WFTDA Bout Recap: (u) Connecticut 106, (u) Long Island 61
Posted by Hambone on December 10th, 2007
WATERBURY, CT — On December 9, 2007, the CT RollerGirls of Connecticut introduced themselves to the interleague WFTDA scene, rolling out their inaugural “Stepford Sabotage” All-Star roster in a victory over the visiting Long Island Roller Rebels.
Connecticut hosted a well-paced, highly organized, and well-reffed affair, overseen by a mixed crew from Long Island, Connecticut, Garden State, Washington D.C., and Gotham. The bout featured the debut of ‘Dead End Cupcake,’ the Sabotage’s smiling knife-wielding homebody (aka former CT RollerGirl Dead End Allie), along with a ceremonial first-jam whistle from a local marine, on duty to guard the booty for the evening’s charity beneficiary, Toys for Tots.
Long Island brought a short roster of only eleven skaters, sorely missing interleague veterans MadDonna and Butterscotch Cripple (now skating out of Philly). The roster was slashed further when Long Island lost Trixie Timebomb in the first period to a knee injury. To make up for the difference, Long Island’s star jammer C-Roll bouted seemingly without any rest whatsover, toeing the jammer line in exactly half of the bout’s thirty-eight jams, along with an additional receipt of the star during her handful of turns at pivot.
The Sabotage displayed a much deeper jamming lineup, earning points from six different jammers in the first period alone, beginning with captain Pearl Jammer. The seven head-to-head matchups between Pearl and C-Roll were a treat to watch, as these two skaters are strikingly similar in size, style, and speed.
In their first head-to-head battle, Pearl scored a 4-0 as C-Roll got stuck behind a wall of Black Cherry and Miz Con SepJen. In the following two jams, LIRR’s Captain Morgan delivered big blows to Pam Terror and Pearl Jammer, who both took notes and quickly learned an important early lesson — steer clear of Captain Morgan.
C-Roll scored a 10-0 in Jam 3, giving Long Island a 10-8 lead, but it was the last lead the LIRR was to enjoy. Connecticut went on a 31-7 run, with Long Island’s jammers Summer Slam and Regine Bull finding big difficultly navigating past Miz Con SepJen, Eleanor Bruisevelt, Girl Fawkes, and Revengela. The notoriously aggressive LIRR blocker Anna Tramp drew two majors in the period for jammer takedowns.
Period two began 39-17 for the Sabotage (note to self and DNN readers: do not call them the ‘Nutmeggers’). C-Roll, this time at pivot, took down Pearl Jammer, yet she survived the fall to win 2-0. Black Cherry, Connecticut’s seventh jammer to take the line, survived multiple laps of abuse at the hands of Captain Morgan, and tied Amaretto Sourpuss 3-3. Connecticut’s Doomcake then violently introduced herself to C-Roll, who suffered a 4-0 loss to Pearl Jammer, beginning a series of nine consecutive shutouts for Connecticut — including a bizarre series of five consecutive 0-0 jams. In most of these cases, the first jammer through the action would be denied Lead Jammer status, and the trailing jammer would invariably end the jam immediately after gaining lead herself.
 Miz Con SepJen seems disappointed that the exhausted C-Roll can still stand after 19 jams |
 Traces of Miz Con SepJen’s #7 could be seen on Anna Tramp’s cheek |
The hits started to amp up in ferocity. Connecticut blockers began to punish their Long Island counterparts; Revengela, Pam Terror, Ether Bunny, and Eleanor Bruisevelt brought their blocking foes down to the floor with regular authority. In jam 12, Miz Con SepJen twice shoved Long Island’s Summer Slam off the track, once launching her into visiting Garden State referee Astra Zombie. This jam also ended with a big takedown of Summer Slam by Peekaboom! which seemed to slightly rattle both skaters.
Jam 13 ended when Connecticut’s Black Cherry crumpled to the floor, holding her left knee. Fortunately, she was able to return to action after the period break. (She’s been nursing a sprained ankle since the local season championship in November.)
Period two ended 64-26, with LIRR’s C-Roll jamming a mind-boggling seven of the final eight jams of the period. Both teams were having difficulty putting together multiple scoring laps, as jammers were usually exiting the pack neck-and-neck. So far, the bout had only seen two 10-0 jams (one for each team). While Long Island was on the short end of the scoreboard, Connecticut was really only nipping away, a few points at a time. Connecticut was picking up points, and knocking down Roller Rebels, but was unable to pull away — Long Island’s Amaretto Sourpuss at pivot did a superb job of limiting CT jammers to single scoring laps.
In period three, Long Island then made their charge and played their best derby of the evening. To kick off the final period, Amaretto Sourpuss, Regine Bull, and C-Roll quickly tacked 17 points on the scoreboard to 12 for Connecticut, leaving the score at 76-43 and with Long Island looking dangerously feisty. Connecticut’s Pam Terror, Revengela, and Tina Colada threw powerful hits at the LIRR jammers, but their own jammers kept getting caught behind the Anna Tramp / Captain Morgan wall.
To counter this tide, Connecticut trotted out their best blocking combination of the evening — Peekaboom!, Parker Poison, Eleanor Bruisevelt, and Violet Riot. This lineup held Regine Bull scoreless while Pearl Jammer scored a decisive 15-0 victory, effectively ending the bout, pushing the score to 91-43 with time for just five final jams.
Jam nine saw an interesting moment from a reffing perspective, when what should have been a 3-on-2 pack turned into a rare 3-on-1 pack; one of the two Connecticut blockers failed to report to the jam on time. Even with a ‘two-in-the-box’ cap, things like this can happen. Long Island’s Amaretto Sourpuss took advantage of the mismatch with a 8-3 victory. C-Roll ended the game with a 10-0 victory in a chaotic final jam, nudging the final score up to 106-61.
Long Island now begins its off-season, while Connecticut turns right around to begin its second intraleague season on January 27th, adopting a January-to-June schedule for 2008.
High scorers:
Pearl Jammer (CTRG): 47 points, 14 jams
C-Roll (LIRR): 35 points, 19 jams
Doomcake (CTRG): 19 points, 7 jams
Pam Terror (CTRG): 18 points, 8 jams
Amaretto Sourpuss (LIRR): 17 points, 6 jams
Note: post edited slightly December 11th to reflect minor corrections from CTRG stats keeper Ian Fluenza.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
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