NY Shock Exchange Beats Back Pioneer Valley, 115-66

By Justice Feelgood Marshall, Last updated Fri May 15 2009 2:27pm

ENFIELD, CT -- The fourth meeting between the original men's flat-track derby team, the Pioneer Valley Dirty Dozen, and their longtime rivals in the New York Shock Exchange ended just as the previous three had, with NYSE enjoying another victory -- but not before the Pioneer Valley boys put on a fierce second-half comeback that almost erased all of a 57-16 halftime lead for the NYSE.

The Dirty Dozen had a crowd-pleaser of a first jam, as their ace jammer Jurasskick Park leapt to lead jammer status while PVRD blocker Davy Jones leveled NYSE jammer Rinkworm near the front of the pack, giving JP the time he needed to complete a 4-0 and get the bout off on the right foot for the home team.

But the Shock Exchange won jams 2 through 10, leaving PVRD slipping into a greater and greater hole. 2 and 3 were narrow wins for NYSE jammers Jonathan R (1-0) and Rinkworm (4-0), both of whom demonstrated perfect timing on calling the jams off to keep PVRD scorelesss. With NYSE having edged in front 5-4 after three jams, they got their big one on jam 4, where Jonathan R held down the back of the pack and pivot Abe Drinkin' covered the front, keeping PVRD jammer Jurasskick Park locked down during the course of a big 13-0 for NYSE jammer Teen Wolf.

Pioneer Valley remained unable to put up any points until jams 8 and 9, with the score 20-4 -- and actually got a little help from delayed jam whistles, as both times NYSE jammers were calling off jams before the PVRD jammer had entered the pack, but the whistles didn't start going off until they were in. Jam 10 was a comparative bright spot, as PVRD jammer Dr. Spankenstein got his team's first definitive jam win since the opening frame, a textbook 4-0 over Teen Wolf.

That sequence left it 29-14 for New York with 7:28 left in the first half, but the remainder of the half was almost all NYSE, with just a meager 2 points on a 2-0 jam for Jurassick Park. The half ended on a demoralizing jam for PVRD, as Dr. Spankenstein got a much-needed lead jam call for the Dirty Dozen but NYSE pivot Abe Drinkin' gave chase and took him down right at the edge of the engagement zone, leaving time for NYSE jammer Teen Wolf to overtake him and force the 0-0 jam call. After the opening 20 minute half, the score was 57-16 for New York.

But after the teams traded punches in the first two jams of the second half -- a 5-0 for PVRD followed by a 4-0 for NYSE -- the bout suddenly, and unexpectedly, became all Pioneer Valley. NYSE held a 40 point lead at 61-21, but it quickly and dramatically began to vanish in the face of daisy-chained jammer penalties on New York, who managed to lose their jammer for four jams in a row.

The first one went full-length as NYSE's Rinkworm went untouched up the inside for lead jammer but was boxed during his scoring pass due to a track cut forced by a timely block from PVRD's Velawesomeraptor. Following this the pack went extremely light, with NYSE's Motorpsycho, Psycho Billy and Wolfgang Von Stomp unable to engage PVRD jammer Davey Jones, as the only remaining PVRD blocker,  Velawesomeraptor, was free to take a knee to destroy the pack. That ended 10-4 for PVRD.

Following up, PVRD had a full crew lined up against just Abe Drinkin' and Filthy McNasty in the pack for NYSE. Teen Wolf, jamming for NYSE, impressively battled his way through for lead, but then got boxed on his first scoring pass. With both team's blockers again making conga lines to the penalty box and the jam going full-length, PVRD jammer Jurasskick Park pulled a 13-2 win.

A quick next jam 5 kept the PVRD run alive as it was NYSE jammer Teen Wolf starting and ending the jam in the penalty box, while PVRD jammer Davy Jones followed a nice block from The Rev to take a fast 5-0 and cut the action off with Teen Wolf still in the box.

The score now was 68-49 for PVRD, and the home crowd was clearly starting to get amped, smelling comeback potential as PVRD jammer Dr. Spankenstein had the ideal setup with a chance to jam temporarily unopposed against a 3-2 pack. The 3 PVRD blockers immediately showed NYSE pivot Abe Drinkin' respect in the form of triple-teaming him from the start, leaving Spanks to go one-on-one with remaining NYSE blocker Maulin' Brando. The Dr. was up to the challenge, and raced for two scoring passes, ending action at 9-0 before the unboxed Teen Wolf could score.

Now with NYSE up by only 10 points at 68-58, it looked like Pioneer Valley had their opponents on the ropes when Bazooka Joe, jamming for PVRD, burst out with lead while PVRD blocking pounded opposing jammer Rinkworm. However, PVRD lost a bit of momentum on this jam, as Bazooka Joe called after getting knocked down by Jonathan R in the scoring pass, even though Rinkworm was still fighting to escape for the first time. NYSE avoided the lap point and PVRD only took 2, making it 68-60 with 8:53 left in the bout.

After a 4-3 between Mothra and Jurasskick Park that moved in to 72-63 NYSE, though, the Shock Exchange completely took over, putting out a very tough full pack of Jonathan R, Abe Drinkin', Wolfgang Von Stomp and Darth Invader to help Rinkworm through. Although the NYSE would yet again get whittled to two blockers before the end of the jam, they were helped out greatly on a confusing end to the jam, where four whistles apparently blew to end it but NYSE kept skating while PVRD assumed the jam was over, leading to 5 more critical points for Rinkworm in a rally-killing 20-0 jam.

With 5:34 to play and the score 92-63, PVRD could not afford any more jam wins for NYSE, but that was exactly what NYSE served up to finish, taking advantage of a two-jam power play to twice isolate and slow individual PVRD blockers for a 10-0 followed up by a 9-0.

That brought the score to 111-63 NYSE with 1:12 to play, and although Jurasskick Park got a few more points on the board in a 4-3 loss to Mothra, the damage had been done in Rinkworm's huge 20-0 jam. Final score: 115 NYSE, 66 PVRD.

The Dirty Dozen's next matchup is a rematch with the Connecticut Death Quads, who stunned them in a narrow April upset -- it is a doubleheader as the women's side of PVRD, Western Mass Destruction, takes on WFTDA's Connecticut Rollergirls. The New York Shock Exchange's next bout is not currently scheduled.

Additional reporting: Virginia Slim
Photos: Margaret "Xena Paradox" Hart