Omaha, NE

By Vile Love It

In a hard-working game, the 10 Seed No Coast Derby Girls (#39) and the 6 Seed Boston Derby Dames (#23) fought to increase their standings in the fifth place game on the final day of skating in Omaha. Once Boston took over the lead, early in the game, they held tight to it and though No Coast came close, they were never able to tip over the top.

Photo by Marko Niemelä

Regardless of the final score, No Coast had a stellar weekend. They barely lost to 7 Seed Helsinki Roller Derby (#25) in the first game of the weekend and then won against the 5 Seed Windy City Rollers (#20) and the 9 Seed Queen City Roller Girls (#33) to advance to the fifth place game.

Boston lost to the 3 Seed Minnesota RollerGirls (#12) in their first game but then won against 8 Seed Toronto Roller Derby (#32 ) as well as Helsinki.

No Coast struck first in this game, and held a lead for the first half of the first period. Just under the halfway mark, Boston pulled ahead 33-22.

Throughout the rest of the game Boston led. However they never held a completely comfortable lead against No Coast until the final 10 minutes of the game.

No Coast always seemed about two power jams away from catching up. But there weren’t that many power jams available, compared to many other games this weekend. Both teams played fairly clean through the first period (Boston had 9 penalties in the first period and No Coast had 11). It wasn’t until the end of the second period where power jams made a significant impact. No Coast had 4 jammer penalties (12 total penalties) in the second period and Boston had 2 jammer penalties (13 total penalties).

No Coast wasn’t able to capitalize on their first period power jam unlike Boston, whose Space Invader grabbed 25 points on a power jam and helped her team head into the half-time locker room with a 33 point lead.

No Coast came out of halftime with some momentum and grabbed 3 lead jams in a row and shut Boston out of scoring. They were able to whittle the score difference down to 23 points.

Photo by Donna Olmstead

But a jammer penalty against No Coast’s Chewbokma sent Ginger Kid on a power jam while all 4 No Coast blockers worked to kill the penalty. The momentum shifted back in Boston’s favor and never seemed to shift back for any length of time.

No Coast continued to work over Boston’s jammers as best as they could, but they were unable to slow them down for long. During one jam mid-way through the second period, Boston’s Flyin’ King scored 21 points while her blockers held Flash Gloria to only 2 points. The jam opened Boston’s lead to 50 points.

No Coast worked tirelessly to chip away at Boston’s lead but blockers were unable to slow down Boston’s jammers long enough and their jammers were unable to break through Boston’s walls quickly enough for the lead advantage.

The crucial jammer penalties came at the end of the game when No Coast’s Slam Anderson headed on back-to-back box trips. Boston had been sitting on a 55-point lead and the power jams just sealed fifth place in Boston’s favor.

However, the team to increase its placement the most was the No Coast Derby Girls who came in as the 10 seed and wound up in 6th place.

FINAL SCORE

Boston Derby Dames 203
No Coast Derby Girls 139