2016 International Tournaments

via Derby Central

This will be the fourth year that the Women's Flat Track Roller Derby Association has used Divisions for tournament play, giving teams ranked lower in the spectrum a chance to play for medals at the 2016 International WFTDA Championships in Portland, Oregon.

The top seed from each Division 2 Playoff will take on the second seed from the opposite Playoff bracket on Friday morning, and the winners will play for 1st and 2nd place on Sunday, with the remaining two teams playing for 3rd place. All four teams left a trail of game upsets at their respective Playoff tournaments, with both #7 seeds Blue Ridge and Charlottesville placing 2nd at their tournaments, while #4 Brandywine and #5 Calgary won 1st place. Here's a quick overview of each team and their first round match ups at Championships on November 4th.

D2 Game 1: #1 Brandywine Roller Derby vs #2 Charlottesville Derby Dames

From Downingtown, Pennsylvania, the WFTDA ranked #50 Brandywine Belligerents first took down the #5 seed Kansas City by 111 points before beating the #1 seed Jet City in the semifinals, 198-170. Their final game was against the #7 seed Blue Ridge, and after a close first half and four lead changes, Brandywine's consistency kept them on top late in the game and brought them to a 146-123 1st place victory. Their cohesion in the pack shined through a braced three-wall or quad formation, with blockers such as Slamshine Allie or ThumpHER breaking off to crush souls as needed. They had some problems with out of play penalties and multiplayer blocks, but their ability to mix it up at the jam start and keep the other team on their toes kept the game in their hands.

Brandywine's strict three-jammer rotation was led by Buenos D. A$$ at Playoffs, but overall she shares the success nearly evenly with Lurz Lemon and Raggedy Aneurysm. Buenos relied more on muscle to push through opposing walls while Raggedy Aneursym added a leggy, toe stop style to their lineup. Lurz Lemon rounded out their rotation with apex jumps and finite footwork along the edges, but those risky maneuvers sat her in the box 13 times at Playoffs. The Belligerents were sure to offer help for their jammers, whether it was sending Rapid ArrhythMIA to play offense or take a star pass mid-jam, or attacking the pack from all sides during power jams. They aren't a team to idly stand by for too long and force their jammer to fight.

Ranked #53, the Charlottesville Derby Dames lost all their regular season games, but beat #10 seed Grand Raggidy, #2 seed Sac City, and #3 seed Wasatch in Lansing to get to the final game against the #4 seed Calgary. From Charlottesville, Virgina, the Dames kept control of their game when taking on penalty heavy opponents and half of their roster can take on either a blocking or jamming. Miller-Miller spent up to 65% of the time on the track in Lansing, mostly as a strong leader in the pack, but could also throw up 29-point jams. LeeLoo Dallas MultiSMASH did dole out smashing hits and worked well in pairs to contain jammers. The pack seemed to roll with the punches, whether it was taking whichever starting position the other team left them, or breaking apart mid-jam and finding each other in pairs to edge out jammers. Each game yielded a different high scorer for Charlottesville, but River Styx Phoenix stuck out as a primary point scorer for them with a combination of force and footwork. Machete stood out as jammer against Grand Raggidy, despite splitting her time equally between that and blocking. Spank Puncherella, Big Bangarang, and Boom! ShakeTheRoom took on both roles as well, allowing Charlottesville to adapt their roatation to the game at hand. Charlottesville relied on a braced three wall, maintaining a mostly forward facing defense, but they could easily take on a triangular formation to offer up offense for their jammers. During power jams they kept their tactics varied as well, playing either passive, active, or trapping opposing blockers.

This first game will be a match up between an aggressive and disciplined Brandywine roster, and a more relaxed and adaptable Charlottesville team. Both styles are effective and have their faults, so the two months since Playoffs will probably be important in how each team has fine tuned their game for this Championship tournament. The winner will face either Calgary and Blue Ridge on Sunday at 12pm PDT.

D2 Game 2: #1 Calgary Roller Derby Association vs #2 Blue Ridge Rollergirls

From Calgary, Alberta, the Calgary Roller Derby Association has only been playing sanctioned games since 2014, and currently sit at #48 in the September 30th WFTDA rankings. The CRDA All-Stars' blocking force showed great cohesion in Lansing with coordinated power jam offense and an innate sense of finding each other on the track when things got chaotic. The opposition was stalled effectively by a full, rotating quad formation, and If sin-e-star or Knox Hersoxoff caught the jammer, they were likely getting knocked out and recycled by Kiki Tiki Bang Bang or Preacher's Slaughter.

Calgary utilized up to five main jammers at Playoffs, with Easy Break Oven topping their rotation with 187 points across their three games and earning Tournament MVP. Kris Myass followed her up with 100% lead status in their first game at Playoffs, and Hilary Boswell and Jenni Gunns filled out their main jamming rotation. The bottom end of their rotation is often a bit more penalty prone, but they also fielded rookie Roc-A-Felon, who didn't play during the regular season but was able to relieve some of the pressure at Playoffs.

Making the trip from Asheville, North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Rollergirls are no stranger to WFTDA tournaments, and are the only D2 team to make a return trip to Championships. Currently ranked #43, Blue Ridge moved to a braced cube style of blocking mid-season and at Playoffs, they proved their defensive effectiveness with it by playing through four games before placing 2nd. With such a solid, slow moving defensive formation, it often worked as incidental offense when their jammers pushed the opposing wall past it to open up an exit lane. They were a little slow to provide active offense however, and this hurt them in their final game against Brandywine.

Blue Ridge can also boast a tournament MVP in Dr. Octopushy who scored 288 points in Wichita with big jumps and finite toe work along the line. Lady Rider rivaled her for top scorer in their games and Hurrycane Jackie rounded out their three-jammer rotation. They also utilized Tractor Taylor who suffered some penalty problems during the tournament, but she came through multiple times for points in their last game of the tournament.

Both Blue Ridge and Calgary opt for the front defensive wall at jam starts, so it will be interesting to see them sort that out in Portland. Blue Ridge has had two months to work on their offensive game, while Calgary has already shown that they've got that handled. The winner of this game will face the winner of Brandywine and Charlottesville, making it a good chance they could end up playing a familiar competitor.

Watch the tournament live at wftda.tv and check out Derby Central and wftda.com for recaps and updates all weekend.