GateKeepers defeat TC Terrors to continue MRDA unbeaten streak. Arch Rival Roller Girls defeat North Star Supernovas to continue their momentum from Brewhaha.

On Saturday night, the Midwest Sports Hockey Complex at Queeny Park hosted two incredible derby bouts of national importance. First, the #1 ranked GateKeepers took on the #7 ranked TC Terrors. The TC Terrors are currently on the outside looking in as only the top 6 will be invited to the MRDA Championships in October and a win against the GateKeepers would likely have secured them an invitation. In the second bout of the evening we saw a North Central Region WFTDA battle between the #10 Arch Rival Roller Girls and the #7 North Star Supernovas. With (#11) Ohio playing really well as of late, any kind of stumble by the Arch Rival ladies would jeopardize their chances of making the WFTDA tournament.

The GateKeepers extended their MRDA unbeaten streak to 5-0 with a 207 - 43 win over the TC Terrors Saturday night. With the win, the GateKeepers have all but assured that they will retain the #1 MRDA ranking going into the Championships in October. The convincing win also sent a message to the rest of the MRDA that there would be no post-Spring Roll letdown for the squad.

The first three jams of the evening were back and forth as TC jumped out to an early 3 - 1 lead on the first jam, but then the GateKeepers would go 8 to 1 on the next two jams to take an early 9 - 4 lead. Shanego Fett would take the jammer line on the 4th jam and proceed to rack up 16 points on an even-strength jam as the defensive blocking for the GateKeepers kept Egon Strangler engulfed in the pack for the majority of the jam. Egon was only able to eek out 4 points. Then, on the 5th jam of the evening disaster struck the Terrors as their star jammer Jonathan Elliot went down hard and was forced to leave the game with a torn rotator cuff. The loss of Jonathan Elliot really seemed to take a toll on an already short Terrors bench (they only had 11 skaters) and the GateKeepers seized the opportunity to take control of the bout. It wasn’t until the 10th jam of the bout that the Terrors gained lead jammer status but the GateKeepers had already built up a 46 - 12 lead. The GateKeepers then put the clamps down for the rest of the half not allowing the Terrors to put up a single point. The GateKeepers went into halftime leading 122 - 12.

The second half was more of the same as the GateKeepers picked up right where they left off. After the first eight jams of the second half, the GateKeepers extended their lead to 177 - 21. The Terrors were able to hold the GateKeepers scoreless for the next six jams, but only managed to fourteen points of their own making the score 177 - 35. The Terrors were able to make up a bit of ground, but the huge first-half hole proved to be too much to overcome as the GateKeepers rolled to a 207 - 43 victory.

Scoring:

GateKeepers: Short Knocks - 77; Shanego Fett - 65; Debaucherous Prime - 38; Gnat King Kill - 21
TC Terrors:Egon Strangler - 14; Timchilla - 11

The second bout of the evening featured the Arch Rival Roller Girls taking on the North Star Supernovas. The Arch Rival Roller Girls were coming off a very impressive Brewhaha performance and were looking to continue climbing the ranks in the WFTDA standings. The Supernovas were looking to stop the bleeding after losing back-to-back bouts to lesser ranked teams. This North Central Regional matchup would be instrumental in how the rankings would play out leading into the WFTDA championships.

The first couple of jams were harmless enough with the Supernovas getting on the board first with a 2 - 0 first jam followed by the Arch Rivals putting up a 3 - 0 spot on the second jam. The third jam saw Mighty Might Boston begin what would end up being a career night for her as she put a 13 spot up on the board on her way to a whopping 77 points for the evening. The Arch Rival All-Stars never looked back taking a 58 - 23 lead into half-time.

The second half would see Mighty Mighty Boston continue her dominance as she put up a 30 spot on the 7th jam of the second half. The Supernovas just had no answer for the Arch Rival All-Stars’ blocking as they were dominating the pack the entire second half. The Supernovas would show a few glimpses of their old form here and there, but over all the die was cast and the Arch Rival Roller Girls rolled to a lop-sided 181 - 41 victory over the visiting Supernovas.

This huge win by the Arch Rival All-Stars is sure to give them a significant boost in the standings. Conversely, another blowout loss to a lower-ranked team will seriously hurt the North Star’s shot at holding onto a spot high enough to secure an invite to the WFTDA tourney. Next up for the Arch Rival Roller Girls is a July 9th trip to Chicago to take on the Outfit. These two teams last met at Brewhaha on May 29th where the Arch Rival Roller Girls pulled out an impressive 129 - 72 win.

Scoring:

Arch Rival Roller Girls: Mighty Mighty Boston - 77; Downtown Dallis - 55; South City Shiner - 31; Smarty McFly - 10
Supernovas: Kim Gallant - 12; Proller Vixen - 7

This Saturday the Turf Wars resume with a re-match of the season opener between the South Grand Slammers and the RiverFront Crimes and the opening women’s expo bout will feature the Kittens vs the Cougars. The last time these two teams faced off, the Crimes skated away with a 165 - 143 win. Tickets are still available for this bout at Brown Paper Tickets! I’ll have a bout preview up later this week!

See you at the bouts!
Star-Spangled Hammer