#3 Rocky Mountain Wins Dust Devil 2012
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RMRG jammer Fiona Grapple fights her way past a big block from Angel City's Krissy Krash during the championship game. Photo: Masonite Burn. -
Photo: Masonite Burn.
TUCSON, AZ -- As expected, top seed Rocky Mountain won the 2012 Dust Devil invitational, handily defeating second seed Angel City 251-109 in the final, but there were some surprises in the early rounds of the ten-team tournament. A new-look Arizona team very nearly handed Rocky Mountain a gigantic upset in the semifinals and immediately put themselves right in the middle of the West playoff hunt with a 3rd place finish, while bottom seed Victorian Roller Derby League, hailing from Australia and playing their first-ever WFTDA sanctioned games, also made a very strong case for playoff inclusion by finishing 5th.
Most matchups on the weekend were quite lopsided. Of the 17 bouts of the weekend, 13 were decided by more than 100 points; of those, 5 were decided by more than 200 points. Rocky Mountain put up the biggest rout in a Friday quarterfinal match with Rage City, winning 455-31.
In the Sunday placement games, Arizona buried Tucson 293-44 in the 3rd place bout, VRDL claimed 5th place by thumping Silicon Valley 239-104, Pikes Peak finished 7th by defeating Rage City 286-91, and Assassination City took 9th place by beating Pacific 252-132.
Because the WFTDA rankings are quarterly but usually delayed by about three weeks, the next official WFTDA rankings will not reflect Arizona or VRDL's movement -- it won't be until the July release that results from this weekend affect the rankings.
Saturday
The big story and best game from the weekend was unquestionably the semifinal between top-seeded Rocky Mountain and 4 seed Arizona. RMRG came in officially ranked second in the West region and unofficially 3rd in the world, with their only losses in the last two years coming at the hands of 2009 WFTDA champs Oly or 2011 WFTDA champs Gotham. Arizona entered at #13 in the region and hadn't seen the playoffs since 2007. But with RMRG losing key trio DeRanged, Psycho Babble and Ecko since last year and Arizona firming up their core and adding Atomatrix and Hockey Honey (ex-Oly) along with Team USA captain Joy Collision (ex-Charm City), Arizona gave RMRG a fight all the way through. AZRD led 82-77 at the break, but Rocky Mountain rallied in the second half to barely avoid a huge rankings upset, winning 153-142 and securing a spot in the Sunday final.
Angel City had considerably less trouble advancing to the final, bashing Tucson 220-87 in the other semifinal.
In Saturday consolation rounds, Pikes Peak dealt Pacific another huge loss, 419-162, while Silicon Valley rolled Assassination City 181-118 and Rage City 215-70. VRDL romped over Pikes Peak 270-109 to qualify for the 5th place game against Silicon Valley.
Dust Devil At A Glance
Opening Round
(9) Rage City 340, (8) Pacific 55
(10) VRDL 356, (7) Assassination City 27
Quarterfinals
(1) Rocky Mountain 455, (9) Rage City 31
(2) Angel City 149, (10) VRDL 105
(3) Tucson 175, (6) Pikes Peak 162
(4) Arizona 258, (5) Silicon Valley 93
Semifinals
(1) Rocky Mountain 153, (4) Arizona 142
(2) Angel City 220, (3) Tucson 87
Final
(1) Rocky Mountain 251, (2) Angel City 109
Friday
In the opening rounds, 9 seed Rage City (Anchorage, AK) smashed 8 seed Pacific 340-55 and bottom seed Victoria, hailing all the way from Australia, made a big impression by burying 7 seed Assassination City 356-27 in Victoria's first WFTDA-sanctioned bout ever. Neither winner was able to keep the momentum in the quarterfinals, though, as top seed Rocky Mountain brutalized Rage City 455-31 and 2 seed Angel City was dominant for most of their bout with Victoria before VDRL had a good run in the end to make it a respectable final of 149 Angel City, 105 Victoria.
In the first of the other two quarterfinal matches, new-look 4 seed Arizona trampled 5 seed Silicon Valley 258-93 -- and that even without the services of one of their key new additions, Atomatrix, who was serving a one-game suspension following the Gotham / Oly WFTDA championship in November 2011.
The sole close bout of Day 1 was between 3 seed Tucson and 6 seed Pikes Peak; PPDD gave the hosts a good run but Tucson proved too much in the end, winning 175-162.
Friday's results set up semifinal matches on Saturday between Rocky Mountain and Arizona (1pm) and Angel City and Tucson (7pm.)
Comments
Why was Atomatrix facing a
Why was Atomatrix facing a one-game suspension?
Double Secret Suspension
There was talk on the chat feed (that I believe came from a textcaster asking Atomatrix) that Atomatrix had made a posting on her Facebook page that someone, or some committee of someones, at WFTDA objected to. If this is the case it seems odd that WFTDA did not make a public statement to that effect, as other sports governing bodies do. Otherwise you inadvertently encourage the sort of unsubstantiated rumor spreading that I have just done.
Diminishing returns
Pretty much. As a general principle, we're as interested as anyone in questions like these, and we try to get the answers when we can. In practice, the question tends to be met with rather a lot of "I'm not sure what I'm allowed to say, maybe you could ask..."
We're extremely sympathetic to the challenges faced by a volunteer-run organization in trying to maintain and communicate information like that -- after all, that description fits DNN as well. Eventually, though, we reach the point where our limited time is best allocated to other concerns.
secrecy
WFTDA doesn't exactly have a reputation for making decisions in the light of day, or clearly communicating them. So why would they start now, making this rumored suspension of Atomatrix a matter of public record?
well.. that cleared up almost nothing...
http://wftda.com/press/atomatrix-suspension (posted April 16)
The skater Atomatrix, formerly with the Oly Rollers and now with Arizona Roller Derby, received a one-game suspension for violating the WFTDA Code of Conduct.
The WFTDA Compliance Panel issued this decision as a result of a grievance filed following the 2011 WFTDA Championships.
As was reported in roller derby media outlets, Atomatrix served her suspension during her team’s first game of the Dust Devil tournament, April 13.
The WFTDA is discussing a standardized method for publicly announcing skater suspensions in the future.
RE: well.. that cleared up almost nothing...
Sorry we couldn't be more helpful. Were there specifics you were curious to hear, that WFTDA might be able to provide? We'd be eager to put it in the pile of lessons learned as we try and implement a better suspension announcement practice.
Unfortunately, even once we've got things nailed down, we probably won't always publish the specifics of grievances that lead to suspension. The WFTDA Compliance Panel takes a lot of information into account when making their decisions. It is not really feasible or fair to the parties involved to release only one portion of that information, such as the specific details of why a grievance was filed, as it only presents one side of the story. Some measure of privacy is needed in order for any internal grievance process to be effective.
On the other hand, we're hoping to be able to share more information, more proactively, in cases where we're able. This will be especially nice when the suspension relates to a game related action during a public event.
Thanks for being such loyal supporters of WFTDA skaters and leagues. We're very proud of everyone's showing at Dust Devil!
Archives?
It may be addressed somewhere, and if so I'm sorry to double up, but are the games going to be archived?
Yes.
End of the week or thereabouts. We'll post a little something when they're done.
Sssshhhh
Between Dust Devil and the various other bouts staged across the country, turned out to be a pretty brutal weekend for haters of jam line starts/scrums and their mopey and quaintly idealistic arguments. Glad I was never one of them! The rules will change some day - or they won't. In the meantime, efficacy will continue to carry the day.
Why?
I'm not disagreeing necessarily. I just didn't get to watch much other than the bout my league was putting on. What happened this weekend that made it "a pretty brutal weekend for haters of jam line starts/scrums"?
A New Awesomeness
Derby has been taken to a new place, a new look and a new awesomeness. At Dust Devil, the Rocky AZRD game alone was worth the price of admission. And Windy Rose game, an instant classic.
Take Dust Devil: An
Take Dust Devil: An overwhelming majority of teams predominantly employed the strategy throughout their bouts - from Angel City to Arizona to eventual champion RMRG... Worth taking a look at once the archived footage is up.
From A to A?
How 'bout from Angel to Victorian? To me that sounds better.
Ahh, spanning the globe...
Ahh, spanning the globe... Fair enough. The Aussie ladies certainly opened a lot of eyes over the weekend mate!
Confused
Okay, that was the impression I was getting. I assumed "everybody's doing it" would have the opposite effect; those that hate it will hate it more. Why do you imply the opposite?
Not saying everybody's doing
Not saying everybody's doing it...
I'm saying that the spectrum of teams that do frequently employ jam-line starts has grown exponentially. I consider this supportive of the type of argument I prefer - those bolstered by empirical reality and tactical logic, rather than idealistic emotion based in personal preference. People - from fans to coaches to skaters - are free to see it how they like (or how they hate, as you say.) But as mentioned above, they are arguing against a reality informed by a widespread contingent of top performers with unimpeachable credibility. Self-styled guardians of the "purity of the sport" are way off base at this point. Just my point of view - I'm not recruiting anyone one way or the other.
Ahh, gotcha
I see you're thinking of the people that hate the teams that are doing it. I was thinking of the people that hate the rules that allow it. Subtle difference. All makes sense now. Yeah, I've never been on the side of hating on teams that employ legal strategies to attempt to help them win, and I have strong opinions against those doing that.
That being said, I did see some strategic choices in the couple of DD games I did watch that I heavily questioned. It seemed there was a strategic trend that teams were doing just because other teams were doing it, not because it made strategic sense to do so. Time will presumably tell if it's the right decision to do it all the time or not though.
Yep... No problem with people
Yep... No problem with people who want to see the rules eventually changed. As to the questionable strategic choices in the DD, I agree with you, but maybe not always on why... I think we could have a long and interesting conversation about the specifics of those moments. But I do agree... Several teams' adjustments fell flat. All things being equal, raw talent, fitness and roster depth will elevate a team and carry the day.