It seemed unlikely that the league touted as the “largest flat-track derby league in North America” would travel to sleepy Appleton , WI to bout against a team formed as recently as August ’08.  But that’s what happened when CN Power, the traveling team of Toronto Roller Derby (ToRD), invaded Skater’s Edge to take on the Paper Valley Roller Girls (PVRG ).  The idea came to fruition in front of a capacity crowd at the Skater’s Edge on January 17, 2009.  The bout, the home opener for PVRG , is presumed to be the first international roller derby bout played on Wisconsin soil.  The home debut proved to be a successful one for PVRG as they held on to narrowly defeat CN Power 88-79.

It was apparent early on that the teams were evenly matched in terms of speed and physicality.  In fact, neither team enjoyed an advantage greater than 13 points throughout the entire contest.   The action was fast-paced, hard hitting and the penalty boxes were frequently visited.  Walls of PVRG defenders frustrated the CN Power jammers, and forced several track cutting majors.  The CN Power defense was equally as stout, led by impressive work from their pivots.  Ultimately, the downfall of the Canadian squad proved to be untimely visits to the penalty box by their jammers.  PVRG squeezed enough points out of their power jam opportunities to put them in position for the win.

Period 1

To the delight of the home crowd, Pissy Pistol earned lead jammer status in the bout’s opening jam, however, CN Power’s DefeCaitlin recovered to force the PVRG jammer to call off the jam at 1-1 as she was knocked off her feet by a CN Power blocker.  CN Power’s defense held PVRG jammers scoreless in the next three jams as Jewel Kicker and Bambi scored for CN Power.  Pissy Pistol scored a 9-0 jam against Candy Crossbones to give PVRG a 10-8 lead.  Lunchbox and DefeCaitlin each scored 4 point jams as CN Power shut out PVRG on the next three jams.  Grin’ Reaper broke PVRG ’s drought by scoring a 9-0 jam over Bambi that catapulted PVRG back into the lead.  Following a scoreless jam, Pissy Pistol outscored CN Power’s Candy Crossbones 5-0.  CN Power broke a scoreless stretch of 4 jams when Lunchbox and DefeCaitlin combined for 9 points on the next two jams to take a 25-24 lead.  That would be the last points surrendered by the PVRG defense this period, as PVRG ’s Chop StikYa would score 5 in the 14^th jam of the period and Grin’ Reaper exploded for 9 in the 15^th jam.  The period ended with a pair of scoreless jams.  PVRG led 38-25 at the break in what would prove to be the largest lead either team would muster all night.

Period 2

Coming out of the break, CN Power appeared to have solved how to break past the PVRG walls as their jammers scored steadily as DefeCaitlin, Lunchbox, Bambi and Dolly Destructo outscored the PVRG jammers 16-4 in the first four jams of the second period to cut the deficit to a single point.  In the fifth jam, Chop StikYa outscored DefeCaitlin 5-0 to afford PVRG a little breathing room.  In the 8^th jam, Lunchbox scored an 8-4 jam over Chop StikYa as CN Power pulled back to within one point.  The two teams traded blows the remainder of the period with the defenses holding their opposing jammers to modest point gains.  After 18 jams, PVRG clung to a 77-71 lead.  The 19^th jam proved to be the back breaker for CN Power as PVRG ’s Grin’ Reaper outscored DefeCaitlin 9-0 in a jam where neither jammer earned lead.  The final jam of the period rolled off with PVRG leading 86-75.  The PVRG defense held Bambi to 4 points, while PVRG ’s Snap CrakYa Pop scored 2 in another jam that featured no lead, securing the win.

PVRG attempts to extend their un-beaten streak to three when they take on the Mississippi Roller Girls in Gulfport , MS on February 28^th. Notes

PVRG jammer Pissy Pistol earned lead jammer status on an impressive 5 of 6 attempts but was saddled by penalty problems that limited her opportunities to jam.

Scoring (name, jams, leads, points scored, point differential)

Blazin’ Britches (1, 0, 0, -2)

Chop StickYa (10, 2, 21, -6)

Grin Reaper (11, 5, 33, +6)

Gynomite (1, 0, 1, +1)

Pissy Pistol (6, 5, 22, +17)

Snap CrackYa Pop (8, 3, 11, -7)

CN Power Scoring

Bambi (7, 2, 15, +1)

Candy Crossbones (3, 0, 1, -16)

DefeCaitlin (11, 6, 25, -1)

Dolly Destructo (7, 4, 6, -13)

Jewel Kicker (3, 1, 5, +1)

Lunchbox (6, 3, 27,+19)

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 18th, 2009 at 8:59 AM and is filed under PVRG NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.