WXRT

Roller Derby Love  

What could be better than ladies who are fierce on the track and also committed to charity work in their communities? The Windy City Rollers aren’t just your average derby league either. They’ve got championships under their belts and they’re number one in the North Central Region.

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RedEye Chicago

This DePaul staffer’s on a roll, literally

“I play because I’m competitive, I like to stay busy,” she said. “Strategically, I’ve never had to think so much about playing a sport—we play offense and defense at the same time. Physically, never have my leg muscles been so huge.  Emotionally, I am more invested in this sport and league than I’ve ever been.”

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Both The Fury and Manic Attackers were ready for war from the get-go, but after the final whistle blew, The Fury won the bout and the Ivy King Cup with a score of 121-77.  Both teams wanted the win badly and it showed, but The Fury’s deep jammer pool and cohesive pack play lead to a solid victory and the league's longest win streak.

As the bout started, both teams came out swinging with stiff defense and incredible jammer combat that kept the score low and the action high.  Wreck N Shrew scored the first points for the Manic Attackers in the second jam, and then both teams cranked up the defense.  There wasn’t another point tallied until Ska Face came out against Zoe Trocious in the fifth jam.  Both girls were fighting like mad to make it through the pack and Zoe Trocious got lead jammer thanks to the hard hitting of Val Capone and Wreck N Shrew.  The score was 7-8 in favor of the Manic Attackers and then the floodgates opened.

The lead changed twice early on in the second half thanks to Kola Loka jamming hard for The Fury and Wreck N Shrew jamming for the Manic Attackers.  The scoring was intense, but the blocking was pivotal for both teams.  Amy Nonamey, Val Capone, Bork Bork Bork and Tamikaze were holding The Fury jammers hard, giving the Manic Attackers a chance to stay in the game.  Behind the defense of Ol Drrrty Go-Go, Red Zeppelin, Sargentina and T.S. Helliot, though, The Fury was able to keep the momentum on their side for the better part of the first half.

Sargentina laid a punishing hit to Zoe Trocious in the 8th jam, giving The Fury full swing on the Manic Attackers.  Val Capone and Jackie Daniels were trading blows throughout the first half too, creating holes for Yvette YourMaker, Ska Face and Kola Loka.  It was a non-stop hitting cavalcade before the whistle blew to end the first half and it looked like The Fury could run away with the lead early.  AliSin Chains, Ada Hatelace and Val Capone took matters into their own hands and created a huge scoring chance for Beth Amphetamine with just under ten minutes left in the half where she scored an impressive 14 points.

Both teams were rolling fast but that didn’t stop The Fury from keeping the lead and behind a couple of grand slams from Ska Face late in the half, they went into the locker room up 64-39 over the Manic Attackers.  The beginning of the half was a back-and-forth battle between both teams.  Hitting was the order of the day right from the get-go.  The score favored both sides of the scoreboard early on, but The Fury managed to pull away and mount a significant score as the half drew on, but not before the Manic Attackers could make their presence felt.

The second half saw no shortage of action from both sides.  With the Manic Attackers down, they threw it all on the line and the blocking power of Mo Vengance, Amy Nonamey, Bork Bork Bork and Tamikaze was being felt throughout.  There was a terrible collision between Amy Nonamey and Kola Loka; Amy went down hard and there was a stoppage in play.  As she recovered, the silent UIC Pavilion erupted in applause and the bout rolled on.

The entire second half was an ebb and flow of hits and scoring.  Carnage Wilson and Mel Content turned on the gas late in the bout to keep The Fury afloat, hitting Manic Attacker jammers Ruth Enasia and Zoe Trocious at will and making notice to the league and the fans that The Fury was ready to hoist the cup again.

The pack looked like a meat grinder and every point the jammers scored, they truly earned.  The Manic Attackers’ fan base came out in full force as well and kept the morale up behind their bench for the rest of the half.  With just under ten minutes to go in the bout and the score set at 109-58 in favor of The Fury, both teams were standing behind their blockers to keep the action going.  Bork Bork Bork and Val Capone were menacing The Fury jammers and Sonya MouthShut alongside Sargentina and Mel Content were holding Manic Attackers jammers at bay.

Take Out Box jammed for The Fury late in the bout and tallied six points for her team over two jams.  The Manic Attackers weren’t going down without a fight, and in the waning minutes of the bout Zoe Trocious and Wreck N Shrew were still mounting an impressive amount of points.  As the final whistle blew, though, it wasn’t enough to get the Manic Attackers a win and they fell to The Fury 121-77.  Both teams gave their all, but The Fury showed their depth and determination to get the longest winning streak in the league and the Ivy King Cup for a second year in a row.  Ska Face was named Player of the Game for The Fury and Val Capone was given the Player of the Game title for the Manic Attackers.

As the season comes to a close, there’s much change and hope on the horizon for all four teams within the Windy City Rollers.  Next season will hold so many possibilities it’s almost incomprehensible...it will truly be anyone’s year. Congratulations to the players and coaches on all the home teams and we all look forward to next season.  And now, on to the All-Stars and Second Wind!

Gapers Block

Windy City Rollers' Set for Ivy King Cup Championship

After a grueling season, the Windy City Rollers are ready to kick it Thunderdome style. At the Ivy King Cup Championship this Saturday, June 18, two teams enter; only one team leaves (or rather, leaves with the coveted cup). This year, it's down to The Fury and the Manic Attackers, two teams who are maintaining their reps as hard-to-beat skaters.

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RedEye 6/13/11

Windy City Rollers: Ivy King Cup Championship

The Fury and Manic Attackers try to batter their way to a roller-derby title. They were kind enough to wait until the Stanley Cup finals and NBA Finals were over before stealing the championship spotlight.

Examiner

Windy City blows into Cincinnati Part I

It was hot, it was sticky and it was miserable in the Cincinnati Gardens on Saturday, but there was roller derby and in fact one of the very best teams in all of WFTDA came to town; #9 in the world and #1 in the North Central division the Windy City Rollers.

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Windy City blows into Cincinnati Part II

The main event of the evening was a WFTDA sanctioned bout between the Cincinnati Black Sheep and the Windy City Rollers’ All-Stars. Windy City owed this victory to their defense, Cincinnati’s blockers were unable to help out their jammers, and instead the jammers looked to be flying solo and fighting for their lives. The final score Windy City 178, Cincinnati 83.

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The night was different than usual for The Fury, as they debuted rookie blocker SpartaKris and were down one of their powerhouse blockers, Sargentina.  The team still managed to maintain its top form.  By the end of the 5th jam, The Fury was up 17-5 and both teams were ready to start duking it out.  Behind Kola Loka, Ska Face and Jackie Daniels jamming; Ol’ Drrty Go-Go, Red Zeppelin, Slammy Sosa, Yvette YourMaker and Mel Content blocking, The Fury got an extensive lead early on in the bout.  The Double Crossers were working hard to keep the pace, especially with Julia Rosenwinkel out of the lineup.

Indycent, Abbey, Dani Get Yer Guns and Dame Over took to their jamming duties and helped keep the Double Crossers from falling too far behind.  Indycent and Tina Flay were working well in concert together.  Flay was handing out whips and Indycent was eating them up, zipping around the track like her skates were on fire.

Fury rookies SpartaKris and Janicide Joplin were making waves on the track as well, adding depth to the Fury blocking dimensions and keeping the team alive as their jammers were scoring grand slam after grand slam and keeping the lead near-unattainable before the end of the first half.  On the other side of the scorecard, Georgia on Yer Behind and Sunshine N Painbows were working their hits like pro boxers.  Behind these two blockers, the Double Crossers were trying to keep the lead close and get a chance at tallying a win for the season.  As the teams went into the halftime break, though, The Fury was up 84-39.

The beginning of the second half brought on two amazing feats from both teams.  The Double Crossers put Sunshine N Painbows in as jammer in the 3rd jam, and she solidified that not only is she a powerhouse in the blocking realm, but that she is also an amazing jammer.  Tallying eight points on her first go-round, she put up the first XXer points for the half.  The other great feat of the night came from Ska Face as she made a leap of faith over the apex on the first turn.  In roller derby, it’s no surprise to see agile jammers take the inside through the air, but Ska Face made a Michael-Jordan-slam-dunk-from-the-free-throw-line-jump past the entire pack and landed in full stride, continuing on to score four points.  The crowd held their breath as she was mid-flight, wondering when she was ever going to come down.

With all the circus-like antics happening, The Fury still stuck hard to their point-scoring and drove the point home as Jackie Daniels, Yvette YourMaker and Kola Loka kept the pace and mounted point after point to keep the game interesting all the way to the end.  Norma Lee Wright and Georgia on Yer Behind were difference-makers for the Double Crossers and kept a strong wall of black up front when they were on the track.

The Double Crossers weren’t ready to quit before the final whistle, and behind top-notch blocking they were mounting a comeback.  Indycent, Abbey and Sunshine N Painbows were adapting “the hit it and quit it” technique and it was working for their team.  Towards the waning minutes of the bout, the Double Crossers brought in Miss D. Meaner for her rookie debut to block in front of Sunshine and Painbows as she tallied four quick points, getting her team worked up for a rally from behind.

The rally wasn’t enough, though, and The Fury managed to maintain the lead, winning 135-87 and keeping the Double Crossers winless for the season.  Though The Fury made off with a win, the Double Crossers made a point to make the league recognize their thus-winless season isn’t without a momentous amount of showmanship and drive.  The ladies of the Double Crossers are still making a mark on the league even if they can’t yet tally a win.  Fury favorite Kola Loka was named Player of the Game.  The Fury go on to play the Manic Attackers on April 23rd in what may be a precursor to the Ivy King Cup Championship in June, while the Double Crossers play the Hell’s Belles in the second bout of the evening.

Fury jammers, Kola Loka, Ska Face and Jackie Daniels all came out swinging, tallying five grand slams between the three of them in the first three jams.  The Fury would score 32 points before the Hell’s Belles were able to get a score on the board.  The Fury worked the pack behind 'Ol Drrrty Go-Go, Red Zeppelin, Poppy Spock and Sargentina.  Rookie Janicide Joplin added to the blocking power of The Fury as they kept the Hell’s Belles busy trying to clear the pack for their jammer.

Shocka Conduit was the first to score for the Hell’s Belles, doing it in style and tallying 14 points.  The Hell’s Belles were working to keep their team alive in the first half, putting Unicoroner, Zombea Arthur, Hermione Danger, and Deb Autry to jam against The Fury.  Most of the Hell’s Belles jammers were pulling double duty on the track and were working overtime to keep the pace with The Fury.

There was no shortage of action with T.S. Helliot racking up big hits against the Hell’s Belles even as Pominatrix, Nancy Pagan and Brawla Poundstone were working tirelessly to stave off the salvo of Fury blows.  As the half was drawing to a close, The Fury was picking up the recycling and laying down grand slam after grand slam.  It was an up and down half for both teams, but solid recycling and strong skating helped The Fury maintain the lead.  The Hell’s Belles were working hard to get that second win of the season and skated an excellent half but were still short at the close with a score of 82-44.

When the second half started, The Fury maintained their momentum and sent their score over 100 just three jams in.  When the third jam of the half started, Jackie Daniels got Lead Jammer, winning free shots from the Boiler Room for the entire section 105.

The Fury defense was still working their recycling, but the Hell’s Belles weren’t going to take the second half lying down.  Their jammer pool worked to chip away at the Fury lead one jam at a time.  A rash of penalties called on The Fury allowed Shocka Conduit and Unicoroner to maintain the effort to gain the lead.  There was lots of excellent hitting from Hermione Danger on the Fury defense and though she fouled out, her presence was felt through the majority of the bout.  She was a sniper on the track, looking over the smaller players on her team like a guardian angel (from hell).

The Fury kept the pace up and the Hell’s Belles were nipping right at their heels.  As the bout was drawing to an end, the score started to grow closer and closer.  Kola Loka and Ska Face were still racking up big points for the Fury to keep them in the lead, but in a last-ditch effort, Shocka Conduit launched a full-on assault and scored 12 big points in the last jam.  Though their efforts toward the end were epic, it wasn’t enough to take the lead and the Fury came out winning 145-101.  The Hell’s Belles worked in an amazing comeback at the end, but couldn’t quite pull the trigger and so The Fury remains unstoppable.

The Manic Attackers took to the track celebrating St. Valentine's Day in true Manic style and handed each of the Fury skaters a Valentine during their intro as the subtly beautiful voice of Bette Midler echoed over the PA singing “Wind Beneath my Wings.”

Manic Man mania spread throughout the league and as each team developed a mascot as their poster child.  The Fury rallied that night behind Fonzo McKnuckles, the white ape apparition sporting a gold chain with brass knuckles and a bad attitude.

The action on the track was fast and furious right from the beginning.  Both teams were adopting the “hit it and quit it” attack.  The Fury got on the board first with a grand slam put up by Kola Loka.  Beth Amphetamine answered right back with four quick points and both teams were off to the races.

The Manics and The Fury stayed evenly matched through the first nine jams until The Fury jammer lineup of Kola Loka, Yvette YourMaker and Ska Face turned up the heat.  The three amigas were making short work of Manic Attackers blocking power duo, Bork Bork Bork and Tamikaze.

Ska Face and Zoe Trocious lined up on the jammer line against each other in the 13th jam.  As the whistle blew, Fury blockers Sonya MouthShut, Tori Adore, Jackie Daniels and Red Zeppelin skating as Brick Fonzo, mashed the pack and worked Zoe Trocious over.  This allowed Ska Face an opportunity to get out in front where she turned on the jets and - in a last second dive at the end the jam - scored an amazing 25 points on five grand slams.  This move put the Fury up 61-8 over the Manic Attackers.

The Manic Attackers weren’t willing to give up just yet and with Bork Bork Bork, Ada Hatelace and Wreck N Shrew banging the bodies on the track, they were well on their way to mounting a comeback.

The scoring was back and forth between both teams’ jammers and in the five jams left in the half, the Manics were able to mass 36 points setting the score at 79-44 in favor of The Fury.  Blocker-to-blocker defense and mammoth grand slams were the flavor for the first half and both teams were dishing out physical punishment in large doses.

As the second half got started, both teams rallied to their captains and coaches and the crowd was in a total uproar.  Five jams into it, The Fury teetered over the century mark and the score was set at 101-51.

As The Fury blocking force was making a minced meat pie out of Zoe Trocious, the Manic Attackers looked to their other jammers to help carry the heavy load of breathing life back into their team.

Wreck N Shrew, Beth Amphetamine and Ruth Enasia were working tirelessly to score for the Manic Attackers, but The Fury enlisted the likes of Sargentina to not only help her teammates recycle the would-be scorers back through the pack, but also to put a few more points up for her team as a jammer as well.

At every turn, there was a one-two combo of Fury blockers waiting for the Manic Attacker jammers and even though they were working hard to get something started for the Manics, it was almost fruitless.

The Manic Attackers still had some fight left in them as the bout was drawing to a close and veteran jammers Ruth Enasia and Beth Amphetamine weren’t going down without a fight.  Even rookie jammer Thievin’ Tyler, who debuted for the Manic Attackers in the final jam and scored her first ever four points, couldn’t bring her team up to a win.  The Fury brought down the house and held on to their winning streak, taking the Manic Attackers in a final score of 145-85.

Ol’ Drrrty Go-Go of The Fury was elected Player of the Game.

The Manic Attackers take on the winless Double Crossers next month and the Fury will take on the Hell’s Belles, as both teams will have a streak on the line as they face off on March 12th.

Right out of the gates, both teams’ blockers were mangling the jammers as they burned through the pack.  The physical play was tough, landing Fury jammer Kola Loka in the penalty box for a major blocking to the back penalty in the first jam.  Double Crossers blocker Georgia on Yer Behind and The Fury’s Sargentina were landing monolithic hits with extreme prejudice and had no issues controlling the pack.  Kola Loka came out of the box and exploded through her scoring pass to give the Fury and early 5-0 lead.

Hitting and scoring was back and forth early on in the first half.  Both teams were creating amazing opportunities for their jammers.  The Fury was stacking Red Zeppelin, T.S. Helliot, ODGG, Take Out Box, Yvette YourMaker and Carnage Wilson against the Double Crosser jammers with excellent success.  While the Double Crossers had the black wall of Georgia on Yer Behind, Norma Lee Wright, and Sassy Squash, which was nearly impregnable, The Fury proved to have a deeper jammer pool and the one-two combination of Kola Loka and Jackie Daniels was a deciding factor in the overall win.  Relying on solid blocking, the Double Crossers were leaning mostly on Indycent and Julia Rosenwinkel to handle the bulk of jammer duties.

The Fury set precedence in the first half with lots of jammer-on-jammer action behind the pack and a mountain of points racked up by Kola Loka, Jackie Daniels and crew.  The Double Crossers were working hard to keep the points pace but couldn’t react to the positional hitting that The Fury was dishing out and the half ended with The Fury up 63-24.

The beatings intensified after halftime and both teams were right back to dishing out serious punishment.  Take Out Box made her jamming debut of the night for The Fury and scored an impressive Grand Slam.  ODGG and Red Zeppelin were handing out hits left and right as Julia Rosenwinkel and Indycent worked their way through the pack.  Ska Face brought her A-Game to the table and scored a Grand Slam after exploding off the line and blowing through the pack unscathed.  Tomy Knockers took the track for the first time ever, and coupled with excellent blocking, scored nine points putting The Fury up 77-27.

Shortly thereafter, Double Crossers jammer Julia Rosenwinkel went down hard after a nerve-racking hit.  A few silent moments passed as she was helped off the track by the medical staff and the referees ended the jam.  The Crossers called on Joanie Utah and Karmageddon to help with jamming and even though The Fury continued to run Kola Loka, Jackie Daniels, Ska Face and Tomy Knockers through the pack, the Crossers started to mount a comeback.

Indycent, Joanie Utah and first-time jammer Dame Over scored impressive, multiple Grand Slams and brought the Crossers to within 16 points with only 2:49 left, and the score was set at 100-84.  With the bout turning into a nail biter, The Fury showed why they are the defending champs and shut down the Crossers point-scoring production.  Kola Loka and Jackie Daniels continued to put points on the board and heads-up blocking by T.S. Helliot and Sargentina held the Crossers at bay.  The Fury kept the lead and beat the Double Crossers 128-84 to extend their winning streak to 7-0.  Kola Loka was named Player of the Game after scoring 55 points for her team.  The Fury take on the Manic Attackers, the last team they lost to back in the 2010 season opener, while the Double Crossers face the Hell’s Belles on Feb. 13 at the UIC Pavilion.

The opening jam included Second Wind’s Pominatrix, Wreck 'N Shrew, Maya Ssault and Bork Bork Bork in the pack, putting the star on Zoe Trocious who fired off with a vicious fervor, getting Lead Jammer and scoring a quick “hit it and quit it” four points. Cincinnati had an opportunity to score early, getting Lead Jammer soon after, but fell short of scoring any points due to a hard-hitting Second Wind team. Though Silent Lamb jammer Wheezy was working tirelessly to help her team score, she gained a major for cutting the track and was sent to the penalty box, leaving Second Wind’s Rose Feratu to score 14 points with 19:30 left in the first half.

At 13 minutes left in the first half, Wheezy was able to finally get Cincinnati on the board with an impressive jam, yet the score remained a run-away at 68-12. Cincinnati’s blocking combination of Ruff’n the Passer and GlamourAzz were pivotal in letting her tally their first points. With the game starting to go blow for blow, both team’s blockers were making a fight for each other’s jammers. The Second Wind jammers were proving to hold more sway on the track by bringing their score up to 91-24 and leaving a veritable dust cloud behind them.

With less than two minutes left in the half, the Silent Lamb’s jammer Pistol Whippin’ Wendy lined up against Second Wind’s Pominatrix, who was making her bout debut as a jammer for the team, and Wendy was able to net nine points, bringing the score to 91-33. Pominatrix spent the better part of the jam in the box from a major Cutting the Track penalty. The score stood at 91-33 at the end of the first half in favor of the Second Wind.

Second Wind’s Ruth Enasia lined up against Pistol Whippin’ Wendy to start off the second half. Ruth Enasia was able to get Lead Jammer and with all but one of Cincinnati’s blockers in the penalty box throughout the jam, the Second Wind ran the pack and Ruth Enasia was able to knock down a 15-point jam setting the Second Wind over the century mark with a score of 106-33. On the next jam, the Silent Lambs were rotating players through the penalty box leaving an open pack for the Second Wind to score on. Rose Feratu racked up a 20-point scoring jam, giving her team a 126-33 lead. The Second Wind began sending other jammers through the pack including Red Zeppelin who scored four points, Wreck ‘N Shrew who also scored four points and Bork Bork Bork who barreled through the pack like a woman possessed, quickly picking up a 4^th minor and major forearm and spending a quick minute in the penalty box. With Bork Bork Bork in the box, Wheezy was able to pick up another five points for Cincinnati and the score was 134-46. Pack work proved to be chaotic at times for both sides, and each of the teams were starting to rack up penalty minutes. With 9:38 left in the game, Cincinnati’s Miss Print got a power jam opportunity with Zoe Trocious in the penalty box. She was never able to capitalize and earned herself a Cutting the Track major, letting Zoe Trocious out of the box and collecting ten points for the Second Wind, setting the score at 160-67, Second Wind.

With 7:21 left in the game, the Silent Lamb’s Polly Rocket took advantage of a lull in play to get the Cincinnati fans involved by giving a little dance and waving her hands in the air. With the crowd behind her, she was able to get Lead Jammer and score an impressive 19 points, bringing the score up to 160-86. Cincinnati Bench Coach Quad Almighty called a timeout with 35 seconds left on the clock in hopes to put some points on the board and bring the score closer. Pominatrix lined up against Bombtrack from the Silent Lambs and was able to get Lead Jammer but was then sent to the penalty box for a major Illegal Procedure penalty. This left the floor open for Cincinnati and gave Bombtrack a power jam opportunity where she quickly scored 10 points. Though their efforts were valiant, the Silent Lambs could never mount a large enough attack to fend off the Second Wind. On a scale of one to ten, the action was a 20 and the crowd supporting both sides was regaled with a cavalcade of awesome hits and benevolent scoring. The Second Wind has proved once again that they have the salt to take on any team the WFTDA can throw at them.

In an effort to keep their momentum going throughout the rest of the season, the Windy City Rollers Second Wind plays the Rocky Mountain B Team on August 21st at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. Come support the ladies of the Windy City Rollers and be prepared to be wowed and amazed.

The two teams spent the first 14 minutes in a defensive war, with the Fury setting the tone early. In the fifth jam, Sargentina put consecutive big hits on Crossers Donna Party and Sassy Squash; when Ska Face was sent to the box on a major, with help from Jackie Daniels and Go-Go Hatchet, Sargentina orchestrated a fierce penalty kill on Party’s powerjam. She would finish the game with an eye-popping 30 offensive/defensive actions and be just the second blocker this season to win HOWCOOL.COM Player-of-the-Game honors.

The Fury gave the Crossers a bit of their own medicine, winning the slow-down game that the Crossers used to grind down the Manics in February. The two teams started the 11th jam with the Crossers up just 12-9. Loka finally broke it open with a nine point jam against full-strength blocking, and teammate Ska Face followed with two grand slams in the 12th. Indy Cent picked up nine of her 23 points in the 14th, and two jams later Julia Rosenwinkel stormed out of the box with :55 left in the jam, leaving Adore and Red Zeppelin in her wake on the way to nine points.  Down just 37-33 with 2:15 left in the half, the Fury took lead jam on the last two rounds. Daniels ended the half on what has become her signature in this first WCR season since transferring from Grand Raggedy—the four-point hit-and-quit.

After half-time, despite some inspired play by Crosser blocker Karmageddon and Pivot/Jammer Nina Millimeter, the game never felt close. The Fury built a 34-point lead midway through the second half by controlling the pack; Hatchet, Adore, and Sargentina engineered walls of white up front, and Fury jammers Loka and Daniels played physical off the line against the Crossers’ leading scorer, Julia Rosenwinkel. The Crosser Captain, who seemed to wring just about everything possible from her injury-plagued team this season, went pointless on four of her last six jams against withering defense. Loka doubled Rosenwinkel in points, 41-19 to lead all WCR jammers at the end of the season with 273 points.

The Fury—with six top-shelf All-Stars on the roster—simply out-muscled the Crossers down the stretch and won pulling away. In a respectful gesture to players who saw little game play all year, Rosenwinkel emptied the Crosser bench in the last three jams; Tina Flay, Apple Hackintosh, Abbey, and Joanie Utah got a chance to absorb some hits from the Fury, who never let off the gas.

These two teams will line up for the third time this season and all the marbles on Championship Saturday, June 5^th. Think this one is all sewn up?  Just ask the Manic Attackers, who needed every second of their game to squeak past the winless Hell’s Belles on Saturday. In roller derby, anything can happen and probably will. See you there.

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.