Apr 27, 2015 | Bout News
Minnesota Nice Win In Last Jam Over WCR Second Wind
The Minnesota Nice (Minnesota RollerGirls’ B travel squad) won in spectacular fashion over the Windy City Rollers Second Wind on Saturday, coming from behind in the last jam to win 135-127.
Both teams were in an experimental phase during the opening minutes of the game, trying out different blocking formations and sending different jammers to see what would stick. The MN Nice and Second Wind traded lead jammer back and forth, neither one building a substantial lead. After Second Wind jammer Hat Trixxxie scored 4 by hopping over the apex, the score stood at 23-20 Minnesota with about 10 minutes left in the first half. The Second Wind seemed to settle in first, starting a scoring run that would carry through the rest of the half. Zoe Trocious, Lucy Wreckardo, Maulicious, and Trixxxie all put up points while the Minnesota Nice blockers were cut short by penalties, building up a 71-44 lead going into the halftime break.
A chaotic second half ensued, with lots of blocker penalties from both teams giving alternating opportunities to Minnesota and then Windy City. 9 jams in a row started with at least one skater in the penalty box, and both teams ended up in situations where they had 2 or even just 1 blocker out on the track to try and stop the jammer. Maulicious of the Second Wind and Ida Sockher of Minnesota Nice both took particular advantage of the chaos and put up big jams while the opposing team was disorganized and recovering from penalties. Through all this chaos, Minnesota started to build an advantage, with Ida scoring 16 on a power jam after Bettie LaRude and MeshugEnough teamed up to draw a track cut on the Second Wind jammer. Minnesota’s score stood at 112-89 with 8 minutes remaining in the game, a substantial lead but still far from comfortable.
Second Wind made it progressively less comfortable in the following jams, taking control of the game and earning lead jammer on each of the next 6 jams. One after another, Hat Trixxxie, Zoe Trocious, and Maulicious each quickly shot through the pack for lead jammer, earned 4 points, then called off the jam before the Minnesota jammer could score. As the Minnesota Nice saw their lead slowly whittled away, the tension in the crowd started to build, reaching a fever pitch as Maulicious lined up against Ida Sockher as the scoreboard read 112-109 Minnesota and 3 minutes were on the clock. Minnesota’s fans were quickly deflated, though, as the Second Wind contained Ida and Maulicious racked up 14 points to make the score 123-112 with only 1:46 remaining on the clock.
However, it turned out that one minute and forty six seconds was exactly what the Minnesota Nice needed. Second Wind’s Hat Trixxxie earned lead jammer with Minnesota Nice jammer Roley Ann Lena trailing close behind. After Trixxie was called to the penalty box on a low block, Lena sprang into action and started muscling her way through the Second Wind’s walls. Lena finished one scoring pass while Trixxxie was still in the box, then raced around as her blockers came together in front of Trixxie. Minnesota now had an opportunity, but both sides – Lena and the MN Nice blockers – had to execute perfectly to pull it off. The blocking line of Sagittearitup, Hanna Belle Lector, MeshugEnough, and Manila Ice did exactly that, shoving Trixie to the outside, drawing her back, then doing some heroic recycling to stay in front of her and in play to give Lena time to score. Lena dived and dodged around the Second Wind blockers to get 23 points on the jam, enough to put Minnesota in front 135-127 as the final whistle sounded.