(BALLWIN, MO) The complexion of the St. Louis-area roller derby hierarchy changed significantly at the Arch Rival Roller Girls (ARRG) and GateKeepers Roller Derby (GKRD) twin bill Saturday night in front of 500 at Midwest Sport Hockey.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
In the ARRG women’s opener, the Stunt Devils picked up its first victory of the season with a 171-138 win over two-time defending champion the Smashinistas. In the men’s finale, the Dogtown Rockets bested the Riverfront Crimes, 180-148, to snatch its first win in the 2014-15 GKRD “Turf Wars” campaign.
The Stunts’ winning result forced a three-way tie in the ARRG standings, as all three squads competing within now sport identical 1-1 records after three of six regular season events. The Rockets vaulted into sole possession of second place within the “Turf Wars” standings with its respective duke.
ARRG: STUNT DEVILS 171 SMASHINISTAS 138
The Stunts took advantage of early power jams in gaining the 33-point victory over a squad that had not dropped a game since January 2014.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
“We played well tonight,” said Stunt Devils’ blocker Grave Danger about the slugfest. “We were able to overcome the Smashies, but it was a close game and it was anybody’s game.”
Trailing 10-2 six minutes in, the Stunts notched its first of three first-period power jams as Bricktator collected 20 points at the 22:30 mark to flip the scoreboard in its favor, 22-10.
The margin was pushed to 37-20 following a 13-8 power jam from Shear-Ra Powers with 19:50 left in the half.
A 9-2 Smashies’ run over the next five rotations narrowed the deficit to ten points, 39-29, with 15:00 remaining in the half.
In jam 15, another Stunts’ power jam ensued and Bricktator glided to a 19-point strike, widening the lead to 58-29 with 13:10 left in the first.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
Then following a three-point score from Smashies’ jammer EnYa Nightmare two rotations later, the Stunt Devils barreled out a 16-0 rally. Bricktator’s 11-point tally was followed by five from Mighty Mighty Boston that extended the lead, 74-32, with 8:50 left in the period.
Valiantly, the Smashinistas came charging back deep in the frame and narrowed the game to single digits. Jammer Shimmy Hoffa collected nine points in jam 20 to narrow the deficit to 74-41. Then following a four-point score from the Stunts in the next rotation, Smashies’ lynchpin jammer Brickyard collected a 32-4 even-strength strike with 4:10 left in the period.
Poof! In the span of three jams, a once-comfortable, 37-point Stunts’ edge had now been whittled to nine points, 82-73.
The scoring was mostly even down the stretch and the Stunt Devils maintained a 92-82 lead at intermission.
Smashies’ jammer Cloak N’ DragHer collected four points to begin the second period and whittled the margin to six points, 92-86.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
The Stunt Devils responded with 20 points uncontested, paced by the blocking of the aforementioned Danger, Morgan LeFaetal, Ninja Sass ‘Em, Mayor Francis Slayer, Orange Ya’ Sry, Danisaurus Rex, Soundproof and Smack A’NOVA. A three-jam sprint, punctuated by Bricktator’s 14 points with 25:10 left, pushed the Stunts’ lead to 112-86.
The Smashinistas refused to surrender and countered with a 14-0 charge over the next five minutes. Propelled by the blocking of Eli Wallop, Chewblocka, Downtown Dallis, Girl Fawkes, Party Rockher, Fletch-A-Sketch, Prof. Rumbledore and Rock Slobster, the defending champs narrowed the deficit to 112-100 with 20:00 remaining.
However, that dozen point margin ended up being the closest the Smashies would see for the remainder of the contest as the Stunts executed consistently as the period progressed. Bricktator, Boston and Chokehold Chanel continued to post points, which widened the differential.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
Bricktator notched 14 points with 5:50 left to push the lead to 151-119 and later Boston posted 16 on the game’s penultimate jam to solidify victory.
The Stunt Devils outscored the Smashinistas in the second period, 79-56, en route to the 171-138 victory and grab its first “W” of the season.
For Stunts’ scoring, Bricktator notched her second triple-digit output of the season, collecting 106 points, followed by Boston’s 34.
The Smashinistas were topped in scoring by Brickyard’s 81 points, followed by 30 from Nightmare. They look to rebound in February against the M-80s at Midwest Sport Hockey.
“I definitely felt like we gave them a run for their money,” said Smashies co-captain Party Rockher of the setback. “At halftime, we were down by ten points when we were down by a huge deficit at the beginning. So even though it was a tough loss, and it sucks losing, I think we played the best that we could possibly play at the time.”
All three squads in the ARRG standings sport identical 1-1 records. In this structure, total points accumulated throughout the regular season versus total points surrendered determines standings placement. As a result, the idle M-80s sit atop the ARRG standings with a differential of plus-26 points, followed by the Smashies’ minus-1 and the Stunts’ minus-25.
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
STUNT DEVILS (171): Bricktator 106, Mighty Mighty Boston 34, Chokehold Chanel 14, Shear-Ra Powers 13, Mayor Francis Slayer 4.
SMASHINISTAS (138): Brickyard 81, EnYa Nightmare 30, Shimmy Hoffa 23, Cloak N’ DragHer 8.
GKRD: DOGTOWN ROCKETS 180 RIVERFRONT CRIMES 148
Earlier this “Turf Wars” campaign, the Dogtown Rockets showed that its collective play improves during the second period. This certainly was the case Saturday as they doubled-up the Riverfront Crimes’ scoring in the back-half, which netted the red-clad rollers their first win of the season.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
“We tightened up and realized that we were playing sloppy (in the first half) and not playing together,” reflected Rockets’ blocker Kurt Mangle. “When we finally had four guys on the track, staying on the track, just getting together and getting in their jammer’s way, we found a groove and our jammers really did what they do best.”
A 10-10 stalemate after the first three rotations was broken on the next flight as Rockets’ jammer Magnum P.I.M.P. posted eight points to give his team the 18-10 advantage.
Crimes’ jammers The Saint and Indecent Exposure netted back-to-back five-pointers on the next two rotations to flip the scoreboard to the mafia’s favor, 20-18, with 21:00 left in the period.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
In the next jam, the Crimes continued the hard charge as Debaucherous Prime posted a 23-4 strike, extending the lead to 43-22 with 19:15 left in the period.
Over the next eight minutes, the Crimes held onto the differential effectively, thanks to the walls set up by blockers Percy Controll, Bled Zepplin’, Skulls McCrackin, mrPINK, BA Blockenstein, Dago Whomp, Awfulsauce and Walker Hamilton. With 11:15 left in the half, the Crimes sported a 58-40 lead.
In jam 13, Magnum shredded a 16-5 strike for the Rockets and whittled the score to 63-56 with 9:30 remaining in the period.
An 18-13 tussle, topped by the Crimes, for the remainder of the half gave the mafia an 81-69 lead at intermission.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
The opening rotations of the second half saw the Crimes widen its margin. With 22:25 left in the contest, the leaders maintained a 109-87 edge.
Slowly but surely, the Rockets found that second-half mojo that they experienced traditionally. A 15-point strike from jammer Shane Bower cut the lead to 109-102 with 20:00 left. Magnum followed with a four-pointer to make the battle a three-point contest, 109-106 with 19:05 left.
An 11-11 push over the next two rotations kept the contest a three-point affair. Then in jam 12, the Rockets flipped the scoreboard to its favor as Bower collected a 14-4 strike. With 13:10 left, Dogtown possessed a 131-124 advantage.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
That jam sparked a surge of Rocket points, thanks to the walls being built. As the aforementioned Mangle, Wrecking Bill, Specs Offender, Atom Bomb, Dr. Dredd, Red Rider, Monster Jam, Mueller and a host of others continued the hard charge, the Rockets posted a 35-9 run over the next nine minutes. Following Bower’s 14-point strike with 4:00 left, the Rockets extended its lead to 166-133.
Dogtown outscored the Crimes, 111-67, in the second period en route to the 180-148 victory, improved to 1-1 in the Turf Wars campaign and grabbed sole possession of second place in the three-squad GKRD standings. The Rockets return to the flat-track on February 7 against GKRD league leader South Grand Slammers (2-0).
Meanwhile, the Riverfront Crimes (0-2) sit in third place in the standings and are idle until March.
“Hopefully, we can all get on the track, then start working together and I think we can build,” said Crimes’ jammer/blocker The Saint. “Even with this loss, we can still build on some things.”
For more information on the Arch Rival Roller Girls, go to archrivalrollergirls.com.
For more information on GateKeepers Roller Derby, go to stlgatekeepers.com.
Post game interview with Stunt Devils’ blocker Grave Danger:
