It was very easy to find positive notes for the Oly Rollers on Saturday night. As always, the number 2 team in the WFTDA western region put the pedal to the metal early and never let off. The easiest thing to point out was Atomatrix burning up the track to the tune of 139 points on the night (including a 30 point scoring run in the 7th jam of the first half). And within the pack, the Oly blockers did an outstanding job of not only teaming up when called for, but also played extremely well as individuals. With Rat City looking sometimes like they were keying on Sassy and Tannibal Lector during the first half, new transfer Hockey Honey dominated the first half blocking stats by collecting a staggering 13 blocked jammers in the first thirty minutes alone. I only had her down for one more blocked jammer in the second half. But Lector and Sassy along with the young duo of Scara ta Death and Lil Tonka took care of the Rat City jammers on a regular basis (along with helping their own jammers out now and then) throughout the rest of the game.
Unfortunately on the other side, there was very little you could say about Rat City's performance that could be considered positive. One bright spot for Rat City was the two huge jams by Missle America (13 points in the 6th jam of the first half and a tidy 24-0 tally in the 6th jam of the second half). Other than that.....UGH!!! Their jammers had an extremely difficult time navigating their way through the pack at just about any given time (whether it was the initial pass or a scoring pass), their blockers had a difficult time pairing-up to help each other out with stopping the Oly jammers and were constantly beat to the spot on a regular basis by the Oly blockers. And a lot of this shows down below in my blocking stats. The numbers are so incredibly lopsided that, as the second half wore on, it got to a point where I was barely paying attention to the Oly blockers (which means chances are they had even MORE blocked jammers than I have them down for) while desperately searching for Rat City blockers to collect some of those stats. But even with all that extra focus on the Rat City blockers, they had a hard time picking up any of those stats in my book.
Of course a good chunk of this has to do with the outstanding game Oly brought to Skateland on Saturday night. They showed up and conducted their business as they always do. They are the Oly Rollers. They were supposed to win that game and they went out determined to do it in dominating fashion and accomplished that...and then some. There's really not a whole lot more you can say about that outside of they look more than ready for their two huge showdowns next weekend in Colorado when they take on the number 3 ranked Denver Roller Dolls and the number 1 ranked Rocky Mountain Rollergirls. They are hungry and they are ready to fight to reclaim something they strongly believe is theirs.
Rat City though....Rat City. You know, it was 5 years ago Thursday that I attended my first roller derby bout. Of course, it was a Rat City bout. And as I followed them the rest of 2006 and heading into the 2007 Dust Devil tournament in Tucson I saw a team that had the same fire that the Oly Rollers currently have. Especially after the 2006 Bumberbout when they barely lost to Texas, that was an all-star team (and entire league, really) completely focused on not only beating the mighty Texecutioners, but becoming western and national champions. Sadly on Saturday night there was almost no fire to speak of on the Rat City side. They came out of the chute looking like a team doomed to lose and, outside of a handful of exceptions here and there, didn't do much to shake that look. This is a team with way too much talent on it to come out and play like that (or even the way they did in the first half of the Bay Area game last month).
So at least from my own personal standpoint, as awesome as it was to see Oly firing on all cylinders last night (and even last weekend against Texas), it's equally frustrating for me to watch Rat City currenly sputtering along on the same road and having a hard time keeping up. I'm sure there will be a lot of Rat City players and fans upset with me saying that. But at the same time, I also hope that maybe...just maybe...it might help the process of re-lighting that fire under their asses that they once had again. Because it's fun watching Oly play with that fire and I miss the Rat City all-stars playing with that edge.
And more than anything, the Oly Rollers 230-99 victory on Saturday night illuminated that difference quite brightly.
Three Stars
3. Hockey Honey. As I alluded to earlier in the recap, 13 blocked jammers in an entire game is usually good enough to earn yourself a "Star" on here. But Hockey Honey had that many in the first half alone. She single-handedly dominated the rear of the pack during those first 30 minutes, making the Rat City jammers job almost impossible to do.
2. Sassy. As much as Hockey Honey dominated the rear of the pack during the first half, Sassy dominated the front of the pack in the second half. She finished with the second most blocking stats in this game by collecting 15 blocked jammers while opening a hole for her jammer to coast through and also dished-out a big hit that sent a Rat City skater crashing to Skateland's wooden floor.
1. Atomatrix. 139 points scored. Filthy. Flat-out filthy.
Key Jam of the Game
Atomatrix collected her first huge bounty of the night during the 5th jam of the first half when she went on a 20-0 scoring rampage that made the score 41-4 in favor of Oly. That was pretty much that.
Bad Girls of the Game
Well, Tannibal Lector picked up her 7th trip to the box in the final jam of the game which means she reached her limit (and, thus, cost herself a "Star" in this one). Alan had Rat City's Ann R. Kissed down for only 5 minutes when she got the boot in the second half. So we're not sure if she got tossed for something else or if she served 2 more minutes that Alan either didn't catch or wasn't aware of. Still, the penalty numbers in this game were pretty high with the two teams combining for a total of 83 penalty minutes (41 for Oly, 42 for Rat City) that he caught.
Stats
Jamming
Oly Rollers (Jams - Lead Jammer - Jams in Box - Points)
Atomatrix (13-9-3-139)
Stella Italiana (11-5-4-39)
Hard Times (5-1-0-9)
Licker N Split (1-1-0-4)
Tannibal Lector (3-0-0-5)
Scara ta Death (3-1-0-30)
Rat City (Jams - Lead Jammer - Jams in Box - Points)
Carmen Getsome (16-4-6-40)
Missle America (10-5-4-44)
Primp Daddy (9-3-2-12)
Ann R. Kissed (1-1-0-3)
Blocking
Oly Rollers (Blocked Jammers - Open Holes - Big Hits)
Sassy (15-1-1)
Blonde An Bitchin (3-1-0)
Rettig to Rumble (1-1-0)
Scara ta Death (6-1-0)
D-Bomb (8-0-1)
Deadly Aim (2-0-0)
Hockey Honey (14-0-0)
Licker N Split (0-3-1)
Lil Tonka (6-2-1)
Tannibal Lector (13-5-5)
Rat City (Blocked Jammers - Open Holes - Big Hits)
Ann R. Kissed (5-2-1)
Glitter (2-0-0)
Hard Cora (2-2-0)
Juliet Bravo (2-1-1)
Killah Kelly (3-2-0)
Re-AnimateHer (4-3-0)
Shorty Ounce (2-0-1)
Sirius Mischief (3-1-1)
Valtron (2-0-1)
X-Khan (3-3-0)
Wile E. Peyote (1-1-0)
Penalties
Oly Rollers (PIM)
Atomatrix (2)
Chest Nutz (2)
Sassy (5)
Blonde An Bitchin (2)
Scara ta Death (1)
D-Bomb (4)
Deadly Aim (2)
Hockey Honey (3)
Licker N Split (6)
Lil Tonka (4)
Stella Italiana (3)
Tannibal Lector (7)
Rat City (PIM)
Ann R. Kissed (5?)
Carmen Getsome (4)
Glitter (2)
Hard Cora (4)
Juliet Bravo (4)
Killah Kelly (3)
Missle America (5)
Primp Daddy (3)
Re-AnimateHer (4)
Shorty Ounce (2)
Valtron (2)
X-Khan (4)
Wile E. Peyote (1)
Complete Guide to Elwood's Stats
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Of course I have to thank Alan for helping me out by keeping track of the penalties served during this bout! Any help I get is always appreciated!!!
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