2011-2012 Season Schedule
Get ready for a season eight with the Minnesota RollerGirls - Minnesota’s original roller derby league.The fall bouts will feature your favorite four home teams and the winter/spring months will feature the All-Star bouts.
Saturday, October 15
Saturday, November 19
Saturday, December 17
Saturday, January 21 (home team championship)
Saturday, February 4
Saturday, February 18 with Minnesota Swarm
Saturday, March 3
Saturday, March 31
Saturday, June 16
News
Bout Recap: Minnesota RollerGirls Storm Titletown
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Minnesota RollerGirls broke through heavy competition to take second in the Women’s Flat-Track Derby Association (WFTDA) North Central Regionals. Over three days of derby against four opponents, Saint Paul’s MNRG shattered the expectations of players and spectators alike and qualified to play in Chicago at WFTDA’s Championship Tournament.
WFTDA’s leagues ranked the Minnesota RollerGirls seventh in July amidst a field of nineteen eligible leagues throughout the Midwest. As a top ten league, WFTDA’s governing body invited the MNRG All-Stars to compete in Green Bay at their annual tournament. The top three teams emerging from this tournament would qualify to play for the WFTDA championship in November.
The Minnesota RollerGirls All-Stars arrived in Green Bay on the tenth and played early against the short-handed Omaha Rollergirls All-Stars (ranked 10th) to qualify for the quarter-finals, defeating the Nebraskans by more than a 3-1 ratio (144-41).
Their next opponent - the Detroit Derby Girls - proved to be a much more difficult challenge. Detroit had last met Minnesota at regionals in 2007 and upset the then-dominant MNRG road team by sending them out of tournament contention in the first round. Detroit’s 2010 team - a hard-hitting team with advantages in both speed and size over the Minnesota players - took an early lead. Minnesota put their most nimble, stable players as jammers (scoring players) to find holes in the defense and battled their way back to a 19-point win (118-99) against a shocked Detroit.
Minnesota likewise made a comeback and a win against the Dairyland Dolls of Madison, WI semi-finals. Madison’s more agile packs gave the Dolls an initial advantage over Minnesota’s wall-building strategy. However, a change in jammer rotation late in the first period brought MNRG players in to score that could barrel through Madison’s softer defensive line - giving the Saint Paul team a 74-17 scoring advantage over the middle 30 minutes of the hour-long bout. As the final jam of the bout ended (final score 119-107), the MNRG team collapsed with joy on the track. With the semi-final victory, the MNRG qualified for the championship tournament without needing to face another opponent (Madison would eventually take the third spot, defeating the Black Sheep of Cincinnati in the consolation bout.) They also qualified to play for the honor of tournament champions.
In the Regional championship bout, the MNRG All-Stars played and ultimately failed against the two-year champions, the Windy City Rollers of Chicago, IL. The Rollers’ scoring unit trounced Minnesota’s weaker rear defense, while Minnesota’s own jammers could not cope with a pack able to block at the rapid pace of Minnesota’s best jammers. Chicago defeated Minnesota 132-83.
The Minnesota RollerGirls open their home season at the Legendary Roy Wilkins Auditorium in Saint Paul, MN on Saturday, October 16th. The MNRG All-Stars will travel to the WFTDA championship in Chicago, IL (hosted by the Windy City Rollers) and begin a weekend of tournament play on Friday, November 5th for the chance to earn flat track derby’s highest honor; raising the Hydra trophy. Their first opponent has yet to be determined.
A full report of this amazing weekend - from first whistle to after-party PBRs - will be available soon. In the meantime, please join us in congratulating our Minnesota All-Stars! Tickets are available for the WFTDA championship at http://www.uproaronthelakeshore.com/. We hope to see you there!
-Garrison Killer
More News
The 2012 Wheelies
May 08, 2012
A season of surprises, kickass rookies, skaters going above and beyond…and the results are in!
Minnesota shotguns Brewskis, 173-104
April 11, 2012
The All-Stars go 10-0 on the Roy track, defeating Milwaukee’s best and finishing the MNRG’s 8th season on top.
New school defeats old in league-wide battle, 116-80
April 10, 2012
The Minnesota RollerGirls took to the track in a familiar bout on March 31st as the league’s veterans (playing as the “Mayo Clinicians”) attempted to go 2-0 against those newest to roller derby (the “State Fair Foodies”). After falling behind in the first half, the Foodies outscored the veterans 85 to 12 in the second to win the match 116-80.
The Northern Fights final scores
March 31, 2012
The younger skaters take one back on the Vets…and Minnesota makes it ten in a row on the Roy track.
The Northern Fights: the preview
March 29, 2012
The end of the season, the final mixer, and a match against the brilliant Brewcity Bruisers.
