By Phil Wrede
On Saturday, August 30, at Rocky Mountain Roller Hockey in Lakewood, Rocky Mountain Rollergirls’ 5280 Fight Club hosted the Portland men’s derby team, Bridgetown Menace. Bridgetown drew first blood in the opening jam, with Shreddy Mercury jamming for the Menace against Fight Club’s Sweet Mary Pain. The score after that first jam was Rocky Mountain 0, Bridgetown 11. Phantom Menace scored Fight Club’s first points of the day in the next jam, and their defense held Bridgetown scoreless, 4-11
In the third jam, Don Juan the DEVI-Skator lined up against She Who Must Not Be Named for the first of their many match-ups. He slipped through Fight Club’s blockers with She Who close behind, making things 4-15. Ivanna HasselHaus scored a grand slam and then some against Stairway to Kevin immediately after, and got Fight Club its first lead of the bout, the score 16-15.
Not too long after, the Devi-Skator and She Who faced off again, and the penalties didn’t shake out in Fight Club’s favor – She Who got called off the track, and the Devi-Skator did some one-footed skating, scoring twenty points to make things 16-41. Both teams flexed their tactical muscles, passing the star no less than four times between them, but it seemed as though the Menace could score two points for every one scored by Fight Club.
When She Who skated against Captain Obvious shortly thereafter, thanks to a pair of well-timed penalties, she was on a power jam for much of her time on the track. She ended the jam breaking through Bridgetown’s blocking on one foot herself, making the score 46-116. Fight Club wasn’t able to capitalize on She Who’s momentum, though, for the Menace held them scoreless for the last four minutes – Shreddy Mercury scored 13 for Bridgetown in the closing jam – and we went into halftime with the scoreboard reading Rocky Mountain 46, Bridgetown 146.
Fight Club came out of halftime with renewed focus, and in the third jam, the Menace started to crack. Captain Obvious got called off the track for two more penalties, and Sweet Mary Pain pressed the power jam, breaking through again and again, and passing the star off to Triple Shot Misto in the end, making the score 78-151.
Neither team would score points in one fell swoop like that through the rest of the bout; they’d chip away at one another five or six or seven points at a time (though Shreddy Mercury scored 15 on grand slams as the clock ticked down past the 10:00 mark), but Bridgetown had built themselves a lead too great to overcome. The last two jams found Fight Club with some power jam opportunities, and while they took advantage – Sweet Mary Pain scored 13 and She Who 12 – Bridgetown’s lead was just too great. The bout ended 147-239, with Tootsie Roller (RMRG) and Cosmo Damage (Bridgetown) getting the MVP blocker awards for their teams, and Sweet Mary Pain and Shreddy Mercury awarded MVP for their jamming.