Montreal roller derby

Feb 13th Private Bout: Charm City All-Stars Vs. New Skids on the Block

The Charm City All Stars made the long trek north, across the Canadian border to meet Montreal’s New Skids on the Block on their home turf, for both teams’ first bout of 2010 - a private, closed-to-the-public affair. Montreal started the game strong and for a brief period had the lead, but at about the 15-minute mark CCRG’s Just Carol took advantage of a power jam and completed a 13-0 jam to bring the score back to CCRG’s favor at 28-17.

The two teams battled it out fairly consistently for the remainder for the first period. CCRG were clearly better able to take advantage of power jams, while also killing the same opportunities presented to Montreal. The halftime score was CCRG 56, MTLRD 25. The preponderance of penalties for both teams was a theme running throughout the entire game and CCRG was better able to take advantage of this situation. After about 45 minutes of play, the score was CCRG 115, MTLRD 40. The game continued at a pretty consistent pace – with very few jams featuring an entire pack and/or both jammers. CCRG continued to crush any of MTLRD scoring opportunities, and consistently took advantage of the small MTLRD pack. The final score was CCRG 159, MTLRD 57.

Two CCRG jammers share the highest scoring jammer honor, with Bambi’s Revenge and Twibite racking up 36 points apiece, Twibite with a notable 22pt jam early in the 2nd period.  There was also a highest scoring jammer tie on the MTLRD side, with 19 points each is the remarkably squirrely speedster, Iron Wench, and the ever-persistent Georgia W. Tush. Both women managed to sneak through pack despite the unrelenting defensive play of CCRG’s Joy Collision, who was playing her first bout since she sustained a severe knee injury at Eastern Regionals in the fall.

Early in the game CCRG adjusted their play to address MTLRD’s surprising defensive strength, and came out - perhaps predictably - on top. However, it must be said that MTLRD has shown remarkable improvement since their WFTDA debut last June, and they will surely continue to improve with their aggressive 10-game pre-spring travel-team schedule.

Ewan Wotarmy
Photo: Glenn Fitzpatrick