Playoffs & Championships

By Vile Love It - Queen City Rollergirls

Between the Midwest Brewhaha, ECDX, Beach Brawl, June Boom, and Pac Destruction, to name a few, June was awash in invitational tournament action as teams juke for positions in the 2015 International WFTDA Division 1 and 2 Playoffs. With so many games to watch, we looked at some tournaments and picked a few highlights to give you some numbers to play around as you try to predict who might make the cut for D1 Playoffs on July 15.

We’ll be covering the D2 Playoffs movers and shakers next week.

Deroit Derby Girls in the 2014 WFTDA D2 Championship Game against Rideau Valley Roller Girls
Photo by Donna Olmstead

Since the Detroit Derby Girls took the D2 Championships in 2014, they have been steadily inching their way up D1 and, as of the May 31 Rankings release, they sat in the middle of D1 at #17. With two close and one commanding wins, Detroit came out of the Midwest Brewhaha with a tournament average of 421.47. Their 338-point win over the Old Capitol City Roller Girls gave them the most ranking points, 464.21. Losses against Stockholm Roller Derby and Philly Roller Derby at ECDX might have stymied their rise a bit, adding only 313.68 ranking points to their total, but they should remain solidly in D1 this year.

Ohio Roller Girls (#29 as of May 31) took on some tough opponents at Brewhaha and paid the price in ranking points. They lost to Arch Rival Roller Girls, Minnesota RollerGirls and Tampa Roller Derby and earned a tournament average of 216.84. However, their three games (all of them wins) played since Brewhaha added a good-sized portion of ranking points to their tally, potentially saving them from sliding too far in the ranks.

It’s always exciting when the London Rollergirls come from across the pond to compete against high-ranked U.S. teams, and it was no different this year at Pac Destruction. Their pre-tournament game against Santa Cruz Derby Girls earned them 634.05 ranking points, however, their wins over Texas Rollergirls, Rocky Mountain Rollergirls, and Angel City Derby Girls earned them 791.79, 738.35, and 810.71 ranking points, respectively. Already in the top tier of D1 ranked at #11 as of May 31, these games should propel them higher and tuck them into a top seed position for a D1 tournament.

London Rollergirls vs Jacksonville Rollergirls at the 2014 D1 Playoffs in Evansville
Photo by Donna Olmstead

Another European team on the move is Stockholm Roller Derby. They began the month of June ranked #31 and traveled to ECDX to gather as many rankings points as they could. They came out of the tournament with a record of 2-1 and Stockholm won in the ranking points game. They won against Charm City Roller Girls and Detroit, and lost against Montreal Roller Derby and as a result, collected 558.26, 585.76 and 432.30, respectively. This will likely move them up to the mid-D1 area of rankings and earn them a higher seed for Playoffs

Windy City Rollers (#15 as of May 31) have been slipping in the rankings as they rebound from losing a handful of veteran players during the off season, and the results of games they played at ECDX didn’t help. They played Montreal and Charm City and only gathered 228.94 and 300.45 ranking points respectively. These games will not do much to give Windy the bump the team was hoping for and might cause them to tumble further in D1.

Tampa Roller Derby vs Santa Cruz Derby Girls at 2014 WFTDA D1 Playoffs in Sacramento
Photo by Mike Butler

Tampa Roller Derby took a big hit when they played Gotham Girls Roller Derby at Brewhaha. Gotham won by a nearly 6:1 score ratio and Tampa only collected 259.23 ranking points for the game. However, Tampa had won against the Mad Rollin’ Dolls prior to their game against Gotham and collected 475.42 ranking points for their efforts. They went on to trounce Ohio, for 551.96 ranking points for a tournament average of 428.87. They started the month out ranked #23 and still could see a small rankings lift from Brewhaha.

Philly is also fighting for that top seed Playoffs position. They started June ranked #9. They played Gotham and Detroit while hosting ECDX and earned 362.89 and 699.17 rankings points. Although these games won’t lift their rank as much as their May 17 win against Minnesota (808.28 points), they seem likely to stay in the top 10.

Be sure to watch this space for our D2 roundup as well as the June 30 rankings release. Is it August yet?!