BOSTON, MA -- On a August 9 night of nearly perfect New England weather, the Boston Massacre (14) hosted their final pre-regionals bout against the Dallas Derby Devils (21), who traveled 1,500 miles across the country in search of their third victory.

A small but enthusiastic crowd was ready to see Boston’s travel team put forth a win nothing short of their moniker. However, with Boston missing key jammers KrushPuppy and Sugar Hits, it seemed that they would have their hands full in repeating the offensive explosion of last month’s victory. In light of Dallas’s notable defense, very few in the stands expected a repeat of the July 19 bout in which Boston scored 183 while holding Ohio to an unprecedented 5 points and a second-half shut out. With both teams’ reputations for aggressive defense, the question of the night was: which team would crack first?

In jam 1 Dallas’s Hot for Teacher came off the line like a shot and quickly grabbed lead jammer status, scoring 3 before calling the jam as Sarah Doom approached the pack on her first scoring attempt. Exchanging scores through the next two jams, the defense-heavy predictions were looking like a reality. Strategic jam-calling has been a Massacre strength, but the first few jams showed that Dallas knew how to get the most from gaining lead jammer status. With excellent offensive and defensive replacement from both teams, strung-out packs were in no shortage.

When Boston’s Triple Deck-Her took the line versus Anita Riot in jam 4 it became apparent that Dallas read about Deck’s MVP performance against Ohio and had no intension of allowing a repeat. DDD’s pack formation forced Deck into a cutting-the-track major and placed her in the penalty box. With Anita Riot picking up a minor penalty on her first pass through the pack and leaving no lead jammer, the jam would run for the full two minutes. But Boston’s defensive standouts Pussy Venom, Lois Carmen Dominator, and Shellby Shattered all delivered big hits at critical moments holding Dallas to 4 points. As we’ve seen since the introduction of rule set 3.0 and jammers finding themselves in the penalty box on cutting majors, an unopposed jammer often leads rapidly to double digit scoring. But the Massacre’s blockers have adapted very well and seem to be able to bring their defense to another level when the pressure is on.

Less than seven minutes into the half Sarah Doom pulled Boston ahead by scoring a grand slam in jam 5. From this point forward the Massacre did not relinquish the lead. Claire D. Way showed off the quick side to side movement and bursts of speed that the BDD faithful have come to expect of her in jam 6, scoring 4 points over speed skater Strawberry Deathcake. An especially slow pack allowed Quick Sandy to line up a big hit on Deathcake as she tried to navigate her way though the pack, once again showing that great defense allows safer scoring opportunities. A scoring stalemate in jam 7 brought Claire back to the jammer line again in jam 8 mixing up the jammer rotation for the first time. She scored a quick 3 with Anita Riot right on her tail.

Hot for Teacher grabbed lead jammer in jam 9 over Doom and showed that she could withstand a big hit from Quick Sandy. It looked as if she might be on her way down, but she recovered very well and scored 4. Maura Buse then answered with 4 points of her own, bringing the score up to 23-11 in favor of the home team. Having little offensive blocking in front of her in this jam she showed a variety of moves in 1-on-1 matchups.

In spite of giving up the 4 points, DDD’s defenders seemed to disrupt Boston’s offensive strategy and got the 1-on-1 match-ups that they wanted, unfortunately for them Buse proved to have the moves to make it through. Anita Riot then paired up against Sarah Doom and showed that she had some moves of her own. Helped greatly by some big hits from Dallas’s MVP Mercy, Riot scored a grand slam over Doom in one of the hardest hitting jams of the bout. With skaters flying all over the track, Shelby Shattered found her way to the box issuing a big thumbs up and a smile as she hit the seat.

It appeared that Dallas was gaining momentum as  Hot for Teacher lined up to jam against Claire D. Way. Both took a fair amount of time getting though the pack. Claire came out first, but was not lead. As she entered the pack on her scoring attempt she committed her fourth minor and went to the box. By the time Hot for Teacher got lead jammer it was too late in the jam for a scoring attempt and she called it off wisely with a few seconds remaining. Again it looked as if DDD was in a great position, Anita Riot coming to the line unopposed in the next jam.

It looked as if Boston’s 7-point lead could be washed away rapidly, but it turned out that the Massacre would show the kind of defense that they are capable of. Anna WrecksYa turned in the performance that would seal her fate as Boston’s MVP in this jam. Coupled with LCD, Anna helped hold Anita Riot in the pack until Claire was free from the penalty box. Perhaps inspired by her recent trip to the lobster trap herself, Shattered sprung Claire with an offensive block as good as you will ever see, enabling Claire to go from penalty box to lead jammer. Scoring her 4 points, Claire called the jam to the torrential applause of the Boston faithful.

The following 2 jams were scoreless, but had no shortage of big hits delivered by Mercy, Shattered, and Anna. Both teams had no intension of letting up defensively going into halftime. Just under 3 minutes remaining, Dallas’s Rink Panther certainly helped out her defense by scoring a quick 4 over Triple Deck-Her in what looked like the final jam of the half. Fifty-two seconds didn’t seem like enough time for a scoring opportunity considering the defense in the first half, but Keltic Kamikaze thought it was long enough to score 4 points. What appeared to be a throwaway jam turned into a quick 4 for Dallas, leaving the halftime score at 29-24, with the visitors breathing closer down the Massacre’s neck than they’d felt in a long time.

Second Half

Halftime adjustments are extremely important in most sports and derby is no exception. How well you assess your opponent often dictates the outcome of a game. It’s a real credit to the Massacre’s overall track awareness and game time intellect that they can regroup during a break, formulate a plan based on what they’ve now learned of their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, execute that plan consistently.

The second half began with Anita Riot scoring a quick 4 over Sarah Doom, bringing Dallas within 1 point at 29-28. Hot for Teacher then emerged as the lead in the following jam with Claire D. Way right behind her. Taking a risk, she entered the pack side by side with Claire, but by the time she called it off Claire had outscored her 3-2.

Once again Boston’s defense really opened up some low risk scoring opportunities in the next jam for Maura Buse. Boston’s D held Rink Panther in the pack for the full 2 minutes allowing Busey to score an unanswered 9 points, giving the Massacre a little breathing room. Doom then added 2 grand slams to that lead, followed by a grand slam by Claire. At 66-31 with 21:45 remaining Boston looked to pull away, but not before a great defensive show from Buse and Shattered up front. Seemingly taking turns attacking Anita Riot, this tandem held for the full 2 minutes almost entirely on their own, Buse clearly showing that her value in the pivot role is equal to her value on the jammer line. Boston had the momentum and there was no sign of it shifting back.

With the final blow looming, blockers Harlot Fevah, Harley Quinn, and Etta Maims showed their effectiveness as defensive closers. With time still left on the clock, and no lead comfortable enough to rest on, it’s performances like theirs that are critical and often overlooked: play smart, play safe, protect the lead, and let the clock wind down. This phase of the game nailed down by that trio, all that remained was that knockout punch.

It came with ten minutes remaining in the hands of Maura Buse and Sarah Doom. These two jammers have shown in the past that they know how to work under pressure and have often been the go-to jammers in tight scrapes and wide leads alike. It turned out each had one big jam left in them. Buse scored a triple grand slam followed by Doom repeating that score in the following jam, all but closing the door. When the clock ticked down to zero, Boston had prevailed 113-46.

Dallas’s season record doesn’t look as strong as they proved themselves on the track. In person it’s clear that they are a team on the rise, especially when you consider that this was their first bout under 3.0 rules. They’ve taken on some very tough competition and shown respectable scores. While that hasn’t translated to many wins, a smart team learns more from losses than they do from wins, and the challenges they’ve given themselves will benefit them moving forward. From all accounts on the Massacre end, Dallas kept the heat on for the entire sixty minutes. Great thanks are due to them for traveling so far and being great guests. The Massacre wishes them all the best in the Western Regional tournament in Houston on October 3-5, where they take on Tucson in round one on Friday. If they advance, they play Rat City later that same day.

The Massacre’s next sanctioned bouts are at the Eastern Regional tournament in Madison on October 10-12, Derby in Dairyland. Their performance this summer should certainly open some eyes and have opponents looking over their shoulders, but one thing Boston has going against them as they enter the tournament is their lack of recent travel bouts. Derby in Dairyland will test how far their mental game has come, especially when they don’t have home rink advantage. Boston takes on Grand Raggidy in round one on Friday; if they advance, they play Carolina that evening.