Playoffs & Championships

For skaters and fans who’ve been anxiously anticipating the seeding for the 2015 International WFTDA Playoffs, the wait is finally over as the WFTDA has released the brackets for the Division 1 and Division 2 playoff tournaments.

The 2015 season has seen more than the average shakeup both within the divisions and between them. With a whole contingent of strong new teams and more teams from outside of North America rising in the ranks, we’re looking at a postseason primed for upsets and bracket busters. Plus, we may get to see potential rematches of some of the regular season’s most exciting games, between Rose City Rollers and Texas Rollergirls, and Victorian Roller Derby League v. B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls, making the 2015 Playoffs season particularly exciting.

DIVISION 1

No Oly

As expected, the Oly Rollers are ineligible for the 2015 season due to not playing enough sanctioned games, shifting up some teams and allowing Rideau Valley Roller Girls to move into the final #10 seed in Division 1.  

Debuts

Along with Rideau making their D1 Playoff debut (up from D2 in 2014), 2015 will see several new teams compete for the first time ever in Playoffs. Team United Roller Derby from Des Moines, Iowa, a relative newcomer on the scene, will be making their first D1 Playoffs appearance in Tucson after an impressive debut ranking at #21 in the May 31 Rankings.

In addition to hosting, the Dallas Derby Devils will also be making their first appearance in a D1 Playoff, while Queen City Rollergirls out of New York have made the leap from D2 and will take the #9 seed in Omaha.  

The most talked-about change this year is the inclusion of five new teams from outside of North America. The four new European additions (Stockholm Roller Derby, Crime City Rollers, Glasgow Roller Derby, Helsinki Roller Derby) and Australian contingent (Sun State Roller Girls) have all jumped the rankings ladder significantly in the past few months and will be looking to solidify their spots in D1. While both Stockholm and Helsinki had great showings at this year’s ECDX and The Big O respectively, Crime City and Glasgow have no recorded games against D1 teams this year. Likely this is due to the financial burden of having to travel to the US to get experience against many teams in the top 40, and it will be exciting to finally see how they match up against the rest.

With returning Canadian staples Montreal Roller Derby, Toronto Roller Derby and Terminal City Rollergirls, as well as Rideau Valley and Tri-City Roller Derby, this playoff season is the most internationally inclusive in WFTDA’s history, with a total of 12 non-US teams in D1.

Omaha

The reigning four-time champions, Gotham Girls Roller Derby will likely see the biggest competition in their bracket from Angel City Derby Girls, currently ranked #8. Angel City has impressed with their rock-hard defense and stealth jammer lineup throughout the season, so it could make for an exciting match.

Championship staples Windy City Rollers find themselves this year in the #5 seed. A massive roster turnover resulted in a rocky year for the Chicago team and it will be interesting to see where they wind up in the end.

Jacksonville

Jacksonville Rollergirls, the darlings of the 2014 playoff season, have worked their way into the #3 seed and will have the added bonus of playing on their home turf this September. They narrowly missed making the trip to Champs last season, but 2015 could certainly be their year if they can manage to overcome both Tampa Roller Derby and Atlanta Rollergirls - likely their biggest competition in their bracket.

Tucson

An exciting matchup we will probably see is Bay Area (Seed 2) vs. Arch Rival Roller Girls (Seed 3). The Golden Girls from Bay Area may have had some turnover (including the loss of stellar jammer Bricktator to Arch Rival), but the team’s showing at Hometown Throwdown in June proved that the team is still solid. Arch Rival has been on the rise for over a year now and their jamming rotation seems to just get better and better. The recent additions of Bricktator and Harmony Killerbruise (Minnesota transfer) to an already-strong lineup help make Arch Rival a contender to watch for Championships.

Dallas

Dallas will host both Swedish teams - Crime City Rollers from Malmo and Stockholm Roller Derby from Stockholm - in September. Although it’s unlikely we’ll see the two Scandavians go up against each other, there is potential for several unprecedented matchups, with Sun State (seed 7) and Rideau also in the bracket. Sun State, out of Brown Plains, Australia, are the second team from Down Under to break into D1. While they also have no sanctioned games against D1 teams this year, they’ve been known to take on Victorian Roller Derby League at The Great Southern Slam where they’ve fared well.

DIVISION 2

Notably, there has been a lot of shakeup between D1 and D2 this season. Santa Cruz Derby Girls, Kansas City Roller Warriors, Columbia Quad Squad, Houston Roller Derby, Jet City Rollergirls, Oklahoma Victory Dolls, Nashville Rollergirls, Naptown Rollergirls and Wasatch Roller Derby have all dropped from D1 to D2 for Playoffs and will find themselves fighting for a spot at the 2015 D2 Championship games in Minnesota this fall.

Sac City Rollers (Seed 8) and Sacred City Derby Girls (Seed 2) will both head over to Detroit after taking the 2014 postseason off.

Back in 2013, Santa Cruz (Seed 1) made it to the first-ever D2 Championship game in Milwaukee, where they lost in the final jam by 1 point to Jet City. The team now find themselves back in the #1 seed for D2 and will be looking to avenge that loss and take home the trophy this time around.

Bear City Roller Derby (Seed 10) out of Berlin is the sole European team competing in D2 this year. The team from Germany made an impression at the 2014 D2 Playoffs, coming in as a 9 seed and earning a spot at Championships - a feat they’re likely hoping to repeat this year as well.

With so many new teams and matchups in the mix this year, you won’t want to miss a second of this year’s tournaments.

Live it or Stream It. Live.