Lansing, MI

By NoMad

Tri-City Roller Derby Tri-City Thunder of Kitchener, Ontario Canada readily leapt into Game 10 of the 2016 International WFTDA Division 2 Playoffs Lansing against Sac City Rollers Capitol Punishers from Sacramento, California, and they were able to carry that early momentum all the way to the finish with a 223-164 win.

Photo by Danforth Johnson

The two teams traded points evenly in the first four jams, making the score 17-17 at the start of jam 5. From there, Tri-City began to climb away by steadily earning points over the Californians.

Although both teams succeeded at maintaining strong braced walls—even in the face of offense—and both teams were able to keep the score from running against them, thanks to solid recycling, the intense recycling began to take its toll on Sac City jammers and they ended the half with eight jammer penalties and only 67 points to Tri-City’s 109.

“We changed it up and went to a two-jammer rotation—with our scoring jammers—at the start of the second half,” said Sac City Head Coach La Lucha.

The strategy paid off and Sac City was able to get a long string of successful jams that helped them chip away at Tri-City’s lead, narrowing it to a mere 11 points near the middle of the second period.

“I’m really proud of our blockers for shutting down the opposing jammers in the beginning of the second half,” said Lucha. “Our jammers just couldn’t capitalize.”

Jammer penalties continued to plague Sac City throughout the game. They would end up with 16 total jammer penalties while Tri-City would only lose the star to the box once. Tri City’s single jammer penalty occurred when Crazy Squirrel picked up lead in a power start at the beginning of the second half before cut the track, resulting in a two minute jam.

Being the only skater for Tri-City to get a jammer penalty didn’t keep Crazy Squirrel from outscoring her teammates with 127 game points. MEGAnTRON was not far behind with 84 game points—20 of which were earned in a single jam due to some masterful footwork.

What’s the Tri-City secret to success? “We fricken have a lot of fun out there,” explained Crazy Squirrel. “We really love each other,” added Smashin’ Good Time.

Despite the strong start to the period, Sac City wasn’t able to close the gap and Tri-City took home the win, 223-164.

Tri-City moves on to face Bear City Roller Derby on Sunday at 2 p.m. EST in the 5th place game. Sac City Capitol Punishers will face the Cincinnati Rollergirls at 12 p.m. EST in the battle for 7th place.

Final Score

Sac City Rollers (#2) 164
Tri-City Roller Derby (#9) 223