Preview: #3 Rocky Mountain @ #10 Windy City

By Justice Feelgood Marshall, Last updated Fri Aug 20 2010 2:03pm

CHICAGO, IL -- #10 Windy City works to defend their house against one of the most dangerous teams in roller derby when they host #3 Rocky Mountain this Saturday at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.

For the last three years, Windy City has historically been at or near the top of the roller derby world -- they've reached the championship tournament in 2007, 2008 and 2009, making them one of only three teams (Texas and Gotham being the others) to achieve that feat. They've also got a second-place finish in 2008 to their credit, along with the fact that they've never lost to a team in their North Central region. This year, though, they've seen some solid challenges to their dominance -- the North Central's #3 team (and DNN's #13) Madison, came within 11 points at 115-104 in May, and the Eastern Region's Boston (#11 DNN) missed a win by just 6 points in July, 121-115. While they had a good but unsuccessful showing against DNN #4 Philly in June, they also got thoroughly dominated at the same event by longtime nemesis #2 Gotham, 191-50. Overall, WCR is 3-2 on the year so far.

Meanwhile, Rocky Mountain (#2 in the WFTDA West and #3 nationally via DNN) has been doing nothing but improving since a surprise fourth-place finish at 2009's championship tournament. This year, Rocky Mountain is 5-1 with their only loss coming against last year's WFTDA champions, Oly. They've put some impressive defeats on top-ten teams, including a 163-64 win over #9 Texas, a 214-77 over #8 Charm City, a 144-107 over #7 Rat City and a 127-96 over #6 Rose City.

Although Rocky Mountain will be coming with their signature 12-skater roster (two fewer than the legal maximum), they'll be without the services of some major factors -- 2009 DNN Reader's Choice Rookie of the Year Whipity Pow, Winona Fighter, and Annia LateHer will not be making the trip. In their place are three skaters who haven't seen too much national action -- Urrk'n Jerk'n, Barbie Boop and May Q. Pay. On the flip side, Windy City is without team captain and primary jammer Beth Amphetamine, who is recovering from a stress fracture and will be handling bench coach duties -- that loss makes space for an all-star debut for Deb Autry.

00 Urrk'n Jerk'n // 3 Catholic Cruel Girl // 8 She Who Cannot Be Named // 10 RoboFlow // 21 Psycho Babble // 27 DeRanged // 86 Assaultin' Pepa // $99 May Q.Pay // 202 Frida Beater // 555 Barbie Boop // 811 Flame N Fury // 1972 Ecko

5 Blossom Bruiso // 07 Jackie Daniels // 15 Shocka Conduit // 17 Go-Go Hatchet // 25 Varla Vendetta // 30 Athena DeCrime // 42 Karmageddon // 50 Di Richmond // 52 Sargentina // 57 Amy Nonamey // 70 Georgia On Yer Behind // 74 Deb Autry // 81 Ruth Enasia // 219 Hoosier Mama