East 5th Place: 3E Montreal Stops 10E DC, 252-112
BURLINGTON, VT -- For the second year in a row, Montreal found themselves fighting for fifth place at the Eastern regional tournament with the number ten seed. Last year they were upset by London in the DNN Readers' Poll bout of the year; DC's Saturday win over a distinctly off colour Steel City made the result of this game look like it might be in doubt when the first whistles went.
It stayed somewhat doubtful for the whole first half thanks to two first-half power jams for DC, but a dominant 90-0 run over the opening 15 minutes of the second period sealed a big win for Montreal to take fifth and to leave DC in sixth -- the highest final placements either team had managed at a regional tournament.
In the first two jams Apocalipstix and Iron Wench raced the Canadians into a 24-0 lead inside the first three minutes. DC cracked their egg in jam 5 in a 3-2 win for Frightmare over Apocalipstix. They had added another seven to make it 43-10 when Lenore Gore hit the box on a major cut; Wench added 25 with Gore still in the box and nine more as Gore was stuck behind Georgia W Tush--rocking some Hockey Honey inspired hair--to make it 72-10.
DC held the back with a strong flat four-wall of Soledad, Deadly Lamarr, Lois Slain and Dual Hitizen for long enough for Jersey Jill to get lead, but a 2-2 jam made it 74-14.
That lead had edged up to 86-19 when the Honey Badger was boxed with only one blocker in neon on the track to support her; Frightmare made it 90-48 in the course of that power jam, beating a lone Tush on at least two scoring passes as Montreal kept their box at capacity, but letting four points for Honey Badger go at the whistles.
Successive four-nothing jams gave Montreal a 108-48 lead; a 1-0 Apocalipstix followed before a 2-0 for Jersy Jill put up DC's first points since that big powerjam. Frightmare put up more for DC in the next jam as Ti-Loup ran some penalty time for her blockers; a 16-16 jam wasn't the prettiest, but it had the desired effect--Montreal's box emptied and DC's filled up over the full two minutes. But Lenore Gore shrugged off that 4-2 pack advantage to Montreal to take lead and post a quick 2-0 jam. A 4-0 for Barbra Booey with that same pack trouble followed; a huge hit from Chinese Cheker just as the jam was called kept Apocalipstix scoreless.
The Honey Badger finished the period with a 3-0 to make it 128-72 at the half.
Ti-Loup opened the scoring for Montreal in the second half as Lil Mama owned Lenore Gore; she put up 9, calling it once Lenore Gore broke free when Lil Mama got called out for an out-of-play block. Jersey Jill got called on a high block, and Apocalipstix made it 156-72 with a 29-0 jam. Another high block call sent Frightmare to the box in the next jam to let Wench put up a 24-0. That run was extended to a huge 90-0 across the first 15 minutes of the half as Montreal dominated lead jam calls. A 4-0 for Chinese Cheker when she donned the star for the first time broke that run and made it 218-76. DC nicked two points in the next jam as well to make it 222-78.
DC managed to stop Montreal extending the lead much over the next few jams -- and when Soledad used a smart hit on turn 4 to force a major cut on Iron Wench, Jersey Jill added nine before being boxed on a major back block borne from frustration battling with Mange Moi el Cul, Smack Daddy, Lil Mama and Cheese Grater. Iron Wench made easy work of the rest of that jam to take herself past the century mark for the bout and make the score 237-91 with just under seven minutes left on the clock.
2011 jamming regular Georgia W Tush took her first turn of the game with the star next time out, and she closed out the power jam with a quick 4-0. Barbara Booey and Ti-Loup scored eight each as Montreal burned clock time before both hit the box with a little under five minutes left in the bout; that two-minute ended 13-11 in DC's favour, but took DC over the century mark and made the score 252-108.
Frightmare and Chinese Cheker added four each for DC in the closing exchanges as Montreal jammed Tush and Cheese Grater; a lead call for Mange Moi el Cul finished the bout as she called it at 0-0 as the period clock expired.
Montreal finished 252-112 winners to drop two places in the Eastern rankings and take fifth place; DC shot up four places to take sixth.
