This was the last regular season bout for both The Pistolwhippers and The Devil's Night Dames. The Pistolwhippers came into this bout with a 1-2 record, and didn't want to end with a losing season. The Devil's Night Dames' record was 0-3, and they needed to finish with at least one win.
The Dames were scoreless for the first 3 jams, as the 'Whippers made a combined 10 points. True to form, Meli Ali, jamming for the 'Whippers in the 1st jam, commits a major penalty and gets sent to the box. Muffy Mafioso put the first points for the Dames on the board with an 8 point play in the 4th jam.
Alternating 3 jam shut-outs were exchanged. Jams 5 through 7 were a shut-out in favor of the Whippers' as they added 20 points. The 'Whippers were on the opposite end for jams 8 through 10, but the Dames could only add 7 points. The shut-out pendulum shifted again, and the 'Whippers scored 28 unanswered points over jams 11 through 14, including a big 15 point play from Vera Toss, putting her team's lead at 58-15. The rest of the half consisted of 3 more jams, and ended with a 69-21 score.
The opening jam of the second half was Meli Ali for the 'Whippers against Doom Shakalaka for the Dames. Meli scored 10 unanswered points for her team, and was able to avoid the penalty box. Lazer Beam of the Pistolwhippers made a huge play in the 2nd jam, with 18 unanswered points.
In jam 9, the audience was treated to a series of brutal knockdowns. Dames blocker Daya the Dread kept making sweeping head-on charges at Meli Ali as Meli jammed for the 'Whippers. These were the kind of knockdowns that makes the audience all collectively say "ooh...". Knockdown after knockdown, and Meli just keep getting back up and skating. The time Meli spent playing Division 1 NCAA hockey showed, and she never looked rattled. Her perseverance paid off, and she scored 10 points, while Yo-yo was limited to scoring 4 for the Dames. At this point, the 'Whippers were still far ahead, 125-39.
Captain Lazer Beam, and Co-Captain Diesel Doll of The Pistolwhippers:
Detroit Area Dork: So what are you thinking after that bout?Coach Dr. Rocktopus of The Devil's Night Dames:
Lazer Beam: I'm happy with it. I think we played well. We were able to give some of the girls some more playing time, if they didn't get to play us much earlier in the season. I'm pretty happy with the results of it. Unfortunately, we didn't score enough points to have a chance at the championship bout, but that's alright, we always have next year.
Diesel Doll: I think the Dames really brought their "A" game tonight. They were hitting really hard, they had good blocking, good offensive blocking. They made a lot of holes for their jammers, so I think they definitely brought their "A" game. We never underestimated them for a moment.
Detroit Area Dork: What did your team get right tonight?
Lazer Beam: I think we kept our cool on the bench, I think our offensive blocks were good, I think we had some issues staying together with our walls, but overall I think we skated as a team, and that's how you win bouts.
Detroit Area Dork: Did you have any players sitting out this game?
Lazer Beam: Out top scoring jammer, Tara To Pieces, wasn't able to play this bout.
Detroit Area Dork: I noticed you goes putting in different jammers this game.
Lazer Beam: We wanted to give people a chance once we had a big enough lead. We knew there was no opportunity now to skate in the championship. We would had to have won by 250 points, and the Grand Prix Madonnas would have to defeat The Pistoffs in the next bout for us to have a chance at the championship. We knew we weren't going to get that point spread, but once we had a spread that made us feel comfortable, we let any player with an interest in jamming have an opportunity.
Detroit Area Dork: Do you think the Dames played different than usual tonight?
Lazer Beam: I think they played good.
Diesel Doll: The only think I think they did differently, is they didn't bring out Yo-yo as much as they did previously, but they have a new jammer Pish Posh in the rotation, and Muffy Mafioso was also doing really well.
Detroit Area Dork: What are you going to be working on in preparation of the next bout?
Lazer Beam: Endurance, penalties, and sustaining our walls.
Diesel Doll: It always comes back to basics.
Detroit Area Dork: Any predictions for the last bout of the season? (Grand Prix Madonnas versus the Pistoffs)
Lazer Beam: I don't know, it's going to be a good one.
Diesel Doll: They're both hungry.
Lazer Beam: [Grand Prix Madonnas] are not going to want to give up that win, because they could go undefeated. The Pistoffs are defending champs, so they're not going down without a fight.
Detroit Area Dork: In this bout, we didn't see the blockers starting the jam in front of the jammer line. Have the rules changed?
Lazer Beam: No. For either team, that's not normally our style. The 'Whippers don't start that. We only do it when it's done to us. Not that I mind it, because you can't knock me down if you're already standing really close to me.
Detroit Area Dork: Who do you play in the Grudge Match for 3rd place?
Lazer Beam: The D-Funk Allstars.
Diesel Doll: I only went to the penalty box once tonight. Please write that somewhere. Normally I'm the reigning queen of penalties, apparently. Tonight, I kept it in check.
Detroit Area Dork: Your team didn't have penalty problems tonight.
Lazer Beam: No, we did much better tonight that we normally do. We're happy about that. We've had a ref coming to our practice, and helping us be more aware of our penalties and things like that.
Detroit Area Dork: What are your thoughts on the bout?
Dr. Rocktopus: I was super happy. We came out, we played our game. We started on the pivot line every time. We had really surprising players come out and play huge. We had big hits from everybody. I don't think the score really reflects how much action there was by both teams. I thought overall, it was our most exciting game all season.
Detroit Area Dork: It seemed like Swift Justice had a breakout performance tonight.
Dr. Rocktopus: Absolutely, Swift played great on both side. She was switching from offense to defense in a snap when she was a blocker, and she played some huge pivotal jams for us. She's always a really hard worker, she never gives up. She definitely has the Dames' attitude of never say die.
Detroit Area Dork: What did your team get right tonight?
Dr. Rocktopus: Our walls were looking good. We were really working on hitting, and the timing. I think we put out really good hits. There was some really good awareness of where the jammer was. Really good switching from offense to defense, and I think on the floor we're just playing together a lot better now.
Detroit Area Dork: I want to ask you about the tactic known as "poodling". When a player with 3 minor penalties goes out of their way to earn a fourth just as a jam is about to start, giving themselves a major penalty, but also clearing out their minor penalty tally. Normally this only done when that player is expected to be the jammer in the next jam. Why was your team doing that when the intention wasn't to jam soon?
Dr. Rocktopus: It's a tactical thing. It's better to do it sooner than later. If she goes out, she only sits in the box for a minute, and then goes out and puts out a lot of effort to get back into the pack and blocking. Even if she's only blocking for 30 seconds in a strong tight pack, can take a lot out of you. So it's better to give them a break, even if they only play 30 seconds. It could be the difference between being lead jammer, and having to be second.
Detroit Area Dork: So you don't think it should only be done for a player that's scheduled to a jammer in the next jam?
Dr. Rocktopus: Yeah, I think it's better to have them on the bench fresh with no penalties.
Detroit Area Dork: The regular season is over for you now, what's next for the Dames?
Dr. Rocktopus: We're going to stick together as a group. We still have a lot of new skaters, and the best thing to do is stay on your skates. So during the summer, get on skates, do some off skate stuff, skate together as a team. There's a lot of members on two of the travel teams that Detroit has. Yo-yo and Feta are on the "A" team travel team, and quite a few of our skaters are on the Motorcity Disassembly Line. The experience of traveling and seeing how different leagues play can take you leaps and bounds.
All photos by Scott Lipiec
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I'm a dork, I live in the Detroit area, and sometimes I take blurry photos on an outdated camera
