINAL SCORE

Bear City Roller Derby (#10) 236
Emerald City Roller girls (#3) 216