CRG vs Boston: Sat. June 27th at 5pm.
Hosted by the Philly Roller Girls, the 2009 East Coast Extravaganza [ECE] is in it’s third year of providing leagues a chance to train for tournament play against some of the toughest teams in the Nation, before they face regional play that begins in the fall.
The match up between Boston Derby Dames and your Carolina Rollergirls at this year’s ECE has a bit of history to it and in order for you to get the full story, you have to rewind to Boston’s first big blow in a regional tournament and why they’re desperately seeking a victory at ECE.
Boston made waves at the first ever WFTDA regional tournament action, Heartland Havoc, in 2007 when they played Detroit in a single round elimination game that went into an overtime jam that kept the crowd on its feet in suspense.
The result was in favor of Detroit with Boston losing by only 5 points and thus being eliminated from the rest of the tournament and crushed any chance of making it to the first ever WFTDA Nationals tournament.
However, like any great determined roller derby league, Boston put the narrow defeat to good use and started their fierce training to prove to the Nation that they will earn a slot in the 2008 WFTDA Nationals.
Fast forward to the 2008 East Coast regional tournament, Derby in Dairyland, held in Madison WI.
Boston stormed into the cheesy state with determination for a victory against your beloved Carolina all stars in the game that would decide the first team securing a place at the 2008 WFTDA Nationals.
This evenly matched game would prove to the fans and skaters that smart play and teamwork must go hand in hand in order to be victorious.
The score was flip flopping the whole time with Boston claiming the largest lead of the game in the second period by 16 points over CRG. However, knowing your CRG ladies well, a little point spread isn’t enough to throw in the towel and give up. Nope, not this league!
This game, similar to the one Boston faced at the 2007 regional tournament, was extremely heated and fierce on and off the track. The Boston ladies were praying to the derby gods to not allow them to end up with the same results as their 2007 ousting.
Read the exciting, full length, live blog, minute by minute text of the game.
Quoting a Derby News Network [DNN] recap of the last couple of minutes of the game:
“With 56 seconds on the [game] clock, the score 75-73 for Boston and Carolina’s Roxy Rockett on the line unopposed, it looked like Carolina had claimed the win when Roxy got lead, picked up four points and called the jam, but she’d called it just a tad too early — with 4 seconds left on the clock and Krushpuppy just freed from the box, Boston immediately called timeout to squeeze one last jam in there.
But Roxy’s tactical error turned out to be just a tease for the Boston fans, as she claimed lead jammer once again on the following and final jam, and immediately called it off once again, this time for good.”
WHEW! That was a close one.
Read the Boston Derby Dames News feed reaction to this narrow defeat.
Watch a Moosecast interview with Roxy Rockett’s reaction to the last jam of the game and her opinion of the skills possessed by Boston league.
Naturally, the nation’s reaction to Carolina’s victory was of mixed opinions. In fact, in a poll hosted by DNN, the readers voted Boston “The best team not going to Nationals”.
However, your CRG ladies happily took the victory and began booking their flights and training hard for their 2nd appearance in a National Tournament, the 2008 Northwest Knockdown.
And Boston, once again, took this narrow defeat to the track and began making some drastic training decisions based on bettering their all star squad for the 2009 Regional tournament, Wicked Wheels of the East, being held in your home away from home, Dorton Arena, from September 11-13.
The game against Boston at this year’s ECE will begin to determine placement for the 2009 East Coast tournament seating. With CRG losing the games against other East Coast powerhouses: Philly, Charm City and Gotham- CRG needs to secure this victory against Boston to show themselves, and the nation, that we’re not fading off the radar for nationals.
Boston and Carolina rosters for ECE
Boston Derby Dames all stars, known as The Boston Massacre, share their roster and skater info on their website.
Read up on the our opponents and follow along during the game at home with live blog text and video stream through DNN.
Your Carolina All Stars will be sending a 20 person team to ECE and from the selected 20, they will then decide a roster of 14 girls for each sanctioned game.
The 20 that have been selected for ECE:
Bianca O’Blivion
Billy the Kid
Daisy Rage
Deviled Legs
DVS
Elka Meano
Holly Wanna Crackya
Kama Suture
Kelly Clocks’em
Kitty Crowbar
Lucy Lastkiss
Maddat U
Minnie Mauser
Ms. Anthrope the Mordant
Penelope Bruz
Pink Slip
Princess America
Roxxy Slide
Trudy Struction
Tuffy Twofists
Awesome post! Can’t wait for the ECE’09!
It’s gonna be same damn fine derby… and a good time had by all.
Got my first look at the new age of Derby on Saturday at Dorton and it’s not at all like I remembered from television back in the 60’s. And since I needed a feature for “That’s My World Tuesday”, it seemed like a natural fit. Come on by my blog and check it out. I’ll have the rest of the photos edited and uploaded soon in case you’re interested in those too.