It's a long trip from Fort Wayne, IN to Seattle. But the junior derby team - the Fort Wayne Derby Brats - did just that this weekend to play a pair of Seattle based teams. On Friday night, their first challenge came in the form of the Seattle Derby Brats at the Southgate Roller Rink in White Center.
The two teams played an extremely even first half. After a scoreless opening jam, Seattle took the first lead of the game as Random Max of Violence barely outscored FW's Mak-Attack to the tune of 4-3. Then after a 4-4 draw in the third jam, Fort Wayne took their first lead of the game as Trademark was able to earn lead status on her initial pass and skate home with a 7-4 decision that put the visitors up 14-12. Then over the next three jams, the jamming trio of Mak-Attack, Aussie Bossie and Bad Kitty extended Fort Wayne's lead on the scoreboard even more by going on a 12-5 run over those three jams to put themselves up by 9 points.
But Seattle struck back with a vengeance in the 8th jam of the first half as Beatin Bam!!B took advantage of the Fort Wayne jammers trip to the sin bin and tacked a 12-0 tally on the board that allowed Seattle to regain the lead at 29-27. But the Indiana team reclaimed the lead only three jams later as Aussie Bossie skated to the house with a 10-0 lead jammer run that put her team back up by eight points. But Random Max of Violence was having none of that as she slapped the jammers cap on her lid in the very next jam and shredded the Fort Wayne defense for a 17-0 pounding that whipped Seattle right back into a 9 point lead.
One interesting thing about this bout was how momentum seemed to swing when one team was playing the game they wanted to play in the first half. Seattle had the vast bulk of their success when the pack was making hay around the track at high speeds. Meanwhile, Fort Wayne seemed to have most of their success when the pack was slowed down and the physical play increased. And after thirty minutes of some pretty wild point swings between the two teams, Seattle headed into the locker room sporting a slim 62-57 lead.
Sitting directly behind both benches (Seattle in the first half, Fort Wayne in the second half), it was easy to see that both teams knew they were entangled in a battle which either side could win. And outside of the second jam of the first half when Rockin' Red picked up a nifty 8-0 decision for Seattle, the opening stages were played the way Fort Wayne seemingly wanted to play. Between jams 4-6, Fort Wayne scored 12 points to Seattle's 4 to draw themselves back to within only seven points.
But the next four jams went horribly wrong for Fort Wayne and gloriously right for Seattle. Over those four jams, Fort Wayne jammer Electra Cute U had a hard time staying out of the penalty box. And during that four jam stretch, Seattle took full advantage of their opponents misfortune. In jam seven, Random Max of Violence picked up a convincing 15-0 decision to get the Seattle scoring spree underway. That was followed up by Mal Intent's 5-0 grand salami in the 8th. Then Flyin' Hawaiin poured it on a little more with a 14-0 scoreboard pounding. And the dominance finally came to an end in the 10th jam of the second half when Random Max of Violence capped Seattle's streak of success with a 4-0 tally. Over that four jam stretch, Seattle outscored Fort Wayne by a staggering 38-0 margin that extended their lead out to 45 points at 114-69.
But once that was all over and done with, the mantra on the Fort Wayne bench became "we're still in this!" And they certainly proved that they were. Although before they began staging their comeback, they had to endure another 5-0 grand slam scoring run by Flyin' Hawaiin in the 11th jam of the second half. But Fort Wayne showed they were still alive and kicking as Mak-Attack burned the Seattle defense for an 18-0 scoring run in the 12th jam. Then four jams later, Mak-Attack went on the attack again and pierced the Seattle defense once again to the tune of 13-0. However, Evil-O ended the night in the final jam of the game by picking up a 5-0 decision for Seattle. Once the final whistle blew, the Seattle Derby Brats had claimed a hard-earned 137-109 win.
Three Stars
3. Rosie D. Kream-Her. The SDB blocker led her team in blocked jammers with 9 and also dished out a pair of big hits that sent a Fort Wayne skater crashing to the floor. And perhaps the most impressive part of her overall game on Friday night was that I didn't have her sitting in the penalty box for one single minute. Not bad for a player who was such a dominating physical force on the track.
2. Liv R. Die. She was not only Fort Wayne's best blocker on the night, she also led all players in blocking stats during this bout. I have her down for 10 blocked jammers and 3 big hits that she dished out on the Seattle girls. Really, the entire Fort Wayne team played extremely well in this one. But Liv R. stood out just a little bit more than the others during the entire bout.
1. Random Max of Violence. The Seattle jammer dominated the scoring sheet on Friday night. She donned the jammers cap 12 times and posted 59 points on the scoreboard during her scoring jubilee. She had the big 17 point jam in the first half that gave her team the lead that they never gave up again and also had the huge 15-0 scoring run in the second half that kicked-off Seattle's four jam scoring spree that put the game out of reach. If you rack-up a pair of big jams in a pair of clutch moments, that's a pretty good way to earn the first star in a recap.
Key Jam of the Game
I would have to go with Random Max of Violence's 15-0 romp in the 7th jam of the second half. Fort Wayne was still hanging around and had the look of a team that was about to claw their way back into the lead. But Random's huge point tally in this one kicked off a dominating period for Seattle in this one that Fort Wayne was never quite able to overcome.
Bad Girl of the Game
I had Fort Wayne's Electra Cute U down with 4 minutes worth of time in the penalty box. But as I always say, 4 minutes really isn't all that bad in 99% of bouts played. Both teams played fairly well in this one, for sure!
Stats
Jamming
Seattle (Jams - Lead Jammer - Jams in Box - Points)
Rockin' Red (4-3-0-13)
Random Max of Violence (12-5-1-59)
Mal Intent (6-2-2-17)
Beatin' Bam!!B (4-0-2-16)
Poison Izzie (3-2-2-4)
Flyin' Hawaiin (4-1-1-19)
Evil MacNevil (1-0-0-4)
Evil-O (1-0-1-5)
Fort Wayne (Jams - Lead Jammer - Jams in Box - Points)
Cleo PAINtra (3-1-0-0)
Mak-Attack (8-4-3-38)
Aussie Bossie (9-7-0-31)
Trademark (5-3-1-20)
Bad Kitty (2-1-0-12)
Malibruise Barbie (4-2-1-8)
Electra Cute U (4-1-4-0)
Blocking
Seattle (Blocked Jammers - Open Holes - Big Hits)
Thumpurr (3-0-0)
Rosie D. Kream-Her (9-0-2)
Rockin' Red (2-0-0)
Mal Intent (1-2-0)
Voodoo Lady Googoo (2-3-2)
Poison Izzie (6-1-1)
Evil MacNevil (6-1-1)
Beatin' Bam!!B (1-0-0)
Syd Pistols (2-1-1)
Evil-O (7-0-1)
Flyin' Hawaiin (1-0-0)
Fort Wayne (Blocked Jammers - Open Holes - Big Hits)
Hawaiin Punch (1-1-0)
Bad Kitty (4-1-0)
Cleo PAINtra (4-0-0)
Mak-Attack (1-0-0)
Buttercup (7-1-1)
Electra Cute U (3-0-0)
Liv R. Die (10-0-3)
Aussie Bossie (2-0-0)
Malibruiser Barbie (0-1-1)
KillHER Bee (2-0-1)
Cherry BombHER (4-3-2)
Trademark (4-1-0)
Penalties
Seattle (PIM)
Random Max of Violence (1)
Mal Intent (1)
Poison Izzie (2)
Beatin' Bam!!B (2)
Syd Pistols (2)
Salami Stompson (1)
Flyin' Hawaiin (1)
Fort Wayne (PIM)
Hawaiin Punch (1)
Bad Kitty (2)
Cleo PAINtra (3)
Mak-Attack (3)
Buttercup (2)
Electra Cute U (4)
Liv R. Die (2)
Malibruise Barbie (1)
KillHER Bee (1)
Cherry BombHER (1)
Trademark (1)
Complete Guide to Elwood's Stats
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