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by Ryan Seven, League Reporter

Vancouver is celebrating the rites of spring. Hiking. Long walks in the woods. Hanging out at the beach. And piling inside a hockey rink to watch a bunch of tough-as-nails women lace up their roller skates and knock the holy-hell out of each other. Yup, spring is here and another sure-to-be spectacular season of Terminal City Roller Girl-action kicked off last Saturday.

The TCRG’s fourth-season debut was chock full of surprises, with the Faster Pussycats, the league’s underdog team, winning for the first time at home -- defeating the Atomic City Rollergirls 137-49, and the Bad Reputations earning a decisive victory against the Riot Girls, 131-64, marking the widest point spread between the two teams in their already-epic rivalry.

Although there were nonstop shocks on the flat track, the most welcomed surprise of the night was the attendance. There was a long and steady line-up in front of Kerrisdale Arena over an hour before the bout -- and when all was said and done, around 2,100 people packed inside the arena, marking the league’s first ever (much-deserved) sold out event.

Faster Pussycats vs Atomic City Rollergirls 

The first bout saw the Faster Pussycats ready to rumble with the Atomic City Rollergirls, who made the pilgrimage from Tri Cities, Washington. The Atomic City team was three players short and the empty roster spots gave ‘Cats IonA BeerWagon, Suzy Shameless, and Tiki Timebomb a unique chance to don AC’s radioactive green uniforms and do battle against their teammates.

Faster Pusscats' 8-Mean Wheeler (L) and Mary Queen of Shotz (R) block out guest Atomic City Jammer Iona BeerWagon (photo by Bob Ayers)

The first jam saw FPC Ring’er Bell put up 3 points, with the pack shutting out AC’s ValDeath. After that, Atomic City proved to be an ideal testing ground for the Faster Pussycats’ rookies, who primarily took over on jamming duties. XanaDoozie showed a lot of grit, getting up after suffering some big hits and spills on jams that lasting the full two minutes -- and probably felt even longer. Amazombie was an immediate threat and had some of the highest scoring single jams of the bout, igniting the crowd in the process (with a little help from her awesome zombie makeup, too) and Lucky Breaks was a consistent fighter, battling through the pack on each of her jams. The three jammers each managed to pick up 26 points each for the night, and it’s also worth noting that rookie Shell Shockk picked up an impressive 14 points in her only jam of the night.

The first half was filled with lots of big hits and skittish wipeouts that the raucous crowd ate up – even the refs (unwillingly) got in on the action. The score was 50-32 for the Faster Pussycats by the end of half.

With an 18-point difference, Atomic City had a chance to adjust and start making a comeback against the home team, but their jammers were sent to the Penalty Palace one after another, revolving door-style. But even though Atomic City couldn’t catch up as the Faster Pussycats piled on the points, they didn’t go down without a fight and many of the ‘Cats were rocked by hard hits from Atomic City’s 2 Buck Chuck. But a highlight hit came in the final minutes of the bout, when Shell Shockk laid out Shameless with a gigantic thump that was met with the crowd’s loud approval. In the end, the Pussycat rookies just couldn’t be stopped on their debut night, helping to score 87 points in the last half, and skating away with a statement win.


Bad Reputations vs Riot Girls

There’s no better way to welcome roller derby back for another season than with a Bad Reps/ Riot Girls clash. Even though it was eight months ago when the Bad Reps clinched their second consecutive league champ against a hard-fought game against the Riot Girls, it’s easy to imagine that the memories of the epic game were still fresh in the players’ minds.

The bout got off to a calculated start, with the Bad Reps taking an early 11-2 lead, calling off jams quickly to prevent the Riot Girls from making an impact on the scoreboard. But Luludemon striked back in the fifth jam, putting the Riot Girls up 12-11 -- marking the only time the team would be ahead.

Bad Reps' Jammer risquée biznatch (C in blue) ducks past Flux Hellsity (L) and the rest of the pack (Photo by Nicolas Charest)

The first half ended with a score of 58-33 for the Bad Reps, but the bout still seemed very much up for grabs. Both teams’ line-ups are stacked with an awesome roster of jammers. The Riot Girls have experienced threats in Trixi Trippin’ Chix, Luludemon and Avi Hater, while the Bad Reps looked super-solid jamming, primarily using Collide-O-Scope Kid, risquée biznatch, and Lamb Baste-Her. (Rollergirl, team captain and league all-star, only stepped in for one jam, which speaks volumes for how truly well rounded their group of jammers is.) Both teams also used their rookie jammers Bumble Beats (Bad Reps) and Percy Galore (Riot Girls), who both looked like they’ll bring an added threat as the season progresses.

But the difference between the two teams in this bout ultimately seemed to come down to the pack control, and the way Bad Reps put up a tough defense of blue, lead by Rollergirl and L.A. Gunns as pivots, and BarraCouga laying down some solid blocks and hits.

Early into the second half, the score was slipping away from the Riot Girls, as they fell to 70-48 five jams in. But the team slowly started to fight back, with some aggressive jamming by Avi-Hater. Luludemon and Trixi were also able to slip through the pack while only allowing the Bad Reps to pick up a few points, and closing the gap 75-62.

With around 17 minutes left, just as the Riot Girls started to inch closer to a great comeback, Avi was thrown in the Penalty Palace during a physical jam that saw her take out two Bad Reps, as well as almost slipping by Rollergirl.

But the comeback wasn’t meant to be, and the nail in the coffin for the Riot Girls happened four jams later with Lamb Baste-Her going on an unstoppable, hell-bending tear, picking up 18 points in a single jam, that all but cemented the Bad Reps’ victory, bringing the final score to 101-64.

Both teams looked fierce, but the Bad Reps ultimately showed the crowd why they’re the league champions. They also look pretty unstoppable this season, on their way to a three-peat as league champions. The Riot Girls’ loss puts them in a do-or-die situation against the Faster Pussycats team that’s riding high after their first home-win. The two teams will play in the featured bout on Saturday May 15 at Minoru Arena, while the Bad Reputations will be squaring off against an undetermined visiting team.