photo by Gil Leora

UPDATED! The Fury stormed into Chicago’s UIC Pavilion on Saturday night aboard a 3-game winning streak. The orange crush devastated Hell’s Belles by 97 in February, jumping past 100 points in the third jam of the second half, and conventional wisdom expected the Belles to collapse like a Louisiana levee in this game, too.   But Belle captains Shocka Conduit and Hermione Danger changed up the game plan; 6 of the least experienced Belles who dressed for the game played in a minimal amount of jams, and the Belles came at the Fury hard with 3 jammers in heavy rotation.   The teams’ two veteran captains squared off in the game’s last jam with the Belles well within striking distance, but when it was over the Fury had iced a 125-110 win and a place in the Ivy King Cup championship game on June 5th. 

 Danger--playing her first game since an injury sidelined her for the April bout--took advantage of a major penalty on the Fury jammer in the third, pushing the Belles to their biggest lead of the season, 21-0. Fury jammers took the next four lead jams, however, including Kola Loka’s ten-point run in the seventh.  After that, Conduit, Danger, and second-year stand-out Deb Autry jammed exclusively for the Belles, and the three of them kept team red in it until the last jam of the half.  With just 30 seconds left, and up by just 12, Tori Adore and Ivy Sedation  held up Danger, allowing Fury jammer Ska Face to bolt around the outside and into the lead. The Belles were caught in perhaps the biggest pack mismatch of the game, and when Danger was sent off for cutting the track, Ska Face cut up Belle blocking for 15 points to put the Fury up 69-45 at the half. 

 Kids from School of Rock, Chicago, took over jamming at halftime, rocking an appreciative crowd with early MTV hits. As one astute observer pointed out, it may have been the first time in roller derby history that Mötley Crüe and Skid Row have been heard back-to-back at a bout. School of Rock played several sets with varying line-ups, prompting really painful-looking air guitar from some, uh, well-meaning skaters.

 Hell’s Belles put up 10 points in the first two jams of the second half, and the two teams traded punches until two huge jams on either side of an Official time out.  Loka scored 20 of her 68 total in the seventh as Sonya Mouthshut, Dee Monica, and Tori Adore opened big splits.  Then in the eighth, with the Fury penalty box packed full, Deb Autry put up 17 of her 42, cutting the Fury lead to 22.  Autry benefitted from Fury penalties on her two biggest jams by scoring 2 ghosts points in each.
 
The Belles fell into penalty trouble midway through the second half; Ska, Loka, and Jackie Daniels sliced and diced their way to a 115-73 lead with 14 minutes left. Shocka Conduit rallied the Belles with a 20-point twelfth that may have been the most interesting jam of the night. Ska Face was sent off for cutting the track, but missed the box twice, extending the Belle advantage. Conduit put a highlight reel move on Ivy Sedation and then coaxed Take-Out Box outside the engagement zone before allowing her a hit, leaching another major out of the Fury. The two teams scored just 16 points over the next 8 minutes. With Pominatrix, Bloody Elle, and Mya Ssault playing over their heads in the pack, the Belles scored 12 of those and might have had more save stout defensive play from the Fury’s Adore, Sedation, and Sargentina, who the fans voted blocker of the game. Those three, along with Dee Monica and Mouthshut, picked up for three Fury veterans who did not dress for the game—Go-Go Hatchet, Juana Rumbel, and Red Zeppelin.

 Down 12 with 55 seconds to go, the Belles looked like believers; their pack was at full strength.  Conduit, with 3 minors, called her own number to jam against Loka for the game. When Conduit cut the track in an effort to take lead jam, Loka floated around behind the pack, killing the game clock and much of the jam clock, forcing Conduit to exit the box and race up behind her before calling it. 

 This was the game Belles fans had been waiting for. In the last minute a roster full of rookies, many of whom sacrificed precious playing time for the chance to see the team within striking distance at the end, sat on the edge of their seats with All-Star on All-Star for the win. But as has been the case so often this season, there was just too much Kola Loka, who walked away with HOWCOOL.COM Player-of-the-Game honors. 

 The Fury will finish the regular season on May 22nd against the Double Crossers in a preview of the Ivy King Cup Championship game. The Belles, likely feeling closer than they have all year to their first win, will close the season against the Manic Attackers.

photo by Gil Leora

UPDATED! OK, so it wasn’t quite like Joe Louis knocking Max Schmeling cold in 124 second at Yankee Stadium in 1938, but if you were late getting back to your seat at the start of the Double Crossers-Fury match-up this past Saturday night at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, you missed the fight. The Fury turned out the lights on the Crossers, 128-51, and the damage was done early. The Fury lost to the Manics in January and the Crossers beat the Manics last month by nearly identical scores; conventional wisdom figured these two teams to take it to the wire. But this game had one lead change—at just about 124 seconds in. By the third jam, already up 12-2, the Fury’s Dee Monica catapulted Jackie Daniels into the clear with a textbook whip and The Fury was off and running. Orange jammers pounded the Crossers in the first half with a devastating combination: Ska Face put up 24 of her 34 points in her first five jams; Daniels, who went on to be named Player of the Game, scored points on every jam; 2008 WCR MVP Kola Loka, who scored 41 total points, racked up 15 late in the half by floating past a pair of Crosser blockers—one of the moments of penalty trouble for the Silent Assassins, who actually had fewer total minutes in the box. 

 Crosser Pivot Norma Lee Wright ignited fans in black in the fourteenth jam by yanking co-captain Julia Rosenwinkel to lead jammer status; Georgia on Yer Behind shut down Ska, and Julia Rosenwinkel bullied her way around for four points. When the jam ended, Daniels’ Roller-blue Minx quads flashed on the jumbotron as part of the “Guess the Gear” fan participation game. Before a fan could name her, Daniels was the lead jammer, circling the pack and scoring 9 points. It was that sort of night for the Crossers. The Fury took lead jam twelve times and scored points on thirteen of eighteen jams on the way to an 85-14 halftime lead. 

 The Crossers began the second half with what appeared to be greater commitment to the slow-down game that they used effectively against the Manics. Indycent and Julia Rosenwinkel each had solid jams in the second half; Rosenwinkel scored 23 of her 31 points after intermission, with 13 coming on a pretty thirteenth jam in which she registered two grand slams and picked up deft blocking by Nina Millimeter, Sassy Squash, and Georgia on Yer Behind. Those three skaters hung tough, accounting for 54 of the Crossers’ 77 defensive actions. 

 But the Fury often dominated the pack; Tori Adore, Sargentina, and Red Zeppelin (skating this bout as Brick Fonzo), slammed the door repeatedly on Crosser jammers. The Fury lost focus in the second half, running up the majority of their 112 penalties and outscoring the Crossers by just 3 points in the last thirty minutes.  So, how dominant was the Fury? The Crossers scored just 11 points all night when the Fury was at full strength.

 And “full strength” appears to be how the Fury intends to play this season, mindful of the importance of point spread if there is a tie at the top of the standings at season’s end. In the lead by 80 points with minutes left, Big Orange made few adjustments to the rotation.

 The WCR league season lurches forward again in just two weeks, featuring a complete Fury team against the unpredictable Manic Attackers, both at 2-1. These two teams put on a speed skating clinic when they met to open the season. The Manics won that game by 18, but the Fury is pulling no punches.  Joe Louis has nothing on these ladies.

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DEE MONICA!

Q: You started your derby career with the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls... How was it to play against them (and win!) on your old home turf?

A: When I found out I was on the roster to play against my original team, I was so excited! I hadn't played on the same track with those girls in almost 3 years. It was also very cool because my immediate family and many of my friends in Colorado have never been able to see me play; they came to the bout, along with some friends I haven’t seen since I moved to Chicago. Winning was the icing on the cake for sure!! It was really fun playing against them and playing in the original place I had my first bout ever!

Q: You lead a lot of boot camps for the WCR folks, just finished school at the National Personal Training Institute and are now a personal trainer. Which drill do people complain about the most?

A: I would have to say that suicides and wheelbarrows are the drill that folks complain about the most, but… they have a love/ hate relationship with me and my drills; the drills help them to become that much better of a player! You think I like doing suicides??!! They’re the worst! But, I know I have to, to be a better player, darn it!

Q: What's your favorite workout song?

A: My favorite workout song would have to be “Love Me or Hate Me” by Lady Sovereign. It's too ridiculous not to have fun working out to it, and especially skating to it!!

--interview by Donna D. Apacalypse