Omaha, NE

By Anita Riot

In the final game of the WFTDA International Division 1 Playoffs in Omaha, New York’s Gotham Girls Roller Derby All-Star (#1) and Angel City Derby Girls Hollywood Scarlets (#8) of Los Angeles, California took the track with a gold medal and #1 seeding in WFTDA International Championships on the line.

Photo by Donna Olmstead

Every point was precious in a very physical, back-to-basics game. Two major factors largely contributed to Gotham’s success: Angel City’s penalty count nearly doubling their own, and New York’s Captain Bonnie Thunders donning the star just a hair shy of half the game--skating 18 jams to her fellow jammers’ 20 combined.

An early lead went to Gotham as they piled on 36 points in the first three jams and held LA’s Scarlets to zero. Jam 4 saw two points on the board for Angel City, eked out by Micki Krimmel just as Gotham’s ShortStop was tapping her hips to call the jam. The next jam started with a 4-2 pack advantage for New York, but a misconduct call on their jammer, Vicious Van Gogo--assessed after a hard fall that knocked the cover off her helmet and gave the referees cause to call the jam for injury--resulted in Bonnie Thunders taking the star in the penalty box. This kerfuffle did not deter the All-Stars, as a track cut sat LA’s jammer and allowed Gotham to increase the lead to 58-7.

Plagued by penalties already, Angel City’s timeout after Jam 7 gave them the moment they needed to make some progress on the scoreboard. Little successes worked in their favor, making headway on the board to 106-44 with just under four minutes left in the first period. That score would not budge for them the rest of the half, however.

Photo by Steve Jurkovic

The Scarlets showed a surge of aggression and aplomb after the break, with Satan’s Little Helper grabbing lead and a quick 1-0 jam to start the half. The next three would not go their way, though, as Gotham’s defense tightened their play, continuing to pick off their opponents with precision and draw infractions against the team in white. Anytime Angel City had a full compliment of blockers, their own defense successfully brought the jammers in black to a halt. At 17:45 left on the clock, New York had managed to stretch the lead 157-72.

The West Coast team did 11 points more damage to the deficit and kept Gotham on their toes. Unfortunately, jammer penalties took the wind from their sails in the last two jams, leaving their score at 83 to Gotham’s 205--which is the most points any team has scored against the undefeated east coast giants this season.

Gotham takes the gold and first seed placement at Championships in Saint Paul, Minnesota November 6-8, and will play the winner of the match-up between Jacksonville and Arch Rival. Angel City places second in the conclusion of Division 1 playoffs, and will take on Rat City first at Championships.

Final Score

Gotham Girls Roller Derby (#1) 205
Angel City Derby Girls (#2) 83