Apr 25, 2015 | Bout News

All-Stars Take On Windy City In The Eleventh Wind

Today, the Minnesota RollerGirls will conclude Season 11 at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium with a headline WFTDA match up between the Minnesota RollerGirls All-Stars and the Windy City Rollers All-Stars from Chicago, IL. As a kickoff to the 2015 All-Star season, this bout will be an important test of a new Minnesota RollerGirls All-Star roster.

The Teams

Minnesota and Windy City will both be fielding rosters that are missing some big names from the 2014 season. For Windy City, they’ll be skating without Sargentina, Yvette YourMaker, KonichiWOW, Bork Bork Bork, and Jackie Daniels. Minnesota will be without Slambda Phage, Harmony Killerbruise, L’exi Cuter, Crowella De Vil, and MEDUSA. No team wants to lose some of its best talent from one year to the next, but both these leagues have well-developed recruiting operations and deep home-season competition that means that new top-level talent is waiting in the wings. This will be a chance for both Windy City and Minnesota to showcase the depth of talent on their respective leagues. Minnesota especially will be looking to set the pace for a strong season as this is their first All-Star bout of 2015

The Rivalry

Windy City is one of the Minnesota RollerGirls’ longest-running rivalries. Both are founding leagues in the WFTDA, and during the years when WFTDA used a regional qualifying format, both were among the top teams every year in the North Central region. The matchup that started as a one-sided contest with Windy’s 206-18 victory in August 2008 has evolved to a perennial barn-burner. Four of the last five times these teams have met, the final score has been within 10 points, and every time has been hard-hitting for both teams and heart-pumping for the audience.

The Tie

Minnesota has never officially won a game against Windy City, but paradoxically Windy City’s record is not perfect either. During these teams last meeting at the Roy Wilkins on June 16, 2012, the final whistle blew with Minnesota ahead on the scoreboard, but a scorekeeping error from earlier in the game meant that the score really stood at a 155-155 tie. Unfortunately, this error was discovered after the skaters had already left the facility so holding a proper overtime jam was impossible – the score stands in history as a tie game, a fact that has always left a sour taste in Minnesota fans’ mouths. If the score is close going into the final minutes, expect some careful attention from the officials and some extra fire from the Minnesota fans who were around two years ago.

After winning their bid to host the 2015 WFTDA Championships, the Minnesota RollerGirls have a chance to add some poetry to this year’s All-Star season: their road to the Hydra begins and ends right here in St. Paul.