games and coaching
eastern regionals recap JUSTICE FEELGOOD MARSHALL, CHARM CITY ROLLER GIRLS
While the Eastern Regional Tournament in Madison, held one week after Houston’s Westerns, didn’t sport an upset quite as unexpected as Duke City’s overthrowing of Kansas City – all bye seeds advanced to Nationals here – there were still more than a few stories coming out of this one. Still, though, just as it had the previous year, the tournament belonged to the apparently unstoppable Gotham from New York. opening rounds Things got off on a good foot for tournament hosts and #8 Madison who handled #9 Minnesota. Minnesota jammers seemed particularly drawn to the penalty box as the bout opened, losing their jammer in the first three jams. Madison was more than happy to take advantage, claiming a 24-0 lead. Minnesota could not recover from that opening onslaught, falling behind by 71-29 at halftime on their way to a 143-67 loss. After a closely contested opening 20 minutes, #7 Boston put on a defensive clinic against #10 Grand Raggidy. The score was tied at 27-26 with about nine minutes to play in the half, but after a big 13-0 for Boston jammer Krushpuppy over Dot Matrix, Boston locked down hard. In the end, Boston had put the rest of the East on notice with a very impressive 131-30 victory. Bottom seed Providence was a late addition to the tournament, bringing a rookie-heavy lineup that couldn’t hang with a more experienced #5 Detroit.
18 | Winter 2008 | fiveonfivemag.com
Detroit jammers Racer McChaser, Killbox and Boo D. Livers were the primary scoring engines in a big first half that went 82-25 for Detroit. Providence took advantage of a lot of Detroit jammer penalties in the second and got some impressive hitting from emerging star Kid Ace that made the second half more competitive, but the damage had been done and Detroit advanced with a 124-70 win. Charm City at #6 ascertained that there would be no first-round upsets by handling #11 Cincinnati in the final opening round bout. The Baltimore girls took a 14-0 lead on the first jam and would never lose it, though not for lack of intense, physical play from Cincy. At halftime Cincinnati had kept the margin manageable at 72-52, but Charm opened it up early in the second, reaching 115-59 on a big 15-0 for Lady Quebeaum with about 18 minutes to play. Though Cincy continued to battle hard, Charm City took it, 158-83.
Jeff Sevier/Cincinnati Rollergirls
quarterfinals Home Madison managed to keep it close when they tangled with top seed Gotham for about the first 20 minutes – with 12:45 to go, the score was a low 26-20
in Gotham’s favor. Unfortunately for the Dairyland Dolls, though, Gotham buried Madison in an avalanche of points during a 54-9 run to close the period – and, on top of that, Madison’s star jammer Mouse would find herself expelled from the game after arguing
Jon Kontio
a controversial call. Facing an 80-29 halftime hole, Madison continued to scrap for points in the second, but Gotham’s primary jammer rotation of Suzy Hotrod, Bonnie Thunders and Cheap Skate were just too fast to allow Madison many jam wins. Final score here was 138-70 for Gotham. In Friday’s final bout, #7 Boston had a true classic when they went up against #3 Carolina in a match up that went down to the final seconds. Boston hung onto a narrow 36-30 lead at the first half, and got as far ahead as 60-44 with about 15 minutes to play, but the lead changed hands four times in the second half. The nail biting end put Boston at a 73-68 lead with three minutes and jammer Krushpuppy unopposed on the jam line – but Krush only scored 3 points before heading to the penalty box. Carolina closed within 2 points at 75-73 with only 56 seconds