HUNTSVILLE, AL — On April 20th, the Nashville Rollergirls competed in their first away game of the 2008 season against the 39th-ranked WFTDA member Dixie Derby Girls of Huntsville, Alabama. The Nashville girls went to Huntsville with the intention of shaking the 2-game losing streak that seems to have set the tone for their second season. Even with the close losses in their past two outings hanging over them, Nashville brought with them a complement of fans and their signature can-do attitudes. In a season fraught with close battles and even closer point margins, it seemed Nashville had finally broken the streak, only to be disappointed by yet another narrow defeat.

Period one began slowly with Slammylou Harris getting edged out for lead status by C.U. Afterclass, in a 7 to 4 first jam. Ramb0 Samb0, jammed behind the blocking of newcomer Eurine A. Hole, and old favorites Bootsy Brawlins, Slugs Bunny, and Olive Turmoyl in the fifth to claim the second of her 3 shutout jams in the first period and to keep Nashville close behind Huntsville.

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At last, the 2008 Detroit Derby Girls home season is at an end, and what better way to end the season than with a double-header featuring two games with all four of the DDG teams in action!

In the consolation game it will be the winless (0-3) D-Funk Allstars taking on the 1-2 Pistolwhippers. That game is followed by the DDG Championship game between the 2-1 Devil’s Night Dames vs. the 3-0 Detroit Pistoffs.

The games are at the usual location in the Drill Hall at the Masonic Temple in downtown Detroit, MI. Doors open at 6pm, first game starts at 7pm.

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Orange County’s OC Rollergirls will be hosting a major event this weekend in sunny Corona, California — 5 WFTDA leagues competing in a total of 8 games over two days in the second annual Roll for A Cure breast cancer benefit.

The results of these games will no doubt be of particular interest to derby fans, as the #10, #11 and #12 ranked teams in the nation will all be battling it out with each other (that’s Bay Area, Portland and Minnesota, respectively) in bouts that will surely shed some light on their relative abilities. 24th-ranked Houston and hosting, as-yet-unranked OC will also get in on the action.

Saturday’s marquee bout is probably the 3:30pm opener of 11th-ranked Rose City vs. 12th-ranked Minnesota — neither team has played an all-star bout this calendar year but both bring a lot of history and talent to the floor. Rose City rolled over Charm City, 126-37, in November 2007, while Minnesota lost a nailbiter to the same Charm City, 73-69, a month later in December. However, Minnesota had split their all-star squad for a doubleheader that night, with the other half of their players going up against Arizona, while Rose City had gone with their top 14, so it’s debatable as to how much the Charm City results can illuminate the possible outcome of this match.

Two major high-level bouts will take place on Sunday, as 10th-ranked Bay Area goes up against Rose City at noon and then battles Minnesota at 3:45. Bay Area rolled easily through April’s “Big One” unofficial California State Championship against less experienced competition, but the last time they took on a team close to them in the rankings, they just barely fell short in a 62-56 loss to 9th-ranked Philly (that bout took place in November.) Bay Area will surely be looking at Sunday as a chance to prove themselves again, although Rose City and Minnesota will also surely be looking at Sunday as a chance to break into WFTDA’s top ten.

As an added bonus, AZRD’s Ivanna S. Pankin brings the current roster of Team Awesome, her all-derby all-star team, out for halftime and between-bout scrimmages against brave members of Angel City, San Diego and Orange County.

Full schedule and rosters below the jump:

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Gotham Girls Roller Derby’s 4^th intraleague season kicks off this Saturday with the Manhattan Mayhem vs the Queens of Pain. Manhattan last took to the track in a substantial victory over the New Jersey Dirty Dames last November, while Queens spent the off-season focused on avenging a 90-95 loss to the Bronx Gridlock in 2007’s championship game

Similar to last year, every one of Gotham’s four borough teams will play each other once, and the two with the best records will square off for the championship on October 25th.

All games will be held at Hunter College Sportsplex, just a few blocks east of Central Park.

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Well along into a pretty substantial site structure and engine overhaul, we have struck a serious obstacle: we here at DNN suck at colors. We’ve got an awesome new logo courtesy of Nashville Rollergirls’ Slugs Bunny, and we’re just a couple color choices away from getting the new tools skinned up and ready to rock, but we’re facing the facts: we need your help.

Artists of the derby world, if you love DNN and want to help us make it even better, now is your time. Please, take this:

And make it all colorful and awesome. Post a link to your submission in the comments below, or email it to us. If you can solve our color helplessness, we can get back to the more important business of keeping you up to date with the modern derby revolution!

UPDATE: Here’s an eps version of the logo for your vectory enjoyment.

On Saturday, the 16th ranked Boston Massacre will host 26th ranked Cincinnati Rollergirls at the Shriner’s Auditorium in Wilmington, MA. Cincinnati will be looking for their 4th win this season, but Boston will be looking to extend their 2-0 winning streak.

Cincinnati has started off the season strong, with wins over Fort Wayne, Naptown, and Ohio and a recent win over Derby City in an exhibition game. Notably, the Naptown game set a new record for the lowest total score ever in a WFTDA-regulation bout — Cincinnati won 59-32. Cincinnati’s roster features several versatile players including Hannah Barbaric and Roseanne Scarr who are noted for being excellent blockers as well as fast jammers. CRG will undoubtedly impress the Boston crowd with their speed, agility, and maneuverability.

This will be the Boston Massacre’s third all-star game of the season, with previous wins a 119-69 over then-unranked ranked Dominion (now on the board at in the #20 spot) and a 116-49 exhibition bout win over the Bronx Gridlock, the Gotham Girls’ reigning local champions. With several pack weapons, the Boston Massacre is firing in good rhythm and their blocking teamwork and pack communication are on par to make this a strong match-up.

The Cincinnati Rollergirls will be fielding a full roster of 14 as will the Boston Massacre. Missing from the Massacre line-up will be Anna Wrecks’ya and Miss Mary Smack, who will be replaced by Harlot Fevah and Sugar Hits. This is sure to be an exciting game with both strong offensive and defensive play. Boston’s “JV” squad, the Boston B-Party, opens the action with a face off against the currently unranked all-star team from the Connecticut Rollergirls (correction: not the all-star team, a combination of all-stars and local CT players.)

For Cincinnati fans not able to travel to Beantown, the bout will be shown via a live feed on the big screen TV at the Underground at the Know Theater at 1120 Jackson St. in Over-the-Rhine.

The Cincinnati Rollergirls will next skate at the Cincinnati Gardens on Saturday, May 17 at 7:00 p.m. against the 9th ranked Philly Roller Girls. The bout is a double-header, with the Black Sheep dueling Philly’s Liberty Belles and the Cincinnati Rollergirls “B” team, the Silent Lambs, skating against the Black-n-Bluegrass Girls from Northern Kentucky.

The Boston Derby Dames’ next bout wraps up their local season as the defending champion Wicked Pissahs take on the Cosmonaughties for the Season Two title on June 14. This rematch of Season One’s championship is sure to be a screamer, with the Cosmos gunning for a different outcome this time around.

Both leagues will be attending the East Coast Derby Extravaganza on June 21 and 22 in Philly. Cincinnati will be taking on Grand Raggidy (23) and Texas (4). The Boston Massacre will be playing Houston (24) and Rocky Mountain (14), who just handily defeated Boston’s closely matched sister league, the 15th-ranked Providence Roller Girls, in a 137-9 blowout in Denver.

Additional reporting: Harley Quinn

331 Betty Spite // 1984 Claire D. Way // 617 Cookie Push // 9669 Harley Quinn // 99 Harlot Fevah // 843 Krush Puppy // 011 Lois Carmen Denominator // 34B Maura Buse // 28 Pussy Venom // 24 Quick Sandy // 4.0 Sarah Doom // -0 Shelby Shattered // 1001 Sugar Hits // 3D Triple Deck-Her

76 Sadistic Sadie // 85 Hannah Barbaric // 18 Roseanne Scarr // 75 MPH Blu Bayou // 45 caliber Arche Enemy // 60 Shirley Temptya // 66.50 Sister Saralicious // 21 June w/ a Cleaver // 74.00 Juwanna Hurt // 4 Killian Destroy // 41 Panterrorize // 29 Ruff’n the Passer // 11 Sk8er Kinney // Mae C. Stars

Lizzy the Axe, Frau Scientits, Mary Tyler Roar, and referee Seamonster star in a genius little series of PSAs produced by the Minnesota RollerGirls. Required watching.

(edit: score corrected from NYSE 127 to NYSE 125)

KENDALL PARK, NJ — In a meeting of The Original vs. The Best on Sunday night, the undefeated kings of East Coast men’s derby continued their dominance over their regional rivals, as the New York Shock Exchange ground out a relentless 125-44 win over a valiant but outnumbered and overmatched Pioneer Valley Dirty Dozen from Northampton, Massachusetts.

This was New York’s first defense of the “Athletic Cup” trophy they claimed after their April 2007 debut against Pioneer Valley — an unofficial yet highly coveted representation of excellence in the field of male derby. New York came into the bout fielding a full roster of 14, while the Dirty Dozen had to do nearly double duty, with only 8 skaters suiting up for the matchup.

Pioneer Valley took the first jam of the 40-minute bout as recent PVRD acquisition Jurasskick Park managed to sneak between NYSE blocker Darth Invader and Angelo Death to claim lead and get a 3-1 win over NYSE superstar Jonathan R, but that was the only time they’d enjoy the advantage. On the next jam, Mothra got the NYSE in front to stay with a 4-0 over Dr. Spankenstein, as the Dr. got bottled up by T-Stop Tornado and Jonathan R. taking solid control of the front of the pack.

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BALTIMORE, MD — In the second of back-to-back narrow upsets in Charm City’s third season opener, last year’s third-place Junkyard Dolls surprised the two-time CCRG champion Night Terrors by a final of 74 to 63.

Both teams relied heavily on new blood in this contest. The Night Terrors, adjusting their gameplan after losing most of their jamming core during the 2007-2008 offseason, got a solid debut from rookie Minnie Piledriver — who led the Terrors with 18 points — and also key performances from Speed Regime transfer Psycho78 (17 points) and third-year veteran Rosie the Rioter (15 points.) The Dolls also had a significant Speed Regime transfer in Flo Shizzle, who led the scoring with 32 points and sealed the win with some late-game heroics.

As the bout kicked off, the Terrors immediately fell into a hole when leadoff jammer Marzipain went to the penalty box in the very first jam on a cutting-track major — opponent Flo Shizzle would score 7 points in that full-length jam, and followup Doll jammer would get a 9-3 win over Marzipain in the following frame. This left the Terrors looking at a disheartening 16-3 start after just two jams, but they’d regroup quickly.

Pulling lead jammer on 5 out of the next 6 jams, the Terrors went on a dominating 31-7 run — keyed by an 8-0 for Psycho78 over Ella Fitz-Peril in both jammers’ team debuts — that lifted the defending champs to a 34-23 lead.

But with things starting to look a little grim for the Dolls, team captain Dolly Rocket chose that moment to give her team a major boost by taking the jammer star on consecutive jams — first, she got lead and a 4-2 win over Psycho78, and then went right back to the jammer line for an explosive 10-0 win over Minnie Piledriver that put the Dolls back in front, 37-36.

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DENVER, CO — May 3rd brought Providence Roller Derby’s 15th-ranked Rhode Island Riveters to Denver to bout the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls’ 5280 Fight Club, ranked 14th in the nation. Both teams recently walked away from close defeats – Fight Club lost to 13th-ranked Charm City in March while the Riveters suffered a narrow upset to the unranked Maine Roller Derby less than a month ago. Regardless of past bouts, it was generally assumed that this would be an extremely close match due to these two teams’ spots next to one another within the rankings.

Things started off with RMRG’s She Who Cannot Be Named up against PRD’s Hysterica! on the jammer line. She Who grabbed lead as well as four points, calling it off before Hysterica! could make it to the pack. Next up, RMRG’s Frida Beater faced off against PRD’s Cleo Patronize, adding nine points for a total of 13 while PRD was still stuck at zero. RMRG continued to rack up the points and keep PRD at zero until the tenth jam of the game, when Hysterica! managed to score four points as well as gain lead jammer, though by this point RMRG was already at 39 points. Hysterica!’s points were the only ones to be put up on the scoreboard throughout the first period for PRD, with halftime putting RMRG at 67, PRD 4.

While the Riveters had no shortage of hard hitters such as Bunnicula and Burnin’ Helen, they seemed to be suffering in the jammer department – Hysterica! would be the only point scorer of the game as well as the only jammer to successfully gain lead with the exception of one jam by Cleo Patronize. Fight Club’s defense was outstanding, however, with pivot Winona Fighter controlling the front throughout the majority of the game while blockers Madam Maimya, Ida Hustler, Pinky 500 and Assaultin’ Pepa built unbreakable walls and consistently kept the PRD jammers from ever leaving the pack. The final score found RMRG at 137, PRD 9.

The top scorers for RMRG were Frida Beater with 60 points and She Who with 58. Frida grabbed lead jammer 70% of the time while She Who earned it 69%. Luscious Smacksome and Smashbox earned nine points each, while Ida Hustler scored one.

PRD’s only point scorer for the night was Hysterica! who earned 9 points and gained lead jammer 33% of her time on the track.

Rocky Mountain doesn’t waste much time before their next challenge, heading down to Phoenix to take on Arizona Roller Derby this Saturday, May 10th. Providence’s next action will be their local season opener, as the Old Money Honeys take on the Mob Squad on May 30 — but they’re next in all-star action at Philly’s East Coast Extravaganza on June 21 and 22, taking on 22nd-ranked Atlanta on Saturday and 13th-ranked Charm City on Sunday.