Bruised News

PPDD vs. SCS?

September 13th, 2007

Any word on the Pikes Peak Derby Dames’ vs. the Salt City Shakers in Utah this past weekend? I’m dying to hear the score and I haven’t heard anything yet!

SCSPPDD

UPDATE: PPDD won, 169 to 137. Thanks Kamilla, and congrats! Hope Susie Q-T is doing well also.

Filed under: Salt City Derby Girls, Pikes Peak Derby Dames, Interleague | Comments (3)

I’ve been back from rollercon for a couple of days, and like every rollergirl knows when they aren’t around a computer for a little while I have had some catching up to do. Vegas was great, and while I unfortunately didn’t get to do as many rollercon-type things as I wanted (I brought someone non-derby related with me and I didn’t want to leave them in the dust), what I did go to was a lot of fun. Next year I would like to get more involved with the planning process, and I would recommend that to anyone else - I had an attitude this year that I didn’t know what to expect and I wanted to just show up and do my own thing, but I think volunteering would have put me more in the know and let me meet some more skaters.

rollercon

The pickup scrimmages where awesome, and seeing skaters of so many skill levels representing so many leagues was both humbling and encouraging. The workshops covered a great deal of topics and gave some great ideas (I’m going to be honest, I only made it to one - bad rollergirl I know. but it did give me some ideas I hadn’t thought of before and I heard good things about the ones I didn’t make it to).

I spent Saturday planning my outfit for the wedding as well as skating on a banked track for the first time. The track was definitely a neat experience - I spent my time on it just trying to get used to skating, which was much more different than I would have imagined. I was grateful for the chance to try it and I definitely gained a new respect for those that do it regularly (or did in the past), but it also made me happy to skate flat track. Both seem to have a separate set of challenges and advantages.

My derby wife and I missed our wedding because we got lost, and we ended up eating pizza in some strip mall in our ridiculous outfits. We vowed to bring the outfits out next year and try again however, so I’m not going to go into details about how we both looked.

Now I’m off to practice and to scrimmage with the Denver Roller Dolls. I’m actually really excited about this - it’s always fun to skate with new players and I’m looking forward to meeting some of them since I have been to a few of their games and watched them play before.

Before I go - I heard that the Danger Dolls beat the Candy Snipers this weekend for the first time in CO Springs - I’d love to hear some details!

Filed under: Pikes Peak Derby Dames, Denver Roller Dolls, Rollercon, Interleague | Comment (1)

RMRG vs. PPDD recap 8/4/07

August 6th, 2007

The Rocky Mountain Rollergirls invited the Pikes Peak Derby Dames down to Littleton, CO (a suburb right outside of Denver) for an expo bout between the two leagues this weekend. Instead of 5280 Fight Club and the Slamazons, each leagues’ travel team, facing off once again, the two Colorado leagues decided to switch things up by creating mix-up rosters of skaters of all different skill levels. RMRG brought old schoolers Penny Payne, Rodeo Redd and Winona Fighter, as well as a number of girls who had never bouted or had only played one or two games. Pikes Peak was strong with Sugrrr Rush, Count Smacula, Susie Q-T and Kamilla Bloospilla, as well as a number of newer girls. The first period started with speed skater Sugrrr Rush racking up the points, leaving RMRG desperate to catch up. Laying on the defense, RMRG came close but ended the first 20 minutes at 22 to PPDD’s 26.

These leagues’ travel teams and home teams have faced off a number of times with RMRG always pulling ahead, but it was clear that tonight could easily be PPDD’s time to take the win. Sugrrr Rush consistently scored for her team with Susie Q-T and Kamilla helping to bring the points up. RMRG put up a good fight, but the mix-up roster seemed to keep the girls from working well together - with a number of new players and skaters from different home teams who had never played together, there appeared to be a struggle to come together as a unified force. With only seconds remaining at the end of period 2, Rodeo Redd took a nasty fall and was sprawled on the track with a severly broken ankle, in need of paramedics. After a stressful wait for Redd to be stabilized and taken to the hospital, the girls on both teams as well as the audience were clearly shaken. Down one of their most powerful blockers, RMRG was at 44 with PPDD significantly ahead at 79.

While most teams would be ready to throw in the towel after losing such a strong player and trailing by 35 points, RMRG is becoming famous for their comebacks. With the collective jamming of Winona Fighter, Penny Payne and Smashbox snagging over ten points in single jams - the greatest number being Smashbox with 13 in under two minutes - and blockers like Green Venom and Mama KiCass stepping up the defense, RMRG ended up ahead by one point with minutes left in the game. Battling back and forth for the lead, PPDD snuck ahead by three points with seconds left and only one jam remaining. Pikes Peak threw Sugrrr in, and while it was still anyone’s game, she was able to grab lead jammer and call it off immediately, ending the bout and insuring their victory.

While this bout was an expo and didn’t count for WFTDA ranking status, it was PPDD’s first win in an interleague match. The lineups were much different than the first time these leagues met last year with RMRG at 110, PPDD 33, but it is clear that the Pikes Peak girls have some formidable new players and some older skaters that have significantly stepped up their game.

A number of the girls will meet again in October, when RMRG’s home team the Sugar Kill Gang will take on PPDD’s Danger Dolls.

FatCity

EDIT: Wow, I just looked back on this and realized I left out the MOST IMPORTANT part - the final score! PPDD 98, RMRG 95. Gah, I guess I got so caught up in thinking about how strategically Sugrrr played that I got ahead of myself. Sorry for the blatant sloppiness!

Filed under: Pikes Peak Derby Dames, Rocky Mountain Rollergirls, Interleague, WFTDA, Bout Recaps | Comment (0)

PPDD’s Candy Snipers vs. Danger Dolls bout recap

July 23rd, 2007

The Pikes Peak Derby Dames opened their season at a new, bigger venue where their two home teams, the Candy Snipers and the Danger Dolls, met on the track. Last season the Snipers were undefeated, but both teams have faced significant changes in their rosters thanks to new players and many experienced skaters either out injured or retired. The Snipers ended the first period ahead with 66, the Dolls trailing with 45.

On the Snipers, Susie Q-T and Rolleene Thunda proved to be major point scorers, while The Swiss Missile more than held up her end of the blocking for the team. Kamilla BloodSpilla is also one of their hardest hitters, but she has proved recently to be a very well-rounded player with her jamming skills. The Dolls’ Sugrrr Rush fought to close the point gap, and blocker Fanny Fister acted as their most threatening line of defense. The Dolls grabbed the lead by the second period, putting the Snipers at 95, Dolls 99.

With many newcomers, Sock ‘n Roll Ruby for the Snipers looked to be a promising blocker while EckoGirl for the Dolls was a fearless jammer. With the score remaining close for rest of the bout, the Snipers were still able to pull ahead by the end, finishing with 156 points to the Dolls’ 152.

Filed under: Pikes Peak Derby Dames, WFTDA, Bout Recaps | Comments (2)

FGGD’s Kung Fu Donnas vs. PPDD’s Slamazons recap 6/30/07

July 4th, 2007

Two of Colorado’s teams, Ft. Collins’ Foco Girls Gone Derby and Colorado Springs’ Pikes Peak Derby Dames faced off for the first time this past weekend on FGGD’s home turf. This was only the third bout for Foco, which currently has just one team, the Kung Fu Donnas. PPDD’s Slamazons is a more experienced team and a member of the WFTDA, but the roster seemed to have quite a few new players in the place of some MIA and injured skaters.

The Kung Fu Donnas is a blocker-heavy team, with players constantly knocking into both jammers and opposing blockers throughout the jam. Urrk’n Jer’n as Booty Block Ya, both a pivot and jammer with a speed skating background, made it difficult for anyone to get past her with her impressive agility and speed, while hard hitters like Laura Mangles Wilder delivered numerous blows. On the Slamazon’s side, Kamilla Bloodspilla and The Swiss Missile put up a good defense, and jammer Rolleene Thunda did a great job chasing down jammers when she wasn’t scoring points. By the end of the first period, the Slamazons were ahead with 44 while the Kung Fu Donnas trailed closely with 42.

Though Urrk’n sticks out as the Donnas’ best blocker, she is by far their best jammer as well - her speed allows her to catch up to the pack quickly and she is great at picking precisely where to go when surrounded by blockers to sneak by untouched. Slick Vick is also a notable jammer who helped the Donnas continue to keep the score close. The Slamazons’ Sugrrr Rush, Susie QT and Rolleene Thunda are all quick and agile jammers that managed to rack up the points for their team. Though the PPDD girls have an assortment of good jammers, they commonly play their hardest blockers such as Kamilla and The Swiss Missile as jammers. Both players seem to hold their own as point scorers, however. Throughout the bout the score was constantly switching from one team’s favor to the other and remained close until the end of the second period, where PPDD squeezed ahead with 89 as Foco followed with 88.

With a one-point difference, it was clear by the third period that this was anyone’s game. There seemed to be many time-outs called and a number of indiscretions regarding the points as the bout was coming to a close. As a spectator, there were definitely a few jams in which the score did not seem to accurately represent the number of points that should have been awarded, and there were also some issues regarding girls in the penalty box serving their time. The Donnas were able to pull through at the end, bringing the final score to FGGD 133, PPDD 121.

It is understandable that issues may have arisen with Ft. Collins being such a new team as far as the score keeping and penalty timing, since the staff likely had little prior experience. Regardless of these issues this would have been an extremely close game either way, and a rematch will definitely be just as much of a nail-biter.

Filed under: Foco Girls Gone Derby, Pikes Peak Derby Dames, Interleague, Bout Recaps | Comment (1)

WFTDA Rankings - June 2007

June 30th, 2007

The newest WFTDA rankings have been posted for June. Notable changes include the additions of the Alamo City Rollergirls, Assassination City Derby, Bay Area Derby Girls, Dixie Derby Girls, East Texas Bombers, Houston Rollergirls, and Kansas City Roller Warriors, who were all previously inactive. Also added were the previously unranked Brew City Bruisers. The biggest jumps belong to the Windy City Rollers who moved up six spots, and the Sin City Rollergirls who lost six.