Over the weekend, Wasatch Roller Derby (WRD) hosted a double header on their home track, located at the Derby Depot (1415 South 300 West). The first bout featured the Happy Valley Derby Darlins’ travel team, the Molly Morbids, taking on WRD’s travel team, the Bonneville Bone Crushers, followed by a bout between two of Wasatch’s home teams: The Black Diamond Divas vs The Hot Wheelers.
The Molly Morbids made the trek up from the valley of happiness, bringing with them their fans, friends and families. Signs, chants, cheers and excitement filled the northwest corner of the Derby Depot as the Morbids took the track.
The excitement in the room increased as the Bonneville Bone Crushers’ fans noticed their team lining up on the track. The Derby Depot is a warehouse that is often times a bit chilly on cold or even warmish nights, but I am always surprised at how quickly the place warms up once the excitement begins.
The jam whistle sounded and the two teams wasted no time getting into action. Sookie Slaphouse, jamming for BBC, jumped off the jammer line and dove into the pack of blockers, pushing and fighting her way to the front of the pack, ultimately coming away with lead jammer and putting up double digit points for her team.
The Molly Morbids fought hard over the next few jams and their jammers Demoraliza, The Juker* and Pain in the Nikki pushed through the tough defensive wall of the BBC, earning lead jammer status and score points for the Molly Morbids.
The halftime score was Molly Morbids: 61, Bonneville Bone Crushers: 128.
If you were to judge the game by just looking at the score, you might assume that the BBC were were dominating on the track, but the Molly Morbids were not giving up the points easily. Hard hits from the Molly Morbids’ blockers Breakher, Scarlet Viper and Cookie* made the BBC earn each and every point they scored.
During this game, we saw a great deal of jammer-on-jammer action, which you don’t often see. Usually, the jammer’s main focus is offense, getting through the pack and scoring as many points as possible. This game, we saw a fair amount of the jammers taking each other on, hitting the other one out of play and more aggressive defense from the jammers than in an average game. I believe because of this more aggressive jamming we saw lots more penalties being called on the jammers and more power jam opportunities for both teams.
While the Bonneville Bone Crushers were able to hold the Molly Morbids jammers fairly successfully during their power jams, only allowing the Morbids to score an average of 4 points per power jam, the BBC were able to optimize their power jam situations by using more effective strategies. The BBC defense, led by Ariel Assault*, Chiquita WabamYa and Mad Eye Molly, worked together to get their jammers through the Morbids defense, scoring on average 12 points during their power jams.
Both teams fought hard and it was a fantastic game to watch, but ultimately the Bonneville Bone Crushers skated away with the win, led by their MVP jammer Sookie, whose skating techniques, style and improvement have been fantastic to watch. Her skinny gazelle legs helped her jump through the pack, while her determination and push when getting through the pack can be seen on her face from the stands. A spectator like myself can’t help but watch and wonder how she does it. How do those delicate, long legs provide so much power? Where does her power come from? Sookie is a machine.
It was a great game to watch, impressive derby skills, strategies and skating from both teams.
Final score: Molly Morbids: 61, Boneville Bone Crushers: 128
(* Voted MVP for the game)