Oct 17, 2015 | Bout News

Dia De Los Results: Rockits Win The Pre-Season Mini Tournament

By Fire Wally

Roller Derby action ignited again Saturday at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium as the four Minnesota RollerGirls home teams faced off in the annual Pre-Season Mini Tournament. The Rockits emerged as the pre-season victor by winning over the Atomic Bombshells and the Dagger Dolls, last season’s championship winners. The Garda Belts claimed a consolation victory by beating the Dolls in the third-place game.

Bout 1 – Atomic Bombshells v. Garda Belts

Atomic Bombshells fans saw a new face behind the jammer line Saturday night, as the Bombshells sent out Riotchu, formerly of the Chippewa Valley Roller Girls, out with the star on the first jam of the night against the Gardas’ Tara Bichapart. Encouraged by her fans in the audience screaming “I CHOOSE YOU!” at the start of the jam, Riotchu rocketed off the jammer line and through the pack to claim lead jammer. As Bombshell blockers Smoka Hontas, Hurtrude Stein, and Madame de Stompadour contained Tara in a triangle blocking formation, Riotchu racked up 25 points in her first jam as a Minnesota Rollergirl.

The Bombshells continued to play absolutely solid defense for the next 10 minutes, allowing just a single point through the first half of this mini bout. In addition to the usual suspects like Smoka and Diamond Rough, the Bombshells also benefited from from sandblastHER and Mugsy Marauder positionally blocking green jammers and adding some well-placed offensive moves. Through all this, orange jammers Riotchu, Mugsy, Trudy, LaRotonda and Roley Ann Lena ran up the score for the Bombshells, leading to a satisfying 104-31 victory.

Bright spots for the Garda Belts included an excellent 12-point jam by Frigid O’Shaughnessy and some tenacious defensive plays from Siren Annie, Crust Almighty, Bri Zuss, and Olga Olgithorpe. The Gardas’ two new skaters also made an impact in their first games as Minnesota RollerGirls. OC Devious, former North Star Roller Girl, displayed some adept positional blocking, keeping Riotchu contained by herself for a half a lap at one point, while Babe City Rollers transfer Hal’luci Jen earned lead and scored points in her first bout jamming with MNRG.

Bout 2 – Rockits v. Dagger Dolls

Dreidel Robber started off Season 12 in spectacular fashion jamming for the Rockits in the second bout of the night, stepping through the middle of the pack to earn lead jammer and then taking advantage of a power jam opportunity to score 13 points. A few jams later, Ova Acheiva (returning to the Dagger Dolls) and Jacked Pipes struck back for the Dagger Dolls, scoring 15 between the two of them to make the score 16-15 Rockits with 14 minutes remaining on the clock.

Rhea Volt then made a definitive statement for the Rockits with the jam of the evening. Volt swung around the outside of the pack for lead jammer while MadRad, Salvador Brawlie, Mae Gusta, and MeshugEnough contained the Dolls’ jammer. Shug in particular did great work timing her teammates’ hits to reverse Freddy’s progress with multiple run-backs. Volt riled up the crowd with some spectacular apex jumps and deft juking, scoring 33 points to make the score 49-15 in favor of the Rockits with 9 minutes left in the period.

The Rockits maintained dominance through most of the rest of that bout, with Obscene Sheen and Manilla Ice adding to the Dreidel and Volt’s scoring total while Rockit packs kept the pink jammers mostly contained. The Dolls managed a late momentum swing, with Polly Punchkin, Ova Acheiva, Freddy, and rookie Ruth Banger Ginsburg killing an entire jammer penalty with excellent recycling and teamwork to set up a big jam from Shiver Me Kimbers. Kimbers started off with a huge apex jump and then raced her way to 14 points, but time ran out on the Dolls’ rally and the Rockits won the bout 86-53.

Consolation Bout – Garda Belts v. Dagger Dolls

The Garda Belts came out to a much stronger start in their second bout of the night, containing the Dagger Dolls to just 5 points in the first ten minutes. Garda veterans Second Hand Smoke and Tara Bichapart caught jammers as the last line of defense and knocked pink blockers out of the way of their jammers. At Jammer, the Gardas’ Hal’luci Jen looked much more comfortable in this bout, scoring 4 and then 10 in her first two appearances. With 13 minutes left on the clock, Ida Sockher found huge holes created by Beach Slap and Knoxher Blockhoff to score 19, making the score 42-5 in favor of the Garda Belts.

The Dagger Dolls chipped away at that lead with a wide selection of jammers, a tactic that is becoming a trademark for the Dolls. Killsey McMurder, Detroit Muff, Jacked Pipes, Hanna Belle Lector, Kung POW Bitchin, Polly Punchkin, Ova Acheiva, and Shiver Me Kimbers all took turns wearing the star in this bout, giving the Gardas lots of different styles to defend against and keeping fresh legs out on the track. Two big jams, one from Kimbers and another from Pipes, almost erased the Gardas scoring advantage.

With about four minutes left on the clock, Kimbers took the line against Hal’luci Jen, and rocketed around the outside for lead jammer then continued scoring while Jen was stuck in the Surly Sin Bin. Taking advantage of well-timed offense from Jacked Pipes and some great defensive work from Hanna Belle and Wolfe Bite to give her plenty of time, Kimbers scored 19 to bring the Dolls closer, 40-61. Ida Sockher would score a quick 4 on the next jam, which set up two of Minnesota RollerGirls’ most dangerous jammers, Second Hand Smoke and Jacked Pipes, to fight out the climax of this bout.

Pipes danced through immediately on the inside line for lead jammer, and Smoke was sent to the box on a track cut almost as fast, giving Pipes the chance to attempt to make up the 21-point defecit. Pipes found easy holes on the first two scoring passes with Smoke stuck in the box, then muscled her way to 5 more points as Smoke cleared her intial pass by barrelling through the Dolls’ pack. With Smoke now an active scorer, Pipes attempted to call off the jam and claim victory, but she had not scored enough to erase the Gardas score advantage. The Garda Belts claimed third place in the Gilded Steak mini-tournament 68-63

Final Bout – Atomic Bombshells v. Rockits

The Rockits and Atomic Bombshells then faced off in the final bout of the preseason mini-tournament, which started with a chaotic fist jam. Two Rockit blockers and Bombshells’ jammer Riotchu were all waved off the track for penalties at the start of the jam, which gave Dreidel Robber a brief power jam chance for the rockits, until she got called for a track cut penalty herself. Dreidel managed two scoring passes to bring the Rockits ahead 9-0 before the jam ended.

Rhea Volt expanded the Rockits’ lead on the next jam, dodging the entire Bombshells pack to earn lead jammer in the opening seconds. While Volt juked and jumped her way through one scoring pass after another, her blocking line of Scarmen Hellectra, Mae Gusta, Ana Stick, and MadRad kept the Atomic Bombshells scoreless, holding both Riotchu and star-pass recipient Smoka Hontas long enough for Volt to score 19.

The score then stood at 28-0 Rockits, establishing a margin that would be consistent through the rest of the final mini-bout. Volt, Dreidel, and Obscene Sheen would continue to notch up the Rockits score and answer every Bombshells attack with a quick counter-punch. Rockits blockers, led by veterans MadRad and Scarmen, played a very aggressive, offense-focused game, hip-checking the Bombshell blockers that stood in the way of their jammers.

Bright spots for the Atomic Bombshells included some excellent jamming performances from skaters we are used to seeing primarily as blockers. Second-year skater LaRotonda had a huge nine-point effort with about 7 minutes left in the jam, and veterans Hurtrude Stein and Madame de Stompadour finished the game each with quick 4-0 advances to narrow the Rockits’ lead.

That turned out not to be enough for the Bombshells to recover, however, and the Rockits ended the game with a 86-56 win to claim the “Gilded Steak” and set themselves up as the team to beat in the season-long race for the Minnesota RollerGirls’ home season prize – the Golden Skate.