CICERO, IL -- A year ago, Madison’s Dairyland Dolls were the top-ranked travel squad in the East, their eyes on the national tournament. The Windy City Rollers put an end to those dreams with an upset win in Columbus at Heartland Havoc, and it was Windy City who traveled to Austin instead. The rematch on June 14th at the Cicero Stadium just outside Chicago would be a test of just how big an upset that bout really was; whether Windy City would be a contender again, and whether Madison had adjusted to the combination of strength and skill that has come to characterize the best teams in WFTDA. By bout’s end, it seemed like a replay of the Columbus bout, Windy City easily handling the Dairyland Dolls with a 132-74 win, the only difference being the chance to win in front of the hometown fans.
Rumors of a slippery track surface seemed true in the early going. Neither team showed significant acceleration, and after two jams it was 4-3, Windy City. This was as close as the score would ever get. Windy City built their lead with basic three, four, or five point jams. The home court advantage was clear. Compensating for the lack of acceleration, WCR made ample use of whips and pushes to get their jammers ahead, and stood up the Madison jammers or forced them wide. Windy City also effectively broke up the Madison packs, leaving the Madison jammers on their own against two Chicago skaters up front. Any attempt by Madison to run interference for the jammer was ably marked by a WCR blocker.
Windy City ran a jammer rotation of Kola Loka, Eva Dead, Yvette YourMaker, and Athena DeCrime four full times in the first half, and this quartet grabbed 11 of the half’s 15 leads. It wasn’t fancy, but it was effective, and by half the Rollers had control of the game with a 64-34 lead.
The second half wasn’t much different from the first, except that WCR skated Ying O’Fire and Varla Vendetta in place of Yvette and Athena, and these two jammers did show speed on the floor, putting up 29 points between them for the half. Madison continued to search for points. Ten minutes into the half, Windy City broke the 100 point mark while Madison was stuck at 40.
Madison did make a decent scoring run in the middle part of the half, outscoring Windy City 32-15 while WCR jammers sat in the penalty box, but Windy City limited the damage with their effective defense. Madison could not get on the scoreboard in the final eight minutes, and meanwhile Malice in Chains scored seven on her lone appearance at jammer, and Kola Loka finished the game with a nine point jam that epitomized Windy City’s command of the track.
Kola Loka led Windy City in scoring with 36, followed by Yvette Yourmaker and Athena DeCrime with 22 and 20 respectively. Mouse was the top scorer for the the DDs with 22. Madison’s Darling Nikki expressed the sentiment of the Madison jammer corps when she commented, “I feel like I worked my butt off and came up with nothing.”
It was hot inside the stadium, and it will only be hotter later in the summer when WCR hosts Tucson, Minnesota, Rocky Mountain and Kansas City. As for the floor, some didn’t think it was an advantage, but the Rollers clearly are comfortable on it.
The effect of WFTDA rules 3.0 is still open to judgment. Windy City was more cognizant of ghost points, and didn’t waste time chasing extra points once these were captured. With 34 scoring jams, the pace of the game was brisk even with the 30 seconds between jams. Seeing up to four players either in the penalty box or about to exit it will take some getting used to.
Both Madison and Windy City now travel to the East Coast Extravaganza, where they’ll both face Philadelphia’s 9th-ranked Liberty Belles. For Windy City, this will be a test of just how high they deserve to be ranked. For Madison, it’s another test against another home team. Windy City will also face the Carolina Rollergirls in a repeat of the 2007 eastern regional semifinals.
It’s tempting to think that Windy City saw the bout against Madison as a warm up for bigger competition at ECE, but WCR has too much respect for the Madison league for that to have been the case. Meanwhile, the Dairyland Dolls have something to prove to themselves – that they belong to the elite teams of the East.
Photo: Gil Leora
