On July 21st at the Midwest Sports Hockey Complex at Queeny Park, the Rockets came out firing and simply proved to be too much for the Slammers to handle. In the Expo bout, good triumphed over evil as the Super Heroes took down the Villains.

The first bout of the evening was a lively one as the women took to the track in a themed expo bout of Super Heroes versus Villains. The Villains would start off strong and jump out to an early lead for the first ten minutes. Then, much like a comic book story, the Heroes began to unravel the plot that was the strategy of the Villain’s defense and began to score in bunches. When it was all said and done the Super Heroes were triumphant with a 126 - 70 victory for all mankind.

This was the bout everyone was waiting for. The Rockets were on a roll and the Slammers were looking to put an end to the Rocket’s undefeated regular season streak and show the league that they were still the defending champs and that the Rockers were going to have to play tough to get the win. The Rockets then came out and did just that with a stifling defense and an offense firing on all cylinders.

The bout began with Bat Wing facing off against Magnum, P.I.M.P. on the jammer line. Bat Wing received a major back block on his initial pass and Magnum wasted no time racking up seventeen points on the first jam. By the time the seventh jam was beginning, the Rockets were already up 29 - 0 and showed no signs of slowing down. That was when Bat Wing put the Slammers on the board by grabbing the team’s first lead jam of the night and four points before calling it off. The Rockets would continue to pressure the Slammers at every opportunity and take a few points here and there and then capitalizing on Slammers’ jammer penalties. As the first half came to a close, High Pains Drifter capitalized on a power jam to put up nineteen point and extend the Rockets led 109 - 21.

Magnum, P.I.M.P started off the second half against Bat Wing and the results were far less painful this time around. Magnum only managed to grab four points before calling it off. Then the Slammers started to show some life. On the next four jams the Slammers would secure lead jammer, but the Rockets defense only gave up ten points making the score 113 - 35. Magnum scored three on the following jam after securing lead jammer, but the Slammers then went on another run. Over the next six jams the Rockets defense bent, but did not break only allowing twenty-one points (ten of which came on a power-jam) and making the score 118 - 60 with about fifteen minutes left to play. The Rockets then went on a 53 - 6 run that was started by a sixteen point, even-strength jam by Magnum and immediately followed up by a twenty-five point power-jam for High Pains Drifter. Bat Wing finally stopped the bleeding six jams later, but not before the Rockets extended their lead to 171 - 74. The Slammers continued to fight through to the end, finishing out with a 21 - 0 run, but time finally ran out and the Rockets went home with another victory. The final score was 171 - 98.

Scoring (Official):

Dogtown Rockets: Magnum, P.I.M.P. - 76; High Pains Drifter - 54; Shanego Fett - 41

South Grand Slammers: Bat Wing - 41; Handrail - 28; Neil Death Experience - 17; Jagged Little Will - 12

The Slammers have a lot of work to do to prepare for the Championship bout in September. The Rockets controlled pretty much every facet of the game. The Slammers were without star player Gnat King Kill, but I’m not sure Gnat would have made a big enough difference to change the outcome of this game.

That said, this is very reminiscent of how last season played out and the Slammers came into the Championship bout and stunned the Rockets. Could that same scenario be playing out here? We won’t know until September 8th when these two teams face off again for the 2012 Turf Wars Championship.

On July 27th come on down to the Gramaphone for Karaoke night with the GateKeepers. This event will help raise money for the Travel Team and will allow you to force your friends to sing a song or you can pay to bang the gong when someone butchers your favorite tune. Karaoke will last from 7pm - 10pm and then the Chaotic Good will take the stage to rock the house!

Don’t forget that the 2012 Men’s Roller Derby Association Championships will take place right here in St. Louis on October 20th and 21st. Gateway to the Best will feature the top eight teams in the MRDA battling it out at the Midwest Sports Hockey Complex with the last team standing being crowned 2012 MRDA Champions! Tickets can be purchased at a discounted rate right now at Brown Paper Tickets! But you better act fast as the price will increase as we get closer to the event!

See you at the bouts!

Star-Spangled Hammer

Star-Spangled Hammer and Magilla Guerilla are the announcers for the St. Louis GateKeepers!

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