by Michael Frighten’d

Celebrating five years since their founding, the skaters of the Steel City Derby Demons paired off into two squads for a public scrimmage on January 25 at Romp ‘n’ Roll in Glenshaw, PA. The sixty-minute bout saw the Black team out-skate the Gold team 175-131, leading the entire match though sometimes only by a few points.

Black’s defense was the early story. Tower O’Terror, Double Destroyer, Mission Impassible, and Madame Abagael set a tone of strong pack control in the first jam. After controlling Gold’s Hurricane Heather, Tower O’Terror drew a penalty from her setting up powerjams from Mean Burrito and the Shocker who opened up an early 19-7 lead. Gold’s defense provided plenty of big hits, such as La Diabla* sending Death Cake for Cutie on a speedy trip through the crowd to visit new announcers B.B. Basher and Moxie Crimefighter, whose witty repartee will be a fun addition this season.

Midway through the first half, with the score at 47-12 Black, Gold blockers WhipSmart! and C.C. DeKill waterfalled Fannie Mayhem, whose penalty opened up a powerjam for Hurricane Heather who was able to evade a bird-dogging Bonecrusher to bring the score to 47-26. A few jams later the gap was down to 16 and Gold’s Dakota Slamming was in a powerjam situation. J-Bomb, however, killed the penalty with relentless one-on-one blocking. The next jam, the Shocker put some great dekes on WhipSmart! and MILF-Shake to stretch the lead back to 20. Just before the half, however, Velvet Assassin skated an amazing jam for Gold, putting a great move on new Steel Hurtin’ captain Ally McKill and scoring a triple grand-slam. The halftime score was Black 75, Gold 64.

The second half began with excellent blocking by Hurricane Heather and WhipSmart! for Gold and Tower O’Terror and Bonecrusher for Black, keeping the score close until the third jam when Fannie Mayhem took advantage of a five-on-three powerjam to rack up 19 points and bring the Black lead up to 34 points. Coming out of the box on the next jam, Gold’s Vicious Virus executed a rare “passing the star” maneuver to pivot damage dahl to win the jam 4-3. Hurricane Heather’s attempt to keep the momentum going for Gold was thwarted, however, by a powerful wall of Tower O’Terror, Bonecrusher, Death Cake for Cutie, and Double Destroyer who held the speedy jammer scoreless while the Shocker increased Black’s lead by 9. Mean Burrito followed up with a 9-1 jam and Black held a comfortable 50-point lead with 15 minutes to go.

A 9-point powerjam by Hurricane Heather brought Gold closer but in the next jam, the gilded ones lost Hissy Fit early in the jam. Mean Burrito took advantage of the shorthanded blockers, picking her spots to shoot through the walls and bumped up the Black lead to 143-88. Gold fought back as damage dahl laid a huge hit on Fannie Mayhem, leaving her winded, while Friction VixXxen closed the gap to 49. Death Cake for Cutie answered, crouching on the outside through a slow pack to tally a textbook 4-0 for Black, taking them to 150 points. The Gold blockers would hold them at 150 while Velvet Assassin, damage dahl, and Dakota Slamming cut the lead to 37.

As Friction VixXxen won an 8-6 jam against Inga Knee’her, the Black jammer was called for a major back block right at the end setting up a powerjam for the next whistle start. This was Gold’s best chance and they went with Hurricane Heather on the jam line. The Black defense rose to the occasion as J-Bomb, Tower O’Terror, Death Cake for Cutie, and Madame Abagael kept Hurricane Heather in check until Vicious Virus and La Diabla* were able to trap Madame Abagael in the goat pen, freeing Hurricane Heather to score 10 and cut the lead to 25. In the final jam, Ally McKill and Bonecrusher each controlled their opponent’s jammer until Gold’s Velvet Assassin got called for a penalty. Mean Burrito then ran out the clock and ran up the score to the final of 175-131. The exciting bout was only a preview of what should be a great fifth season for the Steel City Derby Demons.

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