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CAROLINA ROLLERGIRLS ROLLER DERBY | SEASON 3: BOUT 1 WRAPUP
Raleigh, North Carolina - April 09, 2006... As the stormy spring weather rages, so does the derby action in Brawleigh. Sunday kicked off the third season of Roller Derby action in the Capital City with a whirlwind of fury that would register on the Fujita scale. A full house at the Skate Ranch took cover as The Debutante Brawlers faced off with the Trauma Queens in the season opener. With 3 teams in the Carolina league now, each victory becomes that much more important, and the ladies took to the rink like a storm. To paraphrase the Bard of Avon himself, "The storm is up, and all is on the hazard."
The Carolina derby crew have adopted a new bout format for this season, which consists of 3 periods with a brief intermission between each. No more halftime... as a matter of fact... it is being played very similar to a hockey game... with much of the same roughness to boot. The clock ticks continuously, with limited time between jams. So if one team doesn't get all of the players in the rink on time, the jam will start without them and their team will have to play shorthanded. I think it will take a while for the fans to get used to the new format, but I think it is a good change. It keeps the action moving and doesn't give anyone, including the fans, a chance to catch their breath. On to the bout.
The first period got off to a slow start, at least as far as scoring goes... as each team came out of the jam with no points. In Jam 2, the Debs jumped out to an early 4 to 2 lead behind Shirley Temper's 4 points, but the Queens fought back and took a 10-8 lead in the next jam as rookie Eris Discordia put up 8 points. The Debs took a 13-10 lead in the next jam, with Princess America racking up 5 points. The score went back and forth until around Jam 11 when the Debs opened up a big lead behind Eva Lye's 9 points... now leading 35 to 22. That lead didn't last long though, because in the last jam of period one, Roxy Rockett threw up 12 points on a jammerless Debs team to bring the Queens within one. At the end of the first period, the score had the Debs slightly ahead at 35-34.
Even though halftime is gone, the familiar Penalty Wheel is still in play. During the first intermission, the wheel pitted Penelope Bruz (Trauma Queens) against Teflon Donna (Debutante Brawlers) in a swordfight. After a decisive win by Teflon Donna, the Debs earned 1 bonus point to make the score Debs 36, Queens 34.
The Debs got a good start in period two, as Teflon Donna added 6 points and Shirley Temper tacked on another 4 points in back to back jams to get their lead over the Queens to 46-38. The Queens came on strong in the next two jams with Penelope Bruz getting 3 points and then Roxy Rockett scoring 5 to knot things up at 46. The lead changed hands numerous times in the next few jams until the bout became tied once again at 67 after Penelope Bruz scored 3 points when the Debs got caught without a jammer on the floor. Roxy Rockett and Lucy Lastkiss each scored 4 points in the next two jams to give the Queens a 75-67 lead with only a few minutes left in the period. That lead was short lived, as Princess America busted out a whopping 14 points against the jammerless Queens in the final jam of period two which gave the Debs and 81 to 75 edge.
The Penalty Wheel made its second appearance of the bout during the second intermission. This time, the wheel had Princess America (Debutante Brawlers) facing off with Lucy Lastkiss (Trauma Queens) in a little shoot the duck competition. Shoot the duck is a game where the participants are asked to glide on one skate, with the one who coasts the longest declared as the winner. Princess America took the win and got the Debs one bonus point to get the lead to 82-75 to start the third and final period.
Once again, the Debs started off the period on a positive note, with Princess America getting 5 points in the jam to boost their lead to 87-75. The Queens fought back behind Roxy Rockett's 5 points to trim the lead to 7, but then Princess America opened the Deb's lead back up to 11 by getting 4 points in the next jam. The Queens continued to fight back with Eris Discordia outscoring Ms. Fit of the Debs by one in the next jam, and then Roxy Rockett of the Trauma Queens putting up another 3 points in the following jam. The lead still belonged to the Debs at this point, 94-87. It seemed as though the Debutante Brawlers were on cruise control the rest of the way... never surrendering their lead and winning the bout by a final score of 112-100.
The reigning champ Debutante Brawlers continued their dominance into this third season of derby, even though the Trauma Queens fought hard to dethrone them. With a new team in the league now (The Tai Chi-tahs), it will be tough for the Debs to continue their winning ways. This season promises to be very exciting... with much more competition and a new, larger arena awaiting them for the next season. The new time format should make it exciting as well, as the action seems to never stop. There are only about 20 seconds between jams, so the teams have to be quick to get their jam lineups set. A few times, each team didn't get their jammer in the mix on time and had to skate without them.
Everything is pointing to a great year for the Carolina Rollerderby. The skating is getting better and faster every day and the heart that the ladies of Brawleigh show in each jam is evident. The sport is becoming quite popular around town, so better get your tickets fast!
Be sure to check out the next Carolina Rollergirls bout in May when the Tai Chi-tahs take on the Trauma Queens in bout 2 of the third season. Get yourself some tickets if you are near the Raleigh area or check out the local rollergirls in your area.
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