Roller Derby News
Jun 11
Bout Preview: Mile High Club vs. Rat City Rollergirls
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photo credit: Jules Doyle
June 12, 2010 – The Rat City Rollergirls’ All-Stars will be traveling to Denver this Saturday for a third battle against the Denver Roller Dolls’ Mile High Club.
In 2009, Rat City seized the opportunity to hold bouts at KeyArena, the former home of the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics. Rat City has consistently drawn crowds of over 3000 at the KeyArena. The popularity of their bouts culminated on June 5th, when their home season championship bout drew over 6000 people—a modern roller derby record.
The Denver Roller Dolls have been attracting attention as well. Their groundbreaking partnership with major sports entity AEG Live/Kroenke Sports Enterprises is setting the pace of the modern roller derby revolution, and their innovative game strategies have led them to the forefront of the sport. Rat City and Denver went head-to-head for the first time in Denver in August 2009. Denver came out on top with a score of 198-135. At the 2009 Western Regional tournament two months later, Denver utilized their highly-controlled pack strategy to defeat Rat City again 172-94. The win earned them a spot in the National tournament for the first time ever. This also marked the first time Rat City did not go to Nationals since their formation. Denver went on to take third place at Nationals.
Rat City started the season strong at the Wild West Showdown in February, where they beat the Saddletramps of Tucson Roller Derby (270-55) and the Liberty Belles of the Philly Roller Girls (128-123). In March, the All-Stars went up against the Dairyland Dolls (of Madison’s Mad Rollin’ Dolls) with a score of 175-100. They continued their winning streak in their April bout against the Charm City All-Stars of Baltimore, beating them 145-103.
May saw the All-Stars’ only losses of 2010—first to the Rose City Rollers’ Wheels of Justice (of Portland, Oregon) with a score of 105-124, and then to the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls’ 5280 Fight Club, also of Denver (107-144).
Things are looking up for Rat City this month, however. In addition to drawing record-breaking crowds, Rat City faced long-time rivals the Texas Rollergirls’ Texecutioners. The intense, back-and-forth battle ended with Rat City on top with a final score of 128-120.
The Denver Roller Dolls started 2010 strong as well. At a closed bout against the FoCo Girls Gone Derby Microbruisers in April, the Mile High Club walked away with a 391-14 victory. Next came the highly-anticipated bout against Texas, who took second place at Nationals 2009. It was the first meeting of the two teams and both fought hard, but Denver came out on top in the end with a score of 130-112. Next, the Mile High Club traveled to Albuquerque to face-off against Duke City’s Munecas Muertas. Once again, Denver was victorious, with a final score of 262-48.
The Rat City roster is missing Anya Heels, one of the most imposing blockers in the sport, along with small and agile jammer/blocker Wile E. Peyote. They’re also missing recent Duke City transfer and team captain Kamikaze Kim, who suffered a concussion in their record-breaking intraleague bout last Saturday. However, the roster is still brimming with nationally-recognized veterans such as Carmen Getsome, Ann R. Kissed, Juliet Bravo, Katarina Whip, and Valtron 3000, as well as Angel City transfer Hard Cora and Jet City transfer Re-AnimateHer. Fans and skaters alike will want to keep an eye on Jalapeno Business, a relative newcomer who has been strongly featured on Rat City’s all-star roster this season as a high-scoring jammer.
The Mile High Club roster has seen little change since taking Nationals last fall. Since one of their biggest strengths is cohesive teamwork, it is difficult to select blockers who stand out. Julie “Angela Death” Adams, former figure skater and hockey player, remains a primary jammer. Adams recently skated banked track derby on Team Legit alongside several Rat City skaters. The Mile High Club’s other primary jammer is Heather Juska, former speed skater nominated for “Rookie of the Year” on the 2009 Derby News Network Reader’s Poll.
Currently, Denver is ranked second in the Western Region by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) and Rat City is ranked fifth. This is from the first quarter rankings, which takes into account bouts played up until the end of March. A lot has changed since then. Saturday’s bout has major implications for the all-important Western Regional tournament seeding. These are based on WFTDA second quarter rankings, which take into account bouts played up until the end of June. Both Denver and Rat City are in the Western region. Neither team will be playing any more bouts that will so directly affect their regional rankings. Rat City’s next bout isn’t until August, when they will be playing Bay Area, Gotham, and Rose City all in the same weekend. Denver will be traveling to the East Coast next week to play Boston and Philly, but both are out of region so results are unlikely to affect regional rankings.—Julie Phan
Rat City roster: Carmen Getsome #12 // Ann R. Kissed #A0 // Hard Cora #247 // Ima Handful #17 // Jalapeno Business #22 // Juliet Bravo #76 // Katarina Whip #60 // Kitty Kamikaze #13 // Mona Agony #33 // Primp Daddy #73 // Re-AnimateHer #31 // Rebel Belle #711 // Sara Problem #26 // sHedonist #615 // Sirius Mischief #9 // Valtron #3000
Denver roster: Tracy “Disco” Akers #99 // Ariel “Crash Dance” Quigley #1982 // Heather Juska #303 // Julie “Angela Death” Adams #19 // November “Bria Fraid” James #357 // Gabrielle “Fonda Payne” Begeman #90 // Jessica “Bea Ware” Rivas #350 // Caitlin “Judo No” Preston #1055 // Deirdre “Boo Boo Radley” Sage #5 // Danica “Berlin Brawl” Dolezal #10 // Monica “LynnSane” Carson #20 // Kim “Kimmy Kimmy Bang Bang” Wilms #311 // Alaine “Deadly Long Legs” Olthafer #36 // Andrea “Kendra Blood” Hill #262 // Shannon “Shannon Ball” Dorato #505 (Alt) // Vicky “Slick Vick” Cruz #9 (Alt)
Posted by The Referee at 10:07AM Jun 11 2010
