The Brutal Sting of the Killah Bees

There was no shortage of action on Saturday in the furious fight between Connecticut’s Yankee Brutals and Providence’s Killah Bees. The final score of 141 (RI) to 83 (CT) does little to tell the tale of the intensity and spirit of Saturday’s players. Both teams had remarkable jams. Leonardo DeCapitator finished with a flawless lead jammer record, The Phury visited the jamming line 12 times and performed with impressive consistency, and Pam Terror brought hope back to Connecticut again and again with her resilience.

It’s been quite awhile since Connecticut hosted Providence at the Connecticut Sports Center. The Yankee Brutals had a challenge on their hands as the Killah Bees (even with quite a few inexperienced fresh faces amongst their ranks) have been recently holding an undefeated record. But to discount Connecticut from the start would have been a fatal error. Connecticut came out hitting hard under experienced pivot Girl Fawkes and co-captain Rinko Starr. Halfway into the first period, the two team’s scores differed only by one strong jam.

The scores were built on an unusually high number of grand slams (courtesy of Pam Terror, Ruca A. Salt, and Leonardo DeCapitator). At one point the M.C. hilariously noted that if Leonardo DeCapitator made any more Grand Slams she’d be promoted to head waitress at Dennys!

It wasn’t long, however, before Connecticut began to struggle against the devastating defensive put up by the likes of Providence Captain Cindy Lou Screw, Shamblock, and Funke Punke Monke. Connecticut, unable to break through the aforementioned wall of Killah Bees, fell into a trying drought of lead jamming statuses.

Pam Terror finally broke the trend once in the 14th and again in the 16th jam giving Connecticut a breath of momentum to start the second period off right.

Two jams in the second half truly highlighted the spirit and professionalism of the skaters. The first during a match up between Yankke Brutal Shiny Toy Buns and Killah Bee Ruca A. Salt. The Killah Bees were showing an impressive dominance on the line, but Shiny Tony Buns was still fighting as hard as ever. Having almost broken through the pack, Shiny took a strong hit. She fell to her knees but immediately – without even the slightest delay – thrust herself powerfully up to her feet and kept driving forward, securing lead jammer status. What determination!

Immediately after Shiny’s jam, The Phury demonstrated her skills with exceptional timing. The Phury managed to skate through the pack quickly to snag lead jamming status – but she was having trouble breaking through the pack a second time for points. Pam Terror, skating at the top of her game, finally broke free of the Killah Bee defense and started to close in on The Phury’sposition. Just as Pam circled around again to reach the pack of Killah Bee’s, The Phury ended the jam. Her timing was flawless.

The bout concluded with a strong final showing by the local girls. Rinko Starr, Pam Terror, and Murphy’s Outlaw collectively brought in 39 points in the final 5 jams. Sadly for the Connecticut fans, this was not enough to bridge the gap between the two teams. Final score: Killah Bee’s 141, Yankee Brutals 83

Let’s talk statistics!

Lead Scorers
The Yankee Brutals
Pam Terror with 43 points in 10 jams (6 leads)
Murphy’s Outlaw 20 points in 3 jams (1 lead)
Shiny Toy Buns 9 points in 6 jams (1 lead)

The Killah Bees
The Phury with 53 points in 12 jams (9 leads)
Ruca A. Salt with 44 points in 9 jams (5 leads)
Leonardo DeCapitator 26 points in 4 jams (4 leads)

MVPs
Yankee Brutals: Pam Terror for her hard skating and great speed
Killah Bees: Leonardo DeCapitator for capturing lead jammer status every time she stood on the jamming line

Working with ChopSaw, I was able to get some more accurate statistics for this bout. I took the liberty of geeking out and putting the data into Excel.

For the Connecticut data, click here.

For the Providence data, click here.

Perhaps most noticeable in the data is the Killah Bee’s dominance with securing lead jammer status (20 successful leads vs. the yankee brutal’s 10).

This coming weekend the Connecticut Roller Girls will be heading out to Grand Rapids Michigan to take on the Grand Raggidy Roller Girls. Their next home bout will be on November 13th with the Yankee Brutals vs. Alley Kats of Queen City Roller Derby. Find more information here!

For the Providence readers amongst us, you can check out the Old Money Honey’s taking on the Sakonnet River Roller Rats in Providence on November 6th. Find more details here!

Great job to all the players and organizers!