By Jim Almy
Update your insurance, hug you loved ones, strap on your helmets, and get ready to settle some scores.
When the Rat City Rollergirls Roller Derby teams square off this Saturday, Feb. 15, at the KeyArena there will be a little spill over from last month’s bouts.
Grave Danger, league champions for three years running, are out to reverse their opening bout loss to the Derby Liberation Front (DLF) and will direct their attack against the Socket Wenches, a team that also dropped their first bout of the year to the Throttle Rockets.
Expect another earthquake in the opening bout when the two teams in the league with perfect 1-0 records, DLF and the Throttle Rockets, begin the night on the same track at 5:30.
That bout will feature three jammers who combined for 262 points in their team’s victories. Rookie Beatin’ Bam!!B, the freshly recruited eighteen-year-old jamming for DLF, scored 79 or her team’s points in their 229-193 win over the Grave Danger. Bill F. Murray, another unstoppable weapon in the the DLF arsenal, had 83. Next to both of them in early jams come Saturday will be the wily veteran Luna Negra. She scored the most points of anyone, adding 100 to the Throttle Rockets 219 as they crushed the Socket Wenches, 219-128.
Look for the best lineups to be on defensive blocking for both teams.
“The Throttle Rockets are really starting to gel,” said DLF Coach Dan Barnett. “We expect a tough match.”
Tough, as in trying to score around tough hitting Rockets blockers like Deva StateHer, Parker Eyeout and RattleSkate.
DLF puts up a pretty good defensive line of their own and the Rockets jamming quartet of Negra, Enurgizer Bunny, Sintripetal Force and Shock Therapy face a tough task in trying to score past the wall that Full Nelson, Lucinda Pack, Ophelia Melons and Rumble Fist will build in front of them.
The difference between the 219 points the Rockets tallied and the 229 put up by DLF is only ten. Coaches for both teams think their groups are better than the ones taking the track last month. This match has all the ingredients of a high scoring, close contest.
“Our strategy and style is continually evolving as we develop new players and fortify our veterans,” said Rockets Coach Slutnik. “This is not the same team from last month and will surely only get better throughout the season.”
Barnett said, and this is critical considering the scoring power the Rockets bring, that, “I expect our defense to be our bread and butter.”
Missing from the DLF lineup will be Kamikaze Kim, sitting out as the result of a concussion she sustained in practice. Barnett said that that is important to his team as he views Kim as a floor leader amongst the blockers and a real student of the game. “When she’s on the bench she keeps an eye on the game and knows what’s working and what’s not,” he said.
Other than Kim both teams are at full strength.
Coach Slutnik pointed out two Rockets players to watch this Saturday, Missile America and RattleSkate. “They both have a fire within them that cannot be contained. Missile America has mainly jammed through her derby career. We have been pushing her heavily toward blocking this season and she has dominated the track. RattleSkate was our first junior derby transfer last year. Her hits are so hard they can be felt from the nosebleeds…she is very strong and very smart, a deadly combination.”
Get your tickets to Saturday’s bout TODAY at the KeyArena box office or at ticketmaster.com!