#11 Boston Holds Off #15 Duke City, 155-107

By Ruby Khan, Last updated Thu Jul 30 2009 7:02pm

BOSTON, MA -- It’s a scenario the Boston Massacre has seen often lately against teams like Philly, Carolina, and Windy City--a tight, closely matched first period that ends with the pantsless militia in the lead or at least within a big jam or two of it. Except this time, against Duke City Derby’s Muencas Muertas, the Massacre were the ones to pull away throughout the second period to secure a solid 155-107 victory.

Albuquerque hit the floor at Shriners Auditorium with a roster of just 10 skaters, but if this caused any fatigue, it wasn’t evident until well into the second period. With a three-jammer rotation of Kamikaze Kim, Muffin, and Brutalitar (skating in her first interleague bout), the Munecas came out strong against Boston’s deeper jammer bench: regulars Krushpuppy, Claire D. Way, and Sugar Hits; Maura Buse, who’s been seen more frequently in the pivot stripe this season; and Mrs. Dash, an alternate making her Massacre debut. The teams traded lead jammer status for the first 13 jams.

The Massacre’s defense was strongest in the front of the pack, with Shellby Shattered, Maura Buse, and Lois Carmen Dominator free to wall up and trap the opposition. Kamikaze Kim often found herself stuck, but constant juking and ducking put her in position to slip through at top speed as soon as the slightest opportunity presented itself.

The Boston crowd was treated to an early tutorial on slow pack strategy from the Munecas when Krushpuppy went to the box on a cutting penalty in the 5th jam, leaving Muffin unopposed. At one point, Boston’s Etta Maims had an Albuquerque blocker trapped out of bounds, waiting to reenter without being called on a track cut. The pack was so slow that the Munecas’ Killer Queen was able to skate clockwise, turn around, and re-approach Maims with a legal takedown that freed her teammate to reenter. All while Muffin breezed around for 13 points.

Elvira Mental and Killer Queen held down the back of the pack for the Munecas, working with Death Ro and Amanda Jamitinya in the 11th jam to completely shut out Sugar Hits while Muffin put up 15 points for a 34-25 Albuquerque lead. Krushpuppy was up next for Boston, however, and while Maura Buse launched Brutalitar off her hip and Pussy Venom, Pina Collidah, and Quick Sandy kept her stuck, Krush picked up an easy lead and answered with 19 points of her own.

The grand slams and lead changes continued: Muffin for 10 points, Krush for 14, Muffin for 5, Buse for 17. At the end of the first period, the score stood at 75-66 in Boston’s favor. Penalties weren’t excessive, but seemed to pile up on Albuquerque all at once whereas Boston rarely had more than one skater in the box at a time.

Duke City came out of the period break with guns blazing and put 26 points on the board in two of the first three jams, but that would be the end of the scoring jam see-saw. Boston held the visitors to just 15 more points in as many jams while scoring 69 in the same amount of time.

As predicted, the key to Boston’s second-period success was avoiding power jams and not letting the Munecas control pack speed. Duke City’s defense was by no means lacking though. Death Ro and Carson B. Demented were often able to wall up and trap jammers up front, while Elvira and Amanda (on the track for four and five jams in a row by the end of the bout) controlled the back, certainly keeping the score from getting more out of hand.

It’s a derby cliché to say that it’s anyone’s game until the final minutes, but even novice derbygoers could see the truth in it at this bout. With double-digit jams so commonplace in the first period, the Munecas really did remain entirely in the game until the second-last jam, when Sugar Hits’ 15 point jam put the nail in Albuquerque’s coffin.

The MVP for the Munecas Muertas was Kamikaze Kim, while their lead scorer was Muffin with 56 points. Blocker Anna WrecksYa picked up the MVP honor for the Massacre, and managed to make it through the entire night without earning a single penalty. Krushpuppy was once again the Massacre’s lead scorer with 62 points. These results put #11 Boston at 3-6 and #15 Duke City at 2-4 in a 2009 season that’s been tough on both leagues.

The Munecas will play next at the WFTDA Western regional tournament, October 2-4 in Denver. The Massacre travels to play the Connecticut Rollergirls on July 23, then takes on the B.A.D. Girls at Rollercon in Las Vegas the following week. Their next home bout is August 15 against Detroit.

Photos: Johanna Bobrow