HUNTSVILLE, AL — On April 20th, the Nashville Rollergirls competed in their first away game of the 2008 season against the 39th-ranked WFTDA member Dixie Derby Girls of Huntsville, Alabama. The Nashville girls went to Huntsville with the intention of shaking the 2-game losing streak that seems to have set the tone for their second season. Even with the close losses in their past two outings hanging over them, Nashville brought with them a complement of fans and their signature can-do attitudes. In a season fraught with close battles and even closer point margins, it seemed Nashville had finally broken the streak, only to be disappointed by yet another narrow defeat.

Period one began slowly with Slammylou Harris getting edged out for lead status by C.U. Afterclass, in a 7 to 4 first jam. Ramb0 Samb0, jammed behind the blocking of newcomer Eurine A. Hole, and old favorites Bootsy Brawlins, Slugs Bunny, and Olive Turmoyl in the fifth to claim the second of her 3 shutout jams in the first period and to keep Nashville close behind Huntsville.

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Orange County’s OC Rollergirls will be hosting a major event this weekend in sunny Corona, California — 5 WFTDA leagues competing in a total of 8 games over two days in the second annual Roll for A Cure breast cancer benefit.

The results of these games will no doubt be of particular interest to derby fans, as the #10, #11 and #12 ranked teams in the nation will all be battling it out with each other (that’s Bay Area, Portland and Minnesota, respectively) in bouts that will surely shed some light on their relative abilities. 24th-ranked Houston and hosting, as-yet-unranked OC will also get in on the action.

Saturday’s marquee bout is probably the 3:30pm opener of 11th-ranked Rose City vs. 12th-ranked Minnesota — neither team has played an all-star bout this calendar year but both bring a lot of history and talent to the floor. Rose City rolled over Charm City, 126-37, in November 2007, while Minnesota lost a nailbiter to the same Charm City, 73-69, a month later in December. However, Minnesota had split their all-star squad for a doubleheader that night, with the other half of their players going up against Arizona, while Rose City had gone with their top 14, so it’s debatable as to how much the Charm City results can illuminate the possible outcome of this match.

Two major high-level bouts will take place on Sunday, as 10th-ranked Bay Area goes up against Rose City at noon and then battles Minnesota at 3:45. Bay Area rolled easily through April’s “Big One” unofficial California State Championship against less experienced competition, but the last time they took on a team close to them in the rankings, they just barely fell short in a 62-56 loss to 9th-ranked Philly (that bout took place in November.) Bay Area will surely be looking at Sunday as a chance to prove themselves again, although Rose City and Minnesota will also surely be looking at Sunday as a chance to break into WFTDA’s top ten.

As an added bonus, AZRD’s Ivanna S. Pankin brings the current roster of Team Awesome, her all-derby all-star team, out for halftime and between-bout scrimmages against brave members of Angel City, San Diego and Orange County.

Full schedule and rosters below the jump:

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On Saturday, the 16th ranked Boston Massacre will host 26th ranked Cincinnati Rollergirls at the Shriner’s Auditorium in Wilmington, MA. Cincinnati will be looking for their 4th win this season, but Boston will be looking to extend their 2-0 winning streak.

Cincinnati has started off the season strong, with wins over Fort Wayne, Naptown, and Ohio and a recent win over Derby City in an exhibition game. Notably, the Naptown game set a new record for the lowest total score ever in a WFTDA-regulation bout — Cincinnati won 59-32. Cincinnati’s roster features several versatile players including Hannah Barbaric and Roseanne Scarr who are noted for being excellent blockers as well as fast jammers. CRG will undoubtedly impress the Boston crowd with their speed, agility, and maneuverability.

This will be the Boston Massacre’s third all-star game of the season, with previous wins a 119-69 over then-unranked ranked Dominion (now on the board at in the #20 spot) and a 116-49 exhibition bout win over the Bronx Gridlock, the Gotham Girls’ reigning local champions. With several pack weapons, the Boston Massacre is firing in good rhythm and their blocking teamwork and pack communication are on par to make this a strong match-up.

The Cincinnati Rollergirls will be fielding a full roster of 14 as will the Boston Massacre. Missing from the Massacre line-up will be Anna Wrecks’ya and Miss Mary Smack, who will be replaced by Harlot Fevah and Sugar Hits. This is sure to be an exciting game with both strong offensive and defensive play. Boston’s “JV” squad, the Boston B-Party, opens the action with a face off against the currently unranked all-star team from the Connecticut Rollergirls (correction: not the all-star team, a combination of all-stars and local CT players.)

For Cincinnati fans not able to travel to Beantown, the bout will be shown via a live feed on the big screen TV at the Underground at the Know Theater at 1120 Jackson St. in Over-the-Rhine.

The Cincinnati Rollergirls will next skate at the Cincinnati Gardens on Saturday, May 17 at 7:00 p.m. against the 9th ranked Philly Roller Girls. The bout is a double-header, with the Black Sheep dueling Philly’s Liberty Belles and the Cincinnati Rollergirls “B” team, the Silent Lambs, skating against the Black-n-Bluegrass Girls from Northern Kentucky.

The Boston Derby Dames’ next bout wraps up their local season as the defending champion Wicked Pissahs take on the Cosmonaughties for the Season Two title on June 14. This rematch of Season One’s championship is sure to be a screamer, with the Cosmos gunning for a different outcome this time around.

Both leagues will be attending the East Coast Derby Extravaganza on June 21 and 22 in Philly. Cincinnati will be taking on Grand Raggidy (23) and Texas (4). The Boston Massacre will be playing Houston (24) and Rocky Mountain (14), who just handily defeated Boston’s closely matched sister league, the 15th-ranked Providence Roller Girls, in a 137-9 blowout in Denver.

Additional reporting: Harley Quinn

331 Betty Spite // 1984 Claire D. Way // 617 Cookie Push // 9669 Harley Quinn // 99 Harlot Fevah // 843 Krush Puppy // 011 Lois Carmen Denominator // 34B Maura Buse // 28 Pussy Venom // 24 Quick Sandy // 4.0 Sarah Doom // -0 Shelby Shattered // 1001 Sugar Hits // 3D Triple Deck-Her

76 Sadistic Sadie // 85 Hannah Barbaric // 18 Roseanne Scarr // 75 MPH Blu Bayou // 45 caliber Arche Enemy // 60 Shirley Temptya // 66.50 Sister Saralicious // 21 June w/ a Cleaver // 74.00 Juwanna Hurt // 4 Killian Destroy // 41 Panterrorize // 29 Ruff’n the Passer // 11 Sk8er Kinney // Mae C. Stars

(edit: score corrected from NYSE 127 to NYSE 125)

KENDALL PARK, NJ — In a meeting of The Original vs. The Best on Sunday night, the undefeated kings of East Coast men’s derby continued their dominance over their regional rivals, as the New York Shock Exchange ground out a relentless 125-44 win over a valiant but outnumbered and overmatched Pioneer Valley Dirty Dozen from Northampton, Massachusetts.

This was New York’s first defense of the “Athletic Cup” trophy they claimed after their April 2007 debut against Pioneer Valley — an unofficial yet highly coveted representation of excellence in the field of male derby. New York came into the bout fielding a full roster of 14, while the Dirty Dozen had to do nearly double duty, with only 8 skaters suiting up for the matchup.

Pioneer Valley took the first jam of the 40-minute bout as recent PVRD acquisition Jurasskick Park managed to sneak between NYSE blocker Darth Invader and Angelo Death to claim lead and get a 3-1 win over NYSE superstar Jonathan R, but that was the only time they’d enjoy the advantage. On the next jam, Mothra got the NYSE in front to stay with a 4-0 over Dr. Spankenstein, as the Dr. got bottled up by T-Stop Tornado and Jonathan R. taking solid control of the front of the pack.

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DENVER, CO — May 3rd brought Providence Roller Derby’s 15th-ranked Rhode Island Riveters to Denver to bout the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls’ 5280 Fight Club, ranked 14th in the nation. Both teams recently walked away from close defeats – Fight Club lost to 13th-ranked Charm City in March while the Riveters suffered a narrow upset to the unranked Maine Roller Derby less than a month ago. Regardless of past bouts, it was generally assumed that this would be an extremely close match due to these two teams’ spots next to one another within the rankings.

Things started off with RMRG’s She Who Cannot Be Named up against PRD’s Hysterica! on the jammer line. She Who grabbed lead as well as four points, calling it off before Hysterica! could make it to the pack. Next up, RMRG’s Frida Beater faced off against PRD’s Cleo Patronize, adding nine points for a total of 13 while PRD was still stuck at zero. RMRG continued to rack up the points and keep PRD at zero until the tenth jam of the game, when Hysterica! managed to score four points as well as gain lead jammer, though by this point RMRG was already at 39 points. Hysterica!’s points were the only ones to be put up on the scoreboard throughout the first period for PRD, with halftime putting RMRG at 67, PRD 4.

While the Riveters had no shortage of hard hitters such as Bunnicula and Burnin’ Helen, they seemed to be suffering in the jammer department – Hysterica! would be the only point scorer of the game as well as the only jammer to successfully gain lead with the exception of one jam by Cleo Patronize. Fight Club’s defense was outstanding, however, with pivot Winona Fighter controlling the front throughout the majority of the game while blockers Madam Maimya, Ida Hustler, Pinky 500 and Assaultin’ Pepa built unbreakable walls and consistently kept the PRD jammers from ever leaving the pack. The final score found RMRG at 137, PRD 9.

The top scorers for RMRG were Frida Beater with 60 points and She Who with 58. Frida grabbed lead jammer 70% of the time while She Who earned it 69%. Luscious Smacksome and Smashbox earned nine points each, while Ida Hustler scored one.

PRD’s only point scorer for the night was Hysterica! who earned 9 points and gained lead jammer 33% of her time on the track.

Rocky Mountain doesn’t waste much time before their next challenge, heading down to Phoenix to take on Arizona Roller Derby this Saturday, May 10th. Providence’s next action will be their local season opener, as the Old Money Honeys take on the Mob Squad on May 30 — but they’re next in all-star action at Philly’s East Coast Extravaganza on June 21 and 22, taking on 22nd-ranked Atlanta on Saturday and 13th-ranked Charm City on Sunday.

By the final whistle on Saturday night, the Philly Roller Girls 2008 intraleague seeding will have been determined. Although any skater on either the Philthy Britches or the Heavy Metal Hookers would tell that her team should be first-ranked, we’ll find out for sure when the two teams meet head-to-head in the second of the evening’s two bouts. First up, however, the Broad Street Butchers face off against the Carolina Rollergirls’ Trauma Queens, who hope to fare better at the hands of a Philly home team than their sisters the Debutante Brawlers did in their 65-77 loss to the Hookers in March.

The Trauma Queens have only one bout to their name this year - a win vs. the Tai Chi-tas - while the Butchers are winless against the other Philly teams this year and have yet to play visitors from another league. The Butchers will be hoping to sharpen their skills in preparation for the East Coast Derby Extravaganza in June, at which they will challenge the Dutchland Rollers of Lancaster, PA; however, they will surely miss the services of all-star jammer Persephone (broken hand in her team’s 46-92 loss to the Hookers in April) as well as blockers Skirt McGirt and Jane Fondle.

The second bout of the evening will see the new and improved Heavy Metal Hookers taking on the 2006 and 2007 league champs, the Philthy Britches. The Hookers are claiming that 2008 is the “Year of the Hooker,” but the Philthy Britches have never lost a bout in three years of intraleague action and are coming in hot with big wins recently versus Harrisburg (142-92) and the Connecticut Rollergirls (123-36). This also happens to be a preview of this year’s Warrior Cup championship bout, as both teams have secured a spot in the finals. Even though the outcome of this meeting will not affect who plays in the June championship, the teams will surely be using this occasion to prepare their game plans for that meeting - and bragging rights are on the line.

The Hookers may be playing with out 2007 league MVP Teflon Donna, as her spot on the roster will be a game-time decision; the Britches will skate without two of their powerhouse blockers, Rosie Bloodbath and Dara Licks.

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DENVER, CO — In a heavily defensive game, Denver’s superior speed proved to not quite be enough to handle Duke City’s superior blocking, and the visiting Duke City girls controlled the tempo of the game to take a bruising 72-51 win in front of 2300 fans in the first match at Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium.

After falling to a 31-6 deficit in the first half, Denver managed to mount an impressive comeback that brought them to within 33-22 at the end of the first half, but Duke City reasserted control at the beginning of the second half and never let Denver close to within single digits.

Duke City’s Bullet Tooth Tracy put on a seminar in pivoting all night; her blocking at the front of the pack saved numerous lead jams for her team, while Duke City veteran Amanda Jamitinya had a breakout performance at the jam line with a couple of momentum-swinging big jams.

For Denver, Sheila Tack proved to be the only jammer consistently able to evade the Duke City defense, while Boo Boo Radley and and Disco a Go-Go keyed their defensive play.

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This Friday night, Albuquerque’s 18th-ranked Duke City travels north to take on 25th-ranked Denver at Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium in a game likely to have significant ranking implications for both teams. Denver’s clearly hoping to break into the top twenty next quarter, especially with two very high-level bouts scheduled for June against #5 Gotham and #3 Carolina. Meanwhile, Duke City hasn’t played an all-star team ranked near them since their July 2007 win over Sin City 104-84 (Sin City was ranked #17 at the time of that contest) and is looking to prove their mettle as tournament season draws closer.

Both leagues have fairly recently faced some of the highest-level competition that derby has to offer, with Denver going down 150-80 to #1 Kansas City in February and Duke City falling 158-36 to #4 Texas in December. Both bouts were away games for the losing teams. While the February KC game stands as Denver’s most recent interleague experience, Duke City handled the new West Texas league just two weeks ago, 149-31.

Conveniently enough for those trying to gauge these leagues’ respective powers, though, both Duke City and Denver went up to Minnesota last November to take on Minnesota home teams, and both came away with wins — Duke City squeaked past Minnesota’s Rockits 81-76, while Denver posted a slightly more convincing victory over the Atomic Bombshells, 117-71. It should be noted, though, that the Rockits came away with the 2008 Minnesota home title, while the Atomic Bombshells finished in last place.

Duke City brings a crew fairly similar to the one that rolled over West Texas on April 13th, keyed by jamming specialists Muffin and Kamikaze Kim and the crushing blocking of Death Ro, Dahmernatrix and Bullet Tooth Tracy. There’ll be a handful of Duke City girls making their WFTDA-bout debut here, as blockers Elvira Mental, Killer Queen and Tiger Lili will be strapping on skates for the first time in a bout for rankings. Meanwhile, Denver is again down one of their best skaters in Rockett (she also missed the KC game with a torn MCL), but most of the crew that recently faced Kansas City is still intact, with only Reapercussion and Lt. Redrum new to the Denver all-star roster since that bout.

Dahmernatrix 010001 // R2BeatU 5 // Bullet Tooth Tracy 3 // Death Ro 86 // Punchkin Pie 1 Slice // Kamikaze Kim 00 // Amanda Jamitinya 9inches // Muffin 350 // Elvira Mental H20 // Sabrosa 505 // Killer Queen // Tiger Lili 69 // Vixenator 011011 // Miss L. Command 211

Angela Death XIX // Atomic Fire 02 // Berlin Brawl 10 // Boo Boo Radley 5 // Bria Fraid 357 // Candy Vour 1,2,3 // Dharma Gedden 3 // Disco-A-Gogo 99 // Fiona Grapple 31 // Jersey Trouble (908) // Reapercussion 19 // Lt. Redrum 68 // Sheila Tack 1.21 // Slick Vick V

By Matt DeCapitator, additional reporting by The Statisfier

ENOLA, PA — Sunday, April 20th saw the Nuclear Knockouts kick off Harrisburg Area Roller Derby’s 2008 season with a long-awaited bout against the Philthy Britches, one of the Philly Rollergirls’ intraleague teams. Five of the Britches’ thirteen skaters were returning to the track for the second night in a row after skating to a 47-145 loss against the Gotham Girls in New York City with the Liberty Belles travel team on Saturday. These five, as well as their teammates, were out for victory, blood, and redemption. But the weekend’s prior action wasn’t the only history brought to the rink on the 20th: in December of 2006, the Knockouts took quite a shellacking in the form of a 193-73 outing against another of Philly’s home teams, the now-defunct Hostile City Honeys. Eager to prove themselves a more formidable competitor than the team that the Philly skaters remembered, the Knockouts had more than just revenge in mind. In the end, however, the Philthy Britches emerged victorious, beating the Knockouts 142 to 92.

The evening’s action commenced with the Britches’ Gloria Grindem shutting out the Knockout’s Nash Villain 5-0. The Britches continued the lead in the second jam with Racey Intent scoring 3-2 over Harrisburg’s Rainbow’s Revenge. H.A.R.D.’s NastyNiss emerged as lead jammer in the third jam and skated to a 3-3 tie with Philly’s Mo Pain, followed by another tie of 2-2 between Harrisburg’s Mother Trucker and Philly’s Violet Temper. In the sixth frame, Rainbow’s Revenge was able to put some substantial points on the board for the Knockouts, scoring 10-6 over Racey Intent in spite of a leg injury sustained midway through the spin at the hands of Philly’s tough defense. Injury played a part in the next jam as well when Harrisburg’s Cruel Britannia was knocked into the infield with a nasty leg injury, only to find herself directly in the path of a referee. The jam was called off, but not before the ref had tripped over that same hurt leg. Fortunately, the injury was not serious enough to keep Britannia off the track for more than a few jams.

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DALLAS, TX — The West Texas all-star team bounced back impressively from last weekend’s thumping at the hands of Duke City, holding off multiple comebacks to defeat the Lone Star Assassins (a local team from WFTDA’s Assassination City) by a score of 114-79.

In both halves of the bout, West Texas would find themselves holding a significant lead only to see the Assassins erase it, but the Lubbock ladies always managed to get back on top.

As the bout opened, the advantage seesawed — after a scoreless opener, WTRD took the lead on the second jam on the back of a 3-0 jam for Hotwhlzz, but the Assassins were back on top a jam later with a 4-0 for Wanda Whompya over Mulisha Maiden. West Texas would get on a roll to follow that up, though, grabbing lead on three consecutive jams and helped out by Assassin jammer Olive Illegal ending the first jam of that sequence in the box — that put WTRD up by a score of 19-12 about ten minutes into the bout.

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