#14 Montreal Upsets #11 Texas, 104-88
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Montreal's Iron Wench led all scorers with 52 points. Photo: Stellybot. -
Georgia W. Tush was Montreal's second highest scorer with 34 points. Photo: Stellybot.
Reprinted with permission from Roller Derby Is Sport.
HOUSTON, TX - Jumping out to a big early lead, the Montreal New Skids on the Block had to hold on against a late 36-0 scoring rally to take a 104-88 victory over the Texas Rollergirls Saturday in Houston. Texas was without several of their key players for this one, missing ace jammer Olivia Shootin John along with multiple threats Bloody Mary, Sarah Hipel and Vicious Van Go Go. It was the first game of two for the traveling Montreal squad, as they also played the last bout of a derby triple-header at Houston Indoor Sports (Montreal would win again versus Houston, 126-121).
Montreal opened up strong displaying offense and defense early in the game. The first seven jams led to a 37-2 advantage for New Skids on the Block, as their jammers consistently beat the Texecutioners' defensive walls. The visiting team took the first seven consecutive lead jammer statuses, highlighted by an opening 4-2 jam by Iron Wench, a 6-0 second jam by Georgia W. Tush, and a 17 point score by Iron Wench in the sixth jam.
Texas finally took a lead jammer status, but could manage no more than a 3-3 score in that jam. Things started to swing a little bit for Texas in the ninth jam as Montreal took lead jammer status, but Luce Bandit got a 4-3 scoring advantage. For the next four jams it was the Texecutioners' turn to shut down the visitor's offense.
The Killa Sal Manella and Shortcut scored three points each, and then Molotov M. Pale added a four point score to close the lead to 43-19. The visitors countered with a 5-0 jam by Iron Wench and a 10-0 jam by Georgia W. Tush that lengthened their lead to 68-19. Mange Moi el cul scored a 10-4 final jam for Montreal to give the New Skids on the Block a 73-27 lead at halftime.
The difference in the first half was the quickness of the visiting jammers beating the Texecutioners' blockers, but momentum changed in the second half.
Texas stated off by shutting out Montreal for the first four jams, but Shortcut was the only jammer for the team from Austin able to put up points (six), and the lead was narrowed to 73-33 after the fourth jam. Both teams scored five points over the next four jams, as the bout turned into a defensive blockfest.
Finally Texas was able to take advantage of a jammer penalty for the visitors as Molotov M. Pale scored a 10-0 jam, narrowing the lead to 80-48 after the tenth jam. Montreal countered immediately with a 13-point jam by Iron Wench to expand the lead out to 93-48. In the next four jams, Montreal scored the only two points in more heavy-hitting jams making the score 95-48 after 15 jams. Time was starting to run out for the Austin team.
Shortcut took advantage of solid Texecutioners blocking in the 16th jam by scoring a 9-0 margin. Luce Bandit added a crucial 4-0 jam next, with Texas picking up a quick 4-0 subsequent jam by Molotov M. Pale. Texas wasn't scoring many points, but they also weren't taking up much time off the clock either.
A big 10-0 jam by Shortcut narrowed the lead to 95-75, and suddenly the Houston crowd started murmuring about a real chance for the Texecutioners overtaking the team from Canada. Molotov M. Pale scored a 4-0 margin in the 20th jam of the second half, and Rita Menweep added a 5-0 score in the 21st jam to narrow the lead to 95-84, and the Houston crowd roared its excitement for the Texas Rollergirls.
The New Skids on the Block stopped the Texecutioners' rally cold, as Iron Wench took lead jammer status in the 22nd jam, and made a couple of pack passes, but most importantly ran out the clock as the team from Canada posted a final score of 104-88 on the scoreboard, with Montreal taking a clockwise victory lap.
The leading scorers for the New Skids on the Block were Iron Wench with 52 points, Georgia W. Tush with 34, and Mange Moi el cul with 10 points. The top blockers for Montreal included Lil Mama, Bone Machine, Nameless Whorror, and Jess Bandit.
Top scorers for the Texecutioners included Molotov M. Pale with 38 points, Shortcut with 32 points and Luce Bandit with 10 points. Luce Bandit was also the leading blocker for Texas. Other top blockers for the team from Austin included Belle Starr, Smarty Pants, and Babe Ruthless.
Comments
Short-handed Montreal?
Wasn't Montreal also skating fairly short-handed as well?
Montreal skated with 11?
But that's, like, their thing now!
Houston
Can we please talk about how well Houston did against them? They're like the Dark Horse of the SC region.
I didnt
See a recap of the Houston bout. Only mtl vs TX
Houston
The Houston recap was not submitted to DNN until tonight. Sorry guys. I'm no Phil Arnold that's for sure. I have been posting my stuff for Houston on examiner.
Sorry!
Sunnie
Thanks, Sunnie.
Thanks, Sunnie.
What does skating short really mean?
I'm trying to think of a game that Montreal played this year with a roster of 14, I can't think of one. I know that Rocky Mountain habitually skates with a roster of 12, and Duke City is another league that rarely skates with a full roster as well. So what does skating short really mean?
I guess it means skating with less skaters than you're prepared to skate with. But if you are prepared to with less than 14, are you really skating short-handed?
Fair and Balanced
I'm trying to think of a game that Montreal played this year with a roster of 14, I can't think of one. I know that Rocky Mountain habitually skates with a roster of 12, and Duke City is another league that rarely skates with a full roster as well. So what does skating short really mean?
Well, my comment was really more to the author, who's opening paragraph made it seem that there was a disparity in the rosters in mentioning who TXRD was without. I am not certain, but I believe that Montreal was also short some of their regular stalwarts as well.
You don't mean that, do you?
Do you really think Phil Arnold is unfair?
Oh jeez
Clearly it is time for me to jump in here. I edit almost 100% of the bout recaps that go up here, and will occasionally move stats around, strike extraneous detail, and add facts that I think are relevant. In this case, I added the opening detail about which Texas skaters were missing, because it seemed very relevant. It was not in the original article picked up by DNN. So nobody should be blaming Phil for being a homer -- rather, they should be blaming DNN for yet another underhanded move in our years-long effort to discredit the jerks from Montreal.
Exactly
Exact... No, wait.
If and article says team a was missing so-and-so, and doesn't say anything about tam b, it does seem to imply that team b was not missing anyone, which, to my understanding is not factual.
I'm not saying that the rosters for TXRD was not very relevant, but it would be nice to see Montreal get a little credit for travelling 3000 kilometers with 11 skaters (down to ten after an injury) and winning a bout. I am not saying it's a conspiracy on the part of Phil or Justice, just that perhaps, perhaps some additional details could be added, if for no other reason than the DNN Power rankings, specifically point #1 on this page:
http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com/2010/03/dnn_releases_first_power_ranking...
in regards to game day rosters and how they are a factor (at times) in how DNN will rank teams.
I didn't mean to start a fight here. All I was saying was that after reading the recap's opening paragraph, I said to myself "Well, Montreal was missing a few skaters too, eh!"
Haha, I knew it!
So nobody should be blaming Phil for being a homer -- rather, they should be blaming DNN for yet another underhanded move in our years-long effort to discredit the jerks from Montreal.
Haha, I knew it!
Yet I agree, if a roster is to be mentioned for one team, the other should be mentioned as well in term of facts. This is like the third time this year that Montreal must have won, along with reporting of some other past bouts with other teams, because the opposing team missing so and so key skaters for whatever reason.
Phil is great
Do you really think Phil Arnold is unfair?
He is great.
Less than 14
Skating short means skating with less than 14 players, period. Sometimes those are your most valuable players, sometimes not (*hopefully one player is as valuable as the next.) Being prepared to skate short is an asset in derby because most likely it will happen to your team due to injuries/sked-mishaps/life in general/etc. Rosters matter for sure but how the team handles those games, regardless of who is missing goes to show how deep a team is and how they can deal with those extenuating circumstances that are bound to happen.
<3 Montreal
Well put Lady J!