Forest City takes two – Ladies lunch on Royal City – Thames and Filles du Roi in grudge match

Jen “Sure Shot” Wilson, the first photographer to witness GTAR coming out of the Derby ooze, captured the doubleheader at Forest City using her trusted Spotmatic film camera. When she’s not shooting Derby her works can be found at www.jenr8.

This story contains the notes and photos of Jen Wilson, along with contributions from Dr. Johnny Capote.

The story of the day would be the heated rematch between the Thames Fatales and Les Filles du Roi, the victors at Beast of the East 2010. During that tournament the Fatales had fallen to FDR by 91 to 12.

Whenever Montreal has been on the road this year, it’s always a question as to who would be on the track this time? The match at Tri-City had featured a short-benched Contrabanditas with substitutes from the other MTLRD teams, as had the match between CN Power and the Sexpos. So in the bout at Forest city, who would Les Filles du Roi  feature on the roster? While the programme stated the following: “That’s What She Said / Asil-X / Raffy Duck / Krakatoa / Beth Rave / Magnum P.E.I. / Waxey McBush / Al Strapone / Phunky Bladz / Dame of Doom”, all in all there three imports played for Les Filles du Roi that night: Rouge, Nameless Whorror, and Krakatoa.

No matter the line-up, Les Filles de Roi always play it tough, and it is never a good idea to cross them. Especially with Nameless Whorror in their line-up for the day.

Although Montreal has been going through a small string of losses on the road, says Dr. Johnny Capote on Montreal: “They just have been sending patched-up rosters lately, not by choice. And the house teams have been off since August 6th” after the Montreal Roller Derby league’s Championship game ended with Les Contrabanditas fending off Filles du Roi 99-80 in a Ditas jammer penalty filled second half that nearly doomed their chances of winning.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Jen Wilson noted: “The second game was a grudge match between London’s Thames Fatales and Quebec’s Les Filles Du Roi. The crowd needed to be coaxed to roar as the evening took on a slightly more serious vibe. Mirambo keep the energy going as Killson as jammer raced circles around everyone. Slacker Smacker was also jamming a lot but looked like she was taking a beating on her right hip. Les Filles fought hard but was always a bit behind. Magnum P.E.I. was huge and it looked like she would be an impenetrable blocker. However, she was a bit slow and the Thames pack would target her early and hold her at bay. Krakatoa and That’s What She Said did some excellent jamming for Les Filles du Roi, but London was just too strong and they won the game. They were fast and it was a hard brutal physical battle with the emergency crew coming onto the rink at least once, but thankfully no one was seriously injured. It was a great night for the Forest City Roller Derby and Thames got their measure of revenge.

—–

“The night started with an awesome match between the London Luscious Lunch Ladies and the Royal City Rollergirls All-Stars from Guelph. It was an intense game. London had a good lead into half-time with Mighty Thor and Box Kick Betty doing a lot of the jamming against Guelph’s Hot Cross Guns and the Archbitch of Slamterbury. In the second half Guelph came back strong with The Hellcat of Panar jamming quick and slick through a lot of trouble. When trouble found her in the form of the London blockers though, she would fly. London put up a good fight but Guelph quickly caught up to them. They were a mere 3 points behind with seconds left on the clock!

“During the last jam the Lunch Ladies jammer on lead was in the penalty box when the Royal City jammer got caught up in the blockers, and just then the LL jammer came out of the penalty box and burst through the blockers and then stopped the jam. The crowd went wild! It was amazing!” The final score was 138-135. So close!!”

It should be safe to say that the night’s loss is not a reflection on the future of Montreal Roller Derby. “It’s more about who’s left to play travel games,” says Dr. Johnny Capote.  Speaking about the future and upon the Royal City Rollergirls, he says: “They are only missing a piece or two that only time develops. I saw them at CWRDA East, and really liked what I saw.”

-30-

all photos courtesy of Jen Wilson at www.jenr8.com/

Jen Wilson’s background in Derby: “I took photos of Toronto’s Derby Debutantes when they first started practicing, but I have never been to a real game until this October 1st game here in London. I really didn’t know what to expect. I took a place on the floor in the “suicide seats” area. That was cool. I also placed myself by the corner and figured I wouldn’t move around, just catch whatever action I could from there. I figured that if I moved around too much I would miss something on the other side of the rink, and I didn’t have a zoom. I was also worried about the film so I brought 400 and 200 speed, 200 being the best. I set the aperture (2.4) and speed (125) and then waited for the fun.

“Roller derby action seemed easier to capture than break dancing, which was hard to imagine because the skaters are pretty fast around that rink, but I think it was easier to anticipate when action was going to happen because I was watching the game unfold and I could see the jammers coming up to the blockers. When the players all get together you can tell there’s gonna be business.”

“I love the unpredictability of it. And I also love being a part of the game as a spectator and feeling the energy of it. That translates to the photos if I’m enjoying the game and not really worried about what I want the pictures to look like. I am there more to enjoy the game and enjoy taking pictures of the game. That’s what gives me the photos that I like.”

all photos courtesy of Jen Wilson

Lippy! and the New Ditas

A strange melange of Les Contrabanditas took to the track in New Hamburg on a Saturday night to take on the flying Vicious Dishes of Tri-City.

DSC_5205 originally uploaded by Midnight Matinee 24.

—
noted along with Dr. Johnny Capote:

The Tri-City Rollergirls were just about ready to wrap up their regular home season throwing in their newest and “black and bluest” Total Knock-Outs against the D-VAS from Toronto Roller Derby to start off the evening. Then the second half of the double-header featured Les Contrabanditas from Montreal Roller Derby [MTLRD] against the Vicious Dishes.

It was a strange time to be on Les Contrabanditas. Players who did not normally wear the red and black awoke and made the trip to Tri-City. The roster at Tri-City was not what Dr. Johnny Capote saw in Montreal this summer.

Our own trips up to Tri-City this year up to the Waterloo Rec Centre always came with some manner of ride to the arena by very generous people within the league or someone officiating [thanks Suzy Slam, Christa Jane, T-Ref], and this time we were met by Lippy Wrongstockings herself and the husband sometimes known as Big Bag who adorned with kilt leads in the charges of the Thunder or Dishes or Venus Fly Tramps with his bagpipes. On the way there was a bit of chat harkening back to the last venture to New Hamburg itself to see CN Power and the Thunder. Then the famous encounter of the Thunder against the Montreal Sexpos last August who brought along names such as Georgia W. Tush, Trash ‘n Smash, Nameless Whorror into their lineup. Wonder what became of them since then? So almost as a jest, it was asked who would possibly be in the Contrabanditas roster for the night? And we found out.

This was not the Skiditas. Even Sparkle ‘n Maim from La Racaille switched sides for a day. Rookie Ti Loup who had just been jamming with the Sexpos at ToRD against CN Power and down at the Big 5 Eastern championships with the New Skids on the Block as their third jammer … Greta Bobo from La Racaille … Bikini Skills [co-captain of Sexpos, triple threat with Ditas], blocker Dame of Doom, Charlotte Bruise-A-Lot co-captain, Ninja Simone [co-captain, blocker and pivot with Ditas and blocker with Sexpos], Ti-Loup, Roch Dee Taunt blocker … add in Bean Stalker, Naughty Bee Oh!Henry from the Hammer and this was definitely not Ricky Balboa’s usual line-up of Les Contrabanditas. Regardless the Ditas team came to play.

The Vicious Dishes came out with their precision style of speed and blocking and jumped to a very quick lead. Boss Applesauce had her Dishes ready. Motorhead Molly, Skate Pastor, Lippy Wrongstockings, the ceaseless jammer rotation for the Dishes going against the likes of Ti-Loup, Naughty Bee, Greta Bobo. It truly was one of the fastest games seen this summer. And for the first time, Matt S Faction granted photographer access to the centre of the track itself. If the game seemed fast from the outside, trying to track the players from the middle was a thrilling challenge. Not only were Lippy Wrongstockings and Ti Loup and Motorhead Molly and company keeping up a blazing pace, the inner track referees following and calling were another impediment to the view, or they could be embraced and become part of the action itself. The centre is a world of its own with all the bodies on the inside, referees, NSOs, penalty wranglers, line and stats trackers, the referees. The roar of skates is something the crowd doesn’t hear from the stands, and the four blasts of the whistle calling off the jam is indeed earsplitting.

The score stood at 85-10 which looked bleak, but based on the comeback, the Contrabanditas coach Ricky Balboa got everybody in line. The new and current Ditas began to blend and stepped up the pace.

“It doesn’t matter what team you give to Balboa, he won’t accept lack of effort from his players, this I know,” says Dr. Johnny Capote.

There were maybe a couple of unconventional jammers for the Dishes on the night, with sin-e-star wearing the star once. Then Stacie Jones was put in as last jammer for the night with Motorhead Molly as a blocker, but the Contrabanditas were not giving up with Ti Loup running up a final 14-4 jam.

The final score of 117-80 was an indication of the Ditas ability to claw back and what could have been.

One of the TKOs comments: “I’d like to say that Tri-City had home turf advantage, but the truth is that the Ditas were a brand new team almost, and there were players fielded from Hammer City to fill the roster. It probably wasn’t the best situation that the Ditas could be in, but they pulled it together pretty quickly for what they had to do to play the game. P’tit Loup was still on fire – it was nuts to see her play another away game right after returning from Easterns!”

As the track was being dismantled, and the scoreboards wiped clean and display tables carted away,  more Derby goodness was on the offering with not just one but two offers of rides back to Toronto, and indeed, two is better than none. Bidding farewell to the players and volunteers who were fueling up on the after-bout repast that Tri City always seems to provide [and being given access to a slice of pizza], they like most leagues everywhere do treat everybody right. Everyone is always willing to field a question or two about Derby, there were multi-discussions with players and coaches about strategies and plays such as the crowded jammer line at the Westerns. So on the ride home, it was comfortable to talk about what people saw on the track, learn more about the draft and the future of the D-VAS in Toronto Roller Derby and tactics once again.

All in all there are good people in Derby everywhere, on and off the track, all promoting the world of Derby, and we feel privileged to know them. And we don’t take any of this for granted.

Soon to come: more catching up with the stories of being on the road this summer in the pursuit of Derby.

all content copyright © midnight matinee

Just another Derby Weekend

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now

/… more to come

La Racaille and Debutantes collide at Social Class Clash

DSC_7265, originally uploaded by Midnight Matinee 24.

Bone Machine urging La Racaille on in the clash with Derby Debutantes

This story is still in the creation stage …

It was another clash of the classes as the rabble rousing La Racaille ventured down the road from Montreal for the first time to bout with the Debutantes of GTAR for supremacy at Social Class Clash. The bout held at the Ted Reeve Arena Bubble on the weekend of the 16th of April was a bone chilling [literally] affair filled with the promise and threat of speed on both sides.

 

Team Introductions

It may have been with no small measure of relief for the Debutantes that Bone Machine was back with her old team for the night—Canada’s #3 house team La Racaille—only as bench coach. It could have been quite the roster too if former Racaille Iron Wench, No Holds Barrd,  Lyndah Kicks [and Bone Machine] were not now all permanently rostered with New Skids on the Block. But La Racaille still held the likes of Sexpos’ K-Dawg, Sparkle ‘n Maim, Squarrior and their new bloods were not without their own imminent menace on the roster of ten for the night.

However, for the Derby Debutantes [ranked #21 house team on rollergirl.ca], it had been a long winter scrimmaging and beating the hell out of each other and Chrome Mollys. Memories of their last exhibition match [with a mixed roster of RVRG and GTAR] down in Green Mountain were a season ago. Scrimmages with Royal City, participation in Blood & Thunder and the RVRG Black & White game and other opportunities to skate proved useful and a chance to get Derby legs going.

So with the arrival of April, the Debs brought it on, deciding to face Slaughter Daughters and Montreal in back to back pre-season matches. The Derby Debutantes encounter at Parliament Kill featuring the RVRG Slaughter Daughters on the 9th of April was a bruising wake-up call for the team.

La Racaille are coming to town!

Mark April 16 on your Derby calendar for next month. La Racaille are coming to Toronto.

New Skids hoping to score Canadian goose points

Montreal vs Oly – The OFFICIAL Recap

Post update:

Sunday night: Oh well. 2 out of 3 ain’t bad indeed! Oly 212 Skids 53.

A link to the story is here: Oly Rollers vs New Skids

Saturday night: New SKids on the Block 121 Jet City Bombers 100 !

Skids are 2 for 2 on their Western swing!

Friday night:
As the New Skids head out West to get their Derby education they come from being behind at halftime 70-41 to take down Rat City All Stars 103 – 110!

---

Listening to Derby Deeds is so much fun!

Good luck New Skids taking on the new Trifecta for a fast series of bouts- Rat City Friday, Jet City Saturday,  Oly Sunday?

“We like quickies,” says Tushy McGee of New SKids who was the guest du jour.

Bonne chance! Maybe going overseas? Boston end of February, Beast, Texas, Houston in July when it’s hot to make up for the Canadian cold.

Sunday there will be a dance off. Will the pants be off ?

The untold story so far-One Year today in Derby

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

There have been Derby moments of moments when arose the fateful day that steered our life towards a bright destiny. As Bryan Adams might have said back in the summer of ’69 it was the best year of our life.

It all began one year ago today with this moment.

We call this  our first Derby photograph.
—

Hurl Scout Cheerleaders at Toronto International Festival 2009

Life has never been the same since this little movie.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee/4002642662/in/set-72157622442723745/”>Whip It!

The following words are a story of a life in Derby that has not been told in public before. This was a story intended for elsewhere but this is that story.
—

A Fistful of Brawlers! Tri-City Thunder at home vs. Montreal Sexpos – August 28, 2010

This story appears on Derby Spotlight at: A Fistful of Brawlers
The gallery of photos for this bout are on Flickr at: www.flickr.com/photos/midnightmatinee57/

A Fistful of Brawlers marked the return of the Montreal Sexpos into the corral of the Tri-City Thunder. A mere near two years ago at Little Bout of Horrors, the Montreal Sexpos had gotten the measure of the Thunder over in Old New Hamburg. Was revenge a dish best served cold for the Thunder?

The line-ups are as follows:

Montreal Sexpos (dressed in blue):
Georgia W Tush 40oz
Chasing Amy 454
Trash n Smash 1.18L
Bone Machine 11:11
Charlotte Bruise a Lot 3
Hurricane Hayles 74mph
Hymen Danger 11
Low Dive Jenny 796.21
Beats per Minute 33/45
Nameless Whorror 202
K-Dawg 42

Tri-City Thunder (dressed in black):
3 Kitty Krasher
9 Anita Martini
4i Jill Standing
5oh Cellblock Bettie
18 Bare Leigh Legal [captain]
19 Lippy Wrongstockings
22 Freudian Whip
33 Suzy Slam [on the sidelines]
37 Lilith No Fair
over 80 Gunmoll Mindy
204 Motorhead Molly
306 sin-e-star [captain]
952 Greta Garbage

HURRICANE HAYLES of Montreal Sexpos, “I was part of the Contrabanditas when they played Tri-City here in Montreal back in May, [May 29th doubleheader in Montreal with Tri-City Thunder vs. Contrabanditas followed by Boston Tea Party vs. La Racaille] which was a win for the Ditas, but the Sexpos by no means underestimated Tri-City Thunder because of this.”

Furthermore, “we knew they had trained with our A Travel Team, The New Skids on the Block after this, so we fully expected the team to have a different strategy and game play. So we were pretty much going into a bit of unknown territory and knew that it would not be an easy game and that TCRG were a really good league. We’ve worked hard over the last few weeks but we knew TCRG were doing exactly the same!”

The tandem of announcers from Montreal Plastic Patrik Pink and Thunder’s Lightnin’ Slim rekindled the exciting energy of Beast of the East 2010. The Sexpos brought eleven skaters but only 10 entered the bout itself. The Thunder had generously allowed four members of WFTDA’s New Skids on the Block to bout with the Sexpos in the presences of 40oz Georgia W. Tush, 202 Nameless Whorror, 1111 Bone Machine and 18 Trash n’ Smash. Not bad at all!

With Sexpos rookie #454 Chasing Amy on the first lineup in her debut followed by #11 Hymen Danger, #33/45 Beats Per Minutes and #40oz Georgia W. Tush [nimble bunny] jamming against Thunder’s 204 Motorhead Molly, 5oh Cellblock Bettie, 3 Kitty Crasher and 19 Lippy Wrongstockings, the Sexpos built a 4-0, 10-0, 19-0 and 28-0 lead and visions of another Beast of the East shutout flashed before my eyes before Celllblock Bettie #5 for the Thunder broke the shutout with her own grandslam for a 29-5 comeback. Within three jams the score had closed to 29-12. It was no easy task at all for Thunder having to encounter the additional New Skids on the line. However, by the first timeout the Sexpos were assured with a 44-12 lead with a 9 point run by Beats Per Minute. Thunder were to score only one more point while Sexpos accrued three more grand slams and the first half ended at 61-13 for the Montreal squad.

“I think the game saw some great plays from both teams and the score for me doesn’t really reflect how tough a job it was for us on the Sexpos. We skated with 10 players so we were all on every other jam, sometimes more. Not all of us were used to that kind of intensity. I personally remember being pretty grateful for half time when it came!” says Hurricane Hayles.

After the intermission the game really revved into top gear with Thunder striking back with a vengeance.

“The half time break must have seen a fantastic motivational speech in the Tri-City Thunder dressing room because when they came back they prevented us getting lead jammer a number of times, which caused us on a couple of lines to rethink strategy and try to adapt our playing and hold on to the lead which was ever shrinking at this point,” says Hurricane Hayles.
With twenty minutes left in the final period the score was closed to 62-39 with Thunder’s Cellblock Bettie jamming against 33/45 Beats Per Minute on the line. Next jam Hymen Danger vs. Lippy Wrongstockings narrowed the lead even further to 62-41. Then Georgia W. Tush took off against Motorhead Molly with a resultant 71-46. Bone Machine against Cellblock Bettie then Lippy against Hymen Danger again saw the Sexpos lead soar away. With the score posted on the scoreboard at 78-46 with 14 minutes left on the game clock, and Chasing Amy in a power jam lineup with the towering Trash n Smash, Beats Per Minute, Low Dive Jenny, Bone Machine and Hymen Danger [gold helmet 11], the total Montreal shutdown came into effect with a combination of the famed Montreal slow pack guarding the inside, effective blockers forcing Thunder jammers to the outside boundary lines with a flying block or two, and a tight pack squeezing daylight away from Thunder jammers. The Montreal blocking was like a smooth machine, so in sync with each other. Both the Thunder and Montreal surprisingly sped away the pack themselves trying to make it difficult for jamming points.

Hurricane Hayles comments: “Once we managed to get our heads and plays together again we seemed to do a lot better. Although we suffered from a little bit of penalty trouble we were thankfully never too short handed on track and managed to avoid a full sin bin.”

The lead expanded to 88-46. Slowplay tactics at the start of jams to kill time and counter Sexpos’ penalty situations thwarted Thunders best efforts by Bare-Leigh Legal, Greta Garbage or sin-e-star and Lilith NoFair to negate the wall that was Nameless Whorror and Trash n Smash and the situational Montreal blockers K-Dawg, Hurricane Hayles or triple threat captain Beats Per Minute.

Thunder tried to hit back but the team that were able to counter newly minted WFTDA full members Lake Effect Furies with their own pack strategies were facing another team in a league of their own. [“It was like the NBA!” said one Thunder after the match.] At 91-46 with Cellblock Bettie and Beats Per Minute on the line, Thunder were never to garner another point despite best efforts by her teammates to get Cellblock Bettie through, she getting knocked down not once but twice trying to blast through the wall of doom that was Nameless Whorror along with the likes of Hymen Danger and others-and another knee down situation with Jill Standing on the floor. “A more efficient way of working in comparison to the beginning of the second half saw us finish at 115-46,” finishes Hurricane Hayles.

“The TCRG are wonderful hosts and amazing skaters and I always thoroughly enjoy playing with them. I truly look forward to seeing them all again for more hard skating and fun times at Beast of the East 2011!”

Tri-City Thunders captains sin-e-star and Bare-Leigh-Legal graciously conclude this story. “We are super proud of how our girls played. MTLRD is a force on the track and they are among the best in the world. It is always so much fun to play them and they are an amazingly talented league of athletes. Every game we play against them we view as a learning opportunity. We learned so much this weekend and look forward to analyzing and dissecting the game. Games like this remind us of how far we have to go in derby but also how unbelievably far we have come. We heart TCRG…DMN8! Oh, and lastly…ok Sexpos, you took the first one, and now the second….but third time’s a charm…we’ll be back

Grateful acknowledgement to everyone on the Tri-City Thunder and Montreal Sexpos including Bare-Leigh Legal, sin-e-star, Anita Martini, Lippy Wrongstockings, Pepper Assault, Hurricane Hayles, and to MTLRD Johnny Capote and GTAR’s Canadian Psycho and Coach Marquis. Anyone who I missed in naming, you are still acknowledged.

One nice benefit at the very end of the night as we were packing camera gear for the trip back to the bright lights big city was the after concert by The Shanks as they played their merry raucous tunes as the crowd exited the Waterloo Memorial Auditorium and their number one fan was videotaping the two members for the night band. Their CD “The Dark Richard Show” was presented and has been listened to more than once to get through the sad times with Christmas Star our favourite song of the moment which is so Big Star Adventureland moody.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.