2016 International Tournaments

via Derby Central

After two exciting Division 2 weekends full of upsets, the Division 1 tournaments will begin in Montréal, the first time a D1 tournament has been held outside the United States. With plenty of international variety in this bracket, five different countries will be represented with London holding the top seed. With teams traveling long distances to participate, many of them have had short seasons due to financial limitations, giving them the potential to surprise their competitors. History has proved that we won't likely see a #7 seed make it all the way to the Championship game on Sunday like in the D2 brackets, but anything is possible. The top three placing teams will get a spot at Championships in Portland this November.

Game 1: #7 Kallio vs #10 Rocky Mountain

The first game of the weekend will be between two teams who are finding themselves in a new position in the WFTDA post season. In a year's time, Kallio went from #101 in the rankings to attending their first WFTDA Playoff tournament, while Rocky Mountain is sitting at the bottom edge of Division 1 after being a consistent part of the top 15 for years. The winner will get to play later the same day against the #2 seed Texas Rollergirls.

Currently sitting at #3 on Flat Track Stats list of European teams (under London and Crime City), Kallio carved a path for themselves this season to make it into Playoffs for the first time. In January they were ranked #81 and their first sanctioned game was in March against Dock City, who was riding a rankings boost from a Strength Factor Challenge game. After that they had their own SFC game against Stockholm, followed by games against Bear City, Auld Reekie and Rainy City yielding two wins and a loss respectively.

Rocky Mountain took 4th place at D1 Playoffs in Tucson last year, and since then their roster has had quite the overhaul, including a jammer exodus to Denver Roller Derby. With a strong B team, they had plenty of talent that was ready to take on a role on the charter team. Rocky Mountain took on a hefty season despite the turnover, and by the end of June they had won five games and lost nine after attending The Big O, Besterns, and Thin Air Throwdown. The only teams they beat were from Division 2, and Arizona who was ranked #40 as of June. Finding their footing over the season, they went from beating Boulder County by just 35 points in March to 102 points in May.

Game 2: #8 Sun State vs #9 Detroit

From Queensland, Australia, Sun State first made their trip to Playoffs last year where they entered as the 7th seed and finished in 8th place. In 2016 they attended Royal Rumble in Australia and the 80/35 Invitational in Des Moines, Iowa for sanctioned games. Going 4-2, the only teams they lost to were Team United and Dallas, and their closest game was a 213-153 win over No Coast.

Detroit also attended events local and abroad, and with a 5-6 record in 2016, they played a wide range of competitors. At The European Smackdown, they had some inconsistent results but did take on the top four European teams, which included a 266-point loss to the #1 seed of this bracket, London. Besides 2014 when they took a dip into Division 2, this is one of the lowest times Detroit has entered a Playoff bracket. They entered and finished in 6th last season, but this year they will have to work their way up from the bottom half of the bracket. In a year's time they went from losing to Tampa by 135 points last year at Playoffs to beating them by 59 points this August, so perhaps early losses this seasons has weighed down their rank a bit by Playoff seeding.

Sun State and Detroit have never played each other before, but with a common competitor in Team United this year, Detroit was able to put up more points against them although they both lost to the #17 ranked team from Des Moines. The winner will get to take on #1 London later in the day at 6pm EDT, who Detroit has already fallen to this year and Sun State has never played.

Game 3: #3 Bay Area vs #6 Boston

Bay Area played at The Big O and Pac Destruction, taking on four of the current top 10 teams, and only beating #10 Denver by a slim 12 points. Another victim of roster turnover, Bay Area has had to fine tune teamwork among skaters who may have been rostererd before, but are getting much more time on the track now, along with some freshly chartered blood. They also have had some leg breaks affect things, with Demanda Riot out after Jantastic early in the year, and then Frightmare suffering her own injury in June.

Boston had a split 4-4 sanctioned season this year, and after playing and losing to Montréal twice, they closed the margin by about fifty points between June and July. With a fairly same roster to last season, besides some name changes, Boston could have that on their side against BAD, but having lost to three teams ranked between them, Boston will have to bring a strong game to bring down the formidable Bay Area.

From opposite sides of the country, these teams haven't played since 2009, but whoever wins will have to face the winner of Game 5, which includes #1 seed London. Winning this game means at least getting a shot at on of the top three spots, but losing means hitting the consolation bracket with the highest outcome being 5th.

Game 4: #2 Texas vs Winner of Game 1

After going to The Big O, Thin Air Throwdown, and SweatFest, Texas went 6-4 with the losses being from four of the top five teams. Their most recent game was in New Orleans where they lost to last year's Champion, Rose City, and only by 44 points. The Texecutioners already beat this bracket's #3 seed, Bay Area, so if seeds hold through, London will be Texas's major competitor in Montréal.

Texas had to mix it up with their jammer rotation this season, and with the addition of Nicki Ticki Timebomb she became their leading scorer at the Big O. Their first competitor will be decided after Game 1, either #7 Kallio or #10 Rocky Mountain, and the Texecutioners already beat Rocky at Thin Air Throwdown by 235 points. Advancing will put Texas in the semi-finals against either Bay Area or Boston on Saturday at 2pm EDT.

Game 5: #1 London vs Winner of Game 2

London played most of their sanctioned games in March when they attended the European Smackdown. They also had a game at Mayday in HEL and then hosted Gotham for a rematch in London. Although London beat all the Euro competition handily, they were able to stay on their side of the Atlantic this season to get their games in as the level of gameplay has risen overseas. As the #4 team in the WFTDA rankings, London lost to #1 Gotham in June by 31 points.

The bracket has potential to align London with Detroit and Montréal, both teams they have already beat this season, putting them on a strong path to the final game, barring any surprises. Winning their first game will put Brawling in a semi-final game Saturday at 6pm EDT.

Game 6: #4 Montréal vs #5 Dallas

The host team Montréal has never made it out of a Playoff bracket in the top three, and this year they will have some strong competition to contend with if they want to make this year their first. After an 8-3 record this season, the New Skids on the Block traveled to Mayday in HEL and ECDX and played a variety of ranked teams. At ECDX, they lost to Philly, who sits just above them in the WFTDA rankings, by 117 points, and already lost to top seed London 208-78.

Dallas burst back into the top 40 last season, and at Playoffs they gave Philly a run for their money after holding the lead over them into halftime, although ultimately losing. After six wins this season, they only took a loss in June when they took on Denver Roller Derby, losing 196-80. With their soul-crushing defense, Dallas could put the pressure on Montréal and pull an upset, especially if the New Skids retain the jammer penalty problems they suffered against Philly.

The Friday night #4 and #5 seed match up is likely to be a good one, and the winner will advance to a semi-final game on Saturday. If top seeds hold out, the winner will take on London.

Can't be there in person? Watch live at wftda.tv!