MILWAUKEE, WI -- Madison is Wisconsin’s Second City, but not when it comes to flat track roller derby.  On Aug. 2, The Dairyland Dolls took the short trip to Milwaukee to school their big-city sisters of the Brewcity Bruisers in how the game is played, coming away with a 196-55 win.  

Milwaukee had previously performed well against young leagues (a 64-49 loss to #29 Naptown in April, a 63-55 win over #37 Fort Wayne in May, and a 103-79 victory over #38 Tampa Bay in June), but Madison was the most established team they'd played to date, and it showed. The Dairyland Dolls put on a clinic in the first half, but as has been their way, Brewcity came out fighting in the second and proved they weren’t to be trifled with. It was clear, though, that Madison skates on another level.

With two more years of bouting experience than the Bruisers, the 15th ranked Dolls came in the clear favorites against #31 Brewcity. Madison jumped out to an early lead, but it wasn’t until the fifth jam that the DD game got rolling with a series of nine- and 10-point jams. The Madison defense was just as effective, holding the Bruisers scoreless for long stretches. Even Brewcity’s normally irrepressible Romaniac looked tired after multiple knockdowns.

A jammerless jam in the tenth brought Brewcity’s wildly popular co-captain Servin’ Justice to the jammer line against Madison’s Darling Nikki. It was a rare line appearance by Justice, but not for Nikki. With a small pack and Justice eventually heading to the penalty box herself, Nikki skated the full two minutes with lead status and racked up an astonishing 23 points.

The first half ended with a turn from Madison’s Stitch, who put up 10 points, giving the Dairyland Dolls a commanding 109-20 lead.

The Bruisers rewarded their loyal fans with renewed fight to kick off the second half. The Bruisers kept pace with Madison for the first ten minutes with 20 points to the visitors’ 21. After this, the gap began to widen again, but the Milwaukee fans’ enthusiasm didn’t fade even as Madison captured the last seven leads.

Madison had racked up 180 points with 2:40 left.  Madison’s Mouse, who ended the game with 72 points, scored ten in the 15th jam and then handed the jammer star to Jewels of Denile, who appeared a little surprised by the offer but obliged her captain with six more points before the jam clock expired. 

Surpirisingly, Brewcity called a timeout with 33 seconds remaining.  Brewcity skated the final jam to deny 200 total points to the Dolls, although it was clear the time out was a “wink-wink” exchange between the teams to acknowledge the blow-out and their respect for one another.  The final 30 seconds ran out, and the game ended at 196-55.

For the home team, Cookie Ciano led the scoring with 21 points, followed by Romaniac with 11 hard-earned points, nine from Madd Mallett and eight for Rejected Seoul.

Darling Nikki shadowed Mouse’s 72 points with 55 of her own and used her speed to skate just as effectively at pivot. The same can be said of Jewels of Denile, who had 29 points and was a human bowling ball at pivot, taking down three Brewcity blockers in a single jam. Chop Suzzi, Dolly Pardon Me and Stitch filled out the rest of Madison’s scoring with 16, 14, and 10 points respectively.

The Dairyland Dolls take on the Burning River Roller Girls from Cleveland at home on Aug. 30. Madison hosts the WFTDA Eastern Regional Tournament, Derby in Dairyland, Oct. 10-12 at the Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum at the Alliant Energy Center, Madison.  The 12 top leagues of the east will complete to be one of four to go on to Nationals in Portland Nov. 14 – 16.

Photos: Jibby7