18 lutego 2007
Dust Devil Day 2: Kansas City Upsets AZxRxDx; Tucson Advances
In what was the biggest upset so far of the tournament, the Kansas City Roller Warriors defeated the third seeded Tent City Terrors of Arizona Roller Derby.The match was back and forth in the first period, with Kansas City unable to get a solid lead. They soon were able to build up a decent lead, with fan favorite Snot Rocket finding openings and pile up points. By the end of the first period, Kansas City had a 34 to 28 lead.
Arizona kept themselves in it, coming back in the third period but made some grave strategic errors by trying to kill the game when they had small leads rather than trying to build a larger lead. Near the end of the bout, they had a one point lead and when Denise Lightning got lead jammer status she called off the jam instead of capturing a sure four or five points off of that jam.
The final jam was delayed for a bit while the referees, again, had a conference. Kansas City had a slim five point lead and there was enough time for Arizona to score enough points to win or tie it. But Arizona jammer Denise Lightning was called out of the jam for a penalty before the whistle was blown, and her team had to skate the final jam with no way to score any points.
So in the end, the attempt to burn off clock time is what killed them. I could understand doing such a thing with a larger lead, but with a slim lead against a team like Kansas City (who have a jammer that scorred 19 points in a single jam just the day before) it was just plain silly. For a long time, Arizona Roller Derby was so much stronger than the rest of the teams in the country and could get away with these kind of tactics, but they can't now that the rest of the field has gotten so good.
The Neanderdolls of the Sin City Rollergirls looked like they actually could beat top-ranked Texas. They built up a lead early in the first period, but Texas quickly got tired of toying with them and built a 21 point lead by the end of the first period, and it was basically over after that. Sin City's Trish the Dish was constantly frustrated and threw her helmet when she was called out of one bout, which may have gotten her ejected if a referee actually saw it.
Interestingly, Sin City was started by Ivanna S. Pankin, who used to be with Arizona Roller Derby. She came out with AZRD when the team paraded on the track in their bout.
A Neanderdoll and a Texecutioner phonied up a fight at the end of the bout to remind the crowd of the good old days, I guess.
Apparently I missed a Rat City Rollergirl getting ejected for punching a B.A.D. Girl. Oh well.
Tucson defeated the Muñecas Muertas by a sizeable 166 to 41 margin. The Muñecas are a strong team, but they have not found a decent place to practice or play in Albuqueque. Their arrangements also prevent them from getting good teams to come out and play against them. This hasn't stopped them from playing, and it hasn't stopped them from helping other leagues get started, such as the new league in Amarillo.In the last jam, Tucson cooled their jets a bit. Duke City got a couple of decent lead jams, and were cheered by the small crowd that stayed to the end. Today, Tucson will play upstarts Kansas City today in what will be a tough match.
Hasta la proxima. Do zobaczenia.
