The bout began business as usual for the Second Wind, with Mo Vengeance scoring a quick 4 points to give Chicago an early lead. As the first half rolled on, Bleeding Heartland took Second Wind to the mat for a ground and pound style game play and put up an impressive 26 points before the Second Wind could bounce back. Between Terror d’Bits and Nuck L. Sammy, Bleeding Heartland was scoring almost at will, keeping Tamikaze and Tomy Knockers busy working in tandem to hold the opposing jammers at bay as the first half was winding down. Second Wind came back to tie, but Bleeding Heartland kept inching away before the end of the first half, sending both teams to the locker room with the score locked at 42-40 in Bleeding Heartlands favor.

Second Wind came out firing in the second half and immediately took the lead back into Chicago’s hands. The lead seesawed early on, but the Second Wind turned the heat up on Bleeding Heartland, taking the fight back to the Flatliners. Behind killer blocking by T.S. Helliot, Dinah Party, Sassy Squash, AliSin Chains, Hermione Danger, Janicide Joplin and Rose Feratu, there was no turning back for the ladies in blue.

Jammer Mo Vengeance was the pinnacle for the Second Wind's win, scoring an impressive 19-point jam with just under seven minutes left in the bout. The entire team pulled together, dropping hit after massive hit to keep Bleeding Heartland at bay, with Second Wind coming out on top with a score of 92-87. The Second Wind capped an amazing season with a terrific win.

Tamikaze was awarded Player of the Game.

In the second bout Saturday night at UIC Pavilion, the Manic Attackers took on the Double Crossers.  With their spot in the Ivy King Cup secure due to The Fury’s victory over the Hells Belles in the first bout of the evening, the Manic Attackers looked to build momentum heading towards the championship.  For their part, the Double Crossers looked to end the season on a positive note, despite the fact that they faced a tough uphill fight without a number of their key players including Captain Georgia on Yer Behind, Sassy Squash, Indycent, and Berg.

The Manic Attackers got off to a fast start as Bork Bork Bork, Amy Nonamey, Mo Vengeance, AliSin Chains, and Tamikaze frustrated the Crossers jammers and opened holes for Manic jammers Wreck N Shrew, Zoe Trocious, Beth Amphetamine, and Thieven’ Tyler.  By the fifth jam, the Manics had built a 39-0 lead on rookie Thieven Tyler’s nine point jam.  The Double Crossers refused to go quietly into the night, however, and on the next jam, Crossers Captain Julia Rosenwinkel picked up a grand slam on nice offensive blocking from the Crossers pack.  Abbey then picked up another four points for the Crossers in the seventh jam to give them hope.

Despite inspired and determined play from the Double Crossers pack including Karmageddon, Norma Lee Wright, Joanie Utah, Tina Flay, Miss D. Meaner, Sunshine N Painbows, and Teriyaki, the Manics reasserted control of the pack and built an 80-9 lead by the fourteenth jam.  In the fifteenth jam, rookie Crossers jammer Dani Get Your Guns picked up lead and three points despite starting the jam in the box behind strong defense from Karmageddon, Sunshine N Painbows, and Tina Flay.  To make the Crossers struggle more difficult, the jam ended with Karma injured and out of the bout on a big hit from Wreck N Shrew.  The Crossers did not score again in the first period and the Manics built a 93-12 lead by halftime on strong jams from rookies Bellatrix Lapain and Thieven Tyler.

In the second period, the Manics picked up where they left off, extending their lead to 135-12 by the fourth jam.  The Double Crossers continued to trade vicious hits in the pack with the Manic blockers, and their hard work paid off with their Julia Rosenwinkel and Dani Get Your Guns picking up points in the fifth, eighth, and tenth jams, including a 14-point jam from Julia.  The Manic depth took its toll over the course of the bout, and they were able to jam most players on the team, getting points from veteran pack players Val Capone, Bork Bork Bork, and Tamikaze, and rookies Boo Meringue, Beaster Bunny, and Lola Getz.  With the clock at zero, the Manics prevailed by a score of 238-35 and set the stage for the upcoming match-up with The Fury for the Ivy King Cup.

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.

Sports Illustrated

Chicago Fan’s Guide

The crowds at these roller derby events are not overly large, but what they lack in capacity, they more than make up for in fervor. Many paint their faces or wear skull masks in support of their favorite teams. Players are accessible for autographs before and after matches, but be aware that many stay in character.

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 Gapers Block

There Can Only Be One (2010 Champ, That Is)

This year's batch of Rollers came back from the last season leaner and meaner than ever before; the league as a whole upped the ante, practicing harder, smarter, and more often, and it definitely shows.

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 Chicago Now

Windy City Rollers Rock the House!

You still have time to catch the Windy City Rollers, as they'll host their Home Season Championship on June 5th as they battle for the Ivy Cup.  Tix can be purchased online for $20 and if you want to really get up and close you can get track tix for $35.

Read the article!

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.

Metromix

Windy City Rollers

The Manic Attackers take on Hell’s Belles, and the Double Crossers face the Fury at this professional women’s roller derby league competition. The Revelettes go-go troupe performs. Doors open at 5 p.m. The first 300 attendees receive a keychain.

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Peter Coffinail

Tour de Pain: A Stroll Through the Roller Derby Community

Flying around somewhere in the ozone is the thought that women’s sports isn’t going to play second fiddle to a man’s world any more... In the capable hands of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association or WFTDA, Roller Derby in the United States is on the rise and fulfilling the role as a validated women’s sport.

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ChiIL Mama

Windy City Rollers Fun: Sagezilla and Du-Jay Go VIP for May Day

The kids had fun with the masked manic, and Mya Ssault still gamely smiled and posed for pixs after getting smashed in the face.

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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.

Sassy Squash, currently in her third season as a Double Crosser, is emerging as a skater to watch out for thanks to her brutal blocking skills.

Loco Chanel: This is your third year with the Windy City Rollers, can you compare and contrast the feelings of going into this season vs. seasons prior?

Sassy Squash: This season has been a very different from the past seasons for me. When I was first drafted to the Double Crossers, the team was pretty established-- most of the players had been on it for a few seasons. I felt that second season was also a learning season for me; I really tried to focus on improving my game and knowledge of derby.  I also joined the Second Wind, which was a great experience to work with girls from other teams and try out interleague play. This season is very different on our team; with most of our star players gone or retired, we 3^rd season girls really had to step up for our team. It’s a very exciting and scary feeling.

LC: What's your sports experience prior to joining the Windy City Rollers?

SS: Before joining derby, I didn’t have much experience in playing team sports. I have always been an active person, mostly in the gym or organized classes like martial arts, boxing, spin. Derby brings all that up a notch. I am constantly looking for ways to challenge myself and bring my game to the next level.
 

LC: You were awarded Player of the Game in Bout 2 vs the Manic Attackers, and I believe you're the first dedicated blocker who's been given that honor for a home season game. What are your thoughts on that experience?

SS: I was honored and surprised.  I was not aware that I was the first dedicated blocker to be given the award. Very cool! I think my team went into that game with the decision to win it, and we all fought hard, it was very exciting win for us. I think that I really raised the bar for myself on a personal level with that game, and hope to continue to do so throughout the rest of my derby experience.

LC: What's been your favorite WCR memory/ experience thus far?

SS: There are so many memories and experiences in WCR for me so far. I think the one that stands out the most right now is when I got Player of the Game, it was really exciting and such an honor. This past game was also a great experience for me, my team really pulled together. I look forward to playing out the rest of the season.

If Round One of the 2010 Windy City Rollers home-league season featured speed on speed when the Manic Attackers lined up against the Fury, this past Sunday night, February 21, 2010, the Double Crossers kept their game against the Manics turning at 33 1/3. In a game with just one jam total over ten points, The Double Crossers  shut down the Manics 105-84 and blocker Sassy Squash grabbed Player of the Game.
The Double Crossers, who now at 2-0 sit atop the standings, took a page from the Denver playbook and slowed down the Manic attack. Able to sustain a thick, deliberate pack for much of the first half and the game’s last ten minutes, the Crossers repeatedly left the Manics looking flat. In the seventh jam, a low-block major on Beth Amphetamine created a power jam situation for the XXer’s IndyCent, who finished with 26 points.  The Black and Silver trapped Wreck N Shrew and added to the lead that they would maintain through most of the first 30 minutes.

With seven minutes left in the half, Zoe Trocious ignited the Manics with a pretty jam during which she burst past game MVP Sassy Squash and made Nina Millimeter whiff. The precocious Trocious led five of her eight jams. Amphetamine fought off wicked defense by Georgia on Yer Behind and Norma Lee Wright to pick up five on the next jam, and the Manics were within 4.  Di Richmond laid a trio of big hits on XXer captain Julia Rosenwinkel in the next jam, and with help from Rose Feratu, Ruth Enasia put the Manics ahead going into the last jam of the half, with the score 38-36 at halftime.

Enasia started the second half where she left off, putting up ten on the first jam. Wreck and pivot Ada Hatelace bottled up Indycent and forced a backblock major, setting up a Trocius power jam and five more points. With Indycent in the box, Amphetamine racked up two grand slams in the third; just three jams into the second half, up 63-46, the Manics looked like they’d figured out the Crossers. On the fifth and seventh jams, however, Manic penalties revealed the potential of the slow-down game. With just two Manic blockers on the track, XXer jammer Donna Party cut their lead to eight points.  When Enasia was sent off a few minutes later, Millimeter ran up a 20-point jam while her blockers rode the brakes. The Manics would briefly pull within five at the 12-minute mark, but Squash and Donna Party rolled wide and slow from there, creating a wall of black that Manic jammers couldn’t bust.

Squash, the big and increasingly nimble third-year veteran, wore the Denver boot well. Playing opposite a trio of the best defensive blockers in the league—Wreck, Di Richmond, and Amy Nonamey—Squash loomed large, both plugging holes and blowing them open. She registered 15 defensive and nine offensive actions, including seven jammer force-outs.

The March 27th bout shapes up like a Spring Halloween—Black on Orange. The Crossers-Fury match-up will pit the two deepest, if not best, teams in the league. In its two games so far, the Crossers have used six different jammers, and mostly sat their rookies; Riley Coyote, who added both muscle and speed last year, has yet to skate this season.  The Fury will blow in with a roster packed with travel-team aces, A-List transfers, and home-league veterans. Scary!