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 PreviewsBout RecapsTournament Preview: MNRG June Update #2 - MNRG All-Stars win two at Midwest Brewhaha
Sunday, June 19, 2011
On May 21st and 22nd, the MNRG played four bouts against teams from three of the best leagues in our region at the Midwest Brewhaha. Most all of our entire roster of twenty-five made the trip along with Coach Dan, John Maddening, and several of our ref squad. We skated hard and won half of our bouts; we came up short only against the teams of the mighty Windy City Rollers - and one of those losses came down to the final jam.
What you should know about the Midwest Brewhaha:
The Brewcity Bruisers – Milwaukee’s long-established derby league – began running a weekend of bouts last year for the North Central region (the region in which the MNRG All-Stars are currently ranked #2). The MNRG got their invite and put in early…and the able Brewhaha staff paired us into four bouts. They booked us for two officially sanctioned All-Star bouts and two for our second string – a mix of first-team players as well as All-Stars and hard-working leaguemates that aren’t part of the rostered fourteen for a particular bout. For our preview on each of these bouts, check out the May article on the MNRG All-Star road season.
The Chicago Outfit Shade Brigade v The MNRG Second String:
The Outfit’s Kim Mortal and Graves walloped us off the jammer line in the first two jams of that bout to grab an early lead (9-0). However, our own Commander Nix (now back from four months in Africa) hit it and quit it with a three-point jam to get us some points on the board, and teammate Ova Achieva scored a double-slam against Chicago’s Lindiana Jones the very next jam to take the lead of the game (13-9). Chicago’s Shebiscuit tied it back up with four a couple of jams later, but the Outfit’s blockers couldn’t hold Hurtrude Stein back long enough for their jammer to go for a slam or take a second scoring lap.
While the opening minutes made it look as though this would be a close match, Shebiscuit’s score would be the Outfit’s last score for twelve minutes. The Outfit didn’t make a lot of mistakes, but they weren’t able to force many errors on the more experienced MNRG team. Over those twelve minutes, the MNRG scored 32 points and played fast, efficient roller derby. They’d take some points, call off the jam, bring the next line in.
The Outfit’s Lindiana Jones took four points sneaking past Coochie Coup with nine minutes to go in the half, but the Outfit didn’t score again in the half, while the MNRG scored thirty more points - including a nineteen-point jam by Ova Achieva. At halftime, Minnesota were well ahead, 75-17. The Outfit did not have the capacity to adapt to Minnesota’s fast game in the second half, losing 124-46.
MNRG All-Star L’exi-Cuter told us regarding the game that they wanted their jammers to get through without getting touched if possible.” The team had not played as a unit before, but they concentrated on defending their own jammers in lieu of sticking the opposing side. That makes for quick, rapid-fire jams that our leagues’ players are known for. Jammer protection won the bout, which meant that the MNRG defense won the day.
Brewcity Bruisers All-Stars v MNRG All-Stars:
Where the Outfit bout was a matter of small bites of points culminating in a solid victory, the MNRG’s first sanctioned bout of the weekend brought us against one of the most solid, physical teams in the region. Brewski has a well-deserved reputation for jammers the crowds love and blockers that crowds wince at, but the MNRG jammers skated with no fear.
As in the Outfit bout, Brewcity took the early lead. High D Voltage stole five points as her Brewski teammate Moby Nipps held back Scarmen Hellectra for a full lapping pass. And, as in the Outfit bout, Minnesota took the lead and didn’t look back - this time off of an eight-point jam by MEDUSA. ‘DUSA had a fantastic first thirty minutes, scoring 46 of Minnesota’s 78 points in the half as her blockers perpetually delayed MEDUSA’s opposing jammer. Brewski jammers took the lead only four out of eighteen starts in that first half for 19 points.
The second half was no better for Brewcity. Milwaukee’s team headed to the box a great deal (Rejected Seoul - a key blocker for Brewski - took seven trips to the penalty box and was ejected). However, Brewcity did stop the bleeding against MEDUSA and held her to only four points in the second half. A high point came as well as Brewcity veteran jammer/blocker Carrie A Hacksaw nailed a 19-point jam unassisted by a jammer penalty. against Minnesota’s Harmony Killerbruise.
Still, Minnesota jammers kept out of the penalty box completely and increased their lead to 142-66 by the end of the bout. Brewcity gave up five penalty trips to the box in the course of that game. It’s very difficult to be able to win a game with that large a gap of jammer penalties, and Brewcity fell in part because of that.
Windy City Second Wind v MNRG Second String/Shark Attack:
At some point in the previous day - whether due to the ridiculi-tacular shark hat bought by Shiva Shank’n of the Second String or our “Minnesota Nice” traveling fans’ predilection for doing shark claps from the stands (and we want to acknowledge those crazed fans who joined us at ‘Ha or watched over the Internet - thank you!) - the Second String had somehow transformed into ‘MNRG Shark Attack’. Had a better ring to it in any case.
“…I do think that many people thought that our B team would easily be defeated but I think we definitely shook things up. The Second Wind team started to play some of their best jammers quite early in the game when I think they realized this was going to be a much closer game than they ever counted on. Some of the blockers started swinging for the big hits and one girl (Ska Face - ed.) was nearly ejected.” -L’exi-Cuter
Minnesota got on the board quickly with a triple-slam by Commander Nix as Ska Face took her first of many trips to the box as the Windy City jammer. A second penalty by Ska two jams later gave Minnesota’s Cassie Rolle a chance to score another twelve points as her pack cleared her way by tearing apart Windy’s defensive line.
The Second Wind recovered and started to win the battle for taking lead jammer. However, the Minnesota defense would consistently outpace the Windy jammer - or get their own player through quickly so that the opposing player would have to call off the jam after scoring two or three points instead of four or five. What’s more, Windy jammers spent four of the first thirty minutes in the box. However, Minnesota’s team was not doing a great deal better. Second Wind’s consistent acquisition of the lead jam was making it difficult for Shark Attack to do much more than create opportunities for scoring on Windy City power jams. Ska Face finished the first half by scoring thirteen points against Cassie Rolle, sending Windy City to the locker rooms in the lead (64-59 Second Wind up).
Minnesota regained the lead soon after the second half began. Cassie Rolle scored five points on a power jam as the Unicoroner cooled her skates in the penalty box. Cassie might have scored more if Second Wind blocker AliSin Chains (and more interestingly, former teammate of Cassie’s as part of the Garda Belts in 2009) hadn’t held her back. Hurtrude Stein scored another eighteen points the next jam on another penalty against Second Wind jammer Hermione Danger. 82-78 Minnesota up with twenty-two minutes left.
The next twenty minutes blurred as each team tried to pull free of one another. The Second Wind reverted to a two-jammer rotation of Ska Face and WCR vet Ruth Enasia. Both Ruth and Ska had been successful against the Minnesota machine, and so their coaches pushed them hard. Ruth got called on one back-blocking penalty but otherwise skated clean; Ska Face played gutsy, but kept herself from getting called out.
Meanwhile, Minnesota went down to a three-jammer rotation - Nix, Ova, and Cassie - while the defense stepped it up. Skullateral Damage, Jax Kvaas, and L’exi creamed Second Wind jammers inside and out, while Madame de Stompadour got the crowd and announcers on their feet as she sent a Second Wind skater flying into the air with a Slay Ride*.
With five minutes to go, Ova Achieva and Ska Face put on the jammer star with the score MNRG (Shark) 104 - WCR (Second) 102. Ova got called on a back block. The Minnesota crowd groaned as their jammer reported to the penalty box. However, the Second Wind line kept Ska Face to only two points as Skully and L’exi monstered the Second Wind jammer. However, the jam ended with Ova still stranded in the box, and Ruth Enasia took the next lead jam and scored the go-ahead that gave Windy City the win. Final score: 113-108.
Windy City All-Stars v MNRG All-Stars:
It doesn’t get much bigger in roller derby than the #1 and #2 Regional teams playing one another. We last saw Windy City take on the MNRG at 2010 Regionals for the regional championship. Windy defeated Minnesota 132-83; the organizers of the Brewhaha decided to put Minnesota up against Chicago’s finest for the rematch.
Windy City crept ahead in the opening minutes (5-0), but MNRG blockers Diamond Rough and Scarmen Hellectra opened the pack for MEDUSA and slammed it shut on the opposing jammer so that the ‘DUSA could score a grand slam. Minnesota charged ahead as L’exi took nine on a power jam, Novia scored a lead for two, and MEDUSA converted a power jam into a quad-slam over the next four scoring attempts to bring the game to 36-15 with Minnesota in the lead.
This was the start Minnesota needed, but the Chicago All-Stars fought back in kind. The lead changed three times over three jams as Windy’s jammers flew in with a quintuple slam and MNRG smashed back. As the half continued, Windy’s jammers (particularly Beth Amphetamine, Varla Vendetta, and Zoe Trocious) all appeared to have the ability to negate the patient, small gains that Minnesota excel at by dropping multi-slam jams throughout play.
However, Windy’s biggest weakness in that first half was penalties. WCR jammers went to the box five times in the first half. It knocked the wind from Chicago’s sails and allowed Minnesota to score forty-seven points on power jams alone. That kept Minnesota well in the game, tying the game 74-74 at the half.
Windy returned to the track after halftime, changing up their jammer rotation to a 1-2 of Beth Amphetamine and Zoe Trocious, with Varla added as an occasional clutch jammer. The WCR pack also decided to step up the intensity of play. In part, that decision reinforces what Windy brings to derby. They’ve kept their streak of wins going (17-0 before the MNRG match) by balancing their team in such a way that they respond to threats over halftime. The WCR coaches decided to step up the physical nature of the bout, and it started to turn the tide for the Chicago team. Windy City’s Sargentina in particular landed very strong hits on Minnesota jammers such that our jammers visibly flinched when she approached. Those hits and those of ‘Tina’s defensive teammates - Dirty Go-Go and Jackie Daniels in particular - kept Minnesota from scoring more than four points per jam for the first twenty minutes of the half. L’exi (who played in all four bouts that weekend) wrote, “That was a physical pack. All of the girls were hard hitters who were not afraid to lay you out.”
In those twenty minutes, Windy took the score from a tie game to a 56-point lead (WCR 145 - MNRG 89). Minnesota could not recover and lost to their Regional rivals 172-105. (Two weeks later, Cincinnati fell to the WCR as well 178-83. The Windy City Rollers’ Streak against North Central leagues is now at 19.)
Minnesota’s next bout will be against Nashville on July 16th. If you want to join the Minnesota Nice as they head to Nashville to cheer on the All-Stars, check out our page for the game; we hope to see you there! We’ll also have news shortly from MNRG Shark Attack on their recent trip to Iowa City and a bit about MNRG tryouts.
* Slay Ride - You’ve never seen a Slay Ride? Start here. The blocker is the legendary BeyonSlay of the Gotham Girls - the poor jammer in the video is Rice Rocket of Texas. The Minnesota Nice has dubbed Stompy’s takedown “The Whompadour”. We expect to see that next year at the Roy, Madame…
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.
