The Yankee Brutals vs. The Skyland Roller Girls

It is now time for the long delayed Roller Derby recap of April 16th’s Roller Derby bout that went down at the Connecticut Sports Center in Woodbridge, CT. The Yankee Brutals hosted the Skyland Roller girls from Warren County, NJ to a busy crowd of eager Derby fans. The Connecticut ladies mostly kept control of this bout, though the New Jersey visitors stayed close within striking distance – resulting in a tighter battle than the final score suggests.

The bout began with a stunning A Capella version of the Star Spangled Banner a la Skyland skater Daisy Duke-Ya. As the crowd applauded the stunning voice of the visiting skater, CT’s Pam Terror and Skyland’s Foxy Punisher approached the jammer line.

As the ladies took off it was immediately apparent that much of this bout would be a fight of speed. While Pam broke through the pack first, Foxy was right on her tail. The first jam ended quickly – with the score split 1 to 1. Next up, Paula G. Imnaughty faced Stonehouse Becca. This time, Skyland’s Stonehouse Becca made it through the pack first and then took advantage of the Paula’s Major penalty. Stonehouse tallied 10 points. The lead was short lived however, as the tables turned in the third jam with Tiger Munition being sent to the penalty box and Dee Nasty lapping the pack four times for 20 points. Dee was aided by her pack which, much to the surprise of the Skyland girls, stopped abruptly on the track letting Dee circle again and again.

Facing the steeply sloped curve of Yankee Brutal point acquisition which vaguely resembled an intimidating quarter pipe at a skateboard park, Skyland seemed to lose some spirit. Pam followed Dee’s haul with 9 points and then Delilah Dread, a relative newcomer to CT’s ranks, scored 15 points of her own off of strong hits by Your Mom, Babe Vigoda, and Guns N’Bruises.

The local ladies were pulling ahead with a strong lead. Halfway into the first period, the score stood 66 to 21. But the Skyland Roller girls were not to be discounted. NJ’s Serial Jiller pulled in 14 points in the 9th jam, revitalizing the struggling New Jersey skaters. Jiller’s skating started a streak of lead jammer control by the visitors. Next Rosa Ruckus, then Daisy Duke-ya, and then Stonehouse. Four leads in a row – all the while, the point gap narrowing. Delilah brought down a hammer deep in the first with 17 points, but Stonehouse offset the point tsunami in the last jam with 25 points of her own. The halftime bell sounded, and the score stood 100 to 72 favoring the Yankee Brutals.

Lately, penalties and power jams (jams with one jammer in the penalty box) have seemed to be a major contributor to the derby bottom line, and this bout followed suit. Major points were awarded to each team in power jams in the first half.

Throughout the second half, there were moments where the skaters seemed to teeter on the edge of disorganization. This may have been part of the reason why the second half saw two roller girls sent from the track. The first was an expulsion of Stonehouse Becca on misconduct after an errant hit on Pam Terror. The second was Foxy who fouled out after 7 turns in the penalty box. It’s always unfortunate to see a skater have to leave the track.

Despite the loss of two of their strongest skaters, New Jersey did well to keep the pressure on Connecticut. Still, with 12 lead jams (compared to 7 for NJ), the Connecticut ladies were skating well. Especially noteworthy was Pam Terror’s aggressive style in the pack, and the impressive skating by the newer Yankees like Delilah who continued her dominant scoring into the second half and Slugg*er Face who took lead jammer in her single jam of the night, earning four points for her team.

As the bout wound to a close, the final score stood 150 to 109.

Statistics!

Lead Scorers!

The Yankee Brutals
Delilah Dread: 51 points (8 jams/5 lead)
Dee Nasty: 41 points (8 jams/2 lead)
Pam Terror: 31 points (8 jams/5 lead)

The Skyland Rollergirls
Stonehouse Becca: 47 points (7 jams/2 lead)
Foxy Punisher: 19 points (8 jams/5 lead)
Serial Jiller: 13 points (4 jams/2 lead)

MVP’s
Tiger Munition and Pam Terror!
Excellent choices for both. This pairing also provided one of the best derby pictures I’ve seen to date.

Well done Tiger and Pam!

Penalty Queens:
Skyland: Foxy Punisher with 7 majors
Yankee Brutals: Paula and Your Mom, each with 5 Maj.

Penalty tallies:
Brutals: 32 Minors, 25 Majors
Skyland: 13 Minors, 31 Majors

Special thanks to both teams and all the assisting personnel who help keep the sport of Derby alive. If you’d like to learn more about Roller Derby, check out the CT Roller Girl’s website here. Or, come check out their next bout on May 14th. Doors open at 6pm at the Connecticut Sports Center in Woodbridge. Hope to see you there!