2018 Championships New Orleans Game 13: Victorian Roller Derby League vs. Rose City Rollers
Victorian Roller Derby League (Seed #1, WFTDA #1) vs. Rose City Rollers (Seed #2, WFTDA #2)
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The Rose City Rollers of Portland, Ore., U.S. dug into the track in the final game of the 2018 WFTDA International Championships New Orleans from the very first jam, upsetting reigning champions Victorian Roller Derby League of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and taking home the Hydra once again.
The game was a rematch of last year’s championship game, which saw a dominant Victoria take the gold 180-101 as the first team outside the US to ever win the title. Rose City and Victoria, the two top teams in the WFTDA, had last faced off only two months prior, at the 2018 Thin Air Throwdown in Colorado, with Victoria winning by 44 points — Rose City’s only loss of the season. Victoria had not lost a game since the gold-medal game at the 2016 Championships.
November 5th, 2016. A quick glance at Flat Track Stats suggests that that’s the last time VRDL has lost.
It was to Rose.#talk2WFTDA
— Tawny (@The_Terroirist) November 11, 2018
While the Rose City Rollers’ Wheels of Justice held a consistent lead throughout the entire game, Victoria was never far behind, making them fight for every point. The lead was just beyond reach for the Australian team, however, held scoreless for the first ten minutes of the game and trailing behind narrowly thereafter.
Well, this is not the start I was expecting! #talk2WFTDA
— Tawny (@The_Terroirist) November 11, 2018
this game look so different from last year… new hitty Rose having a lot more luck neutralizing VRDL jammers #talk2wftda
— Taylor Hatmaker (@tayhatmaker) November 11, 2018
Victoria’s defense was brutal, holding Rose City’s jammers in walls so tight that there seemed no air to breathe, much less space to use for escape. They employed dedicated offensive players in almost every jam, often to great success, but Rose City would not be rattled, despite Victoria’s stunning hits and swirling walls and their strategy of fielding multiple packs and jammers before jam starts.
#talk2wftda The next time I make dinner for my 10 year-old, I am going to put two different dinners in front of him and in the last 5 seconds, take one of them away. #thanksVRDL
— EricaIsBusy (@EricaIsBusy) November 11, 2018
In the games leading up to the final, Lady Trample had proven to be the jammer to beat, and it was clear that Rose had trained hard to stymie her swooping laterals and pirouettes up the lines. While the team from Portland didn’t quite manage to shut her down on the track, her six trips to the penalty box — unprecedented for Trample, whose season average was 1.5 — put a damper on Victoria’s score. In turn, Bonnie Thunders picked up her second penalty of the season (yes, the season) in this game and then added two more to the count, one as a blocker. Lead jammer status was split evenly between the teams, while Victoria clearly led the jammer penalty count, with 11 to Rose City’s 4.
Thunders closed out the game, holding back a grin in the final moments of the last jam as she earned lead jammer and rounded the track, knowing her team had clinched the title. This will be her sixth time winning the Hydra, previously obtaining five with Gotham.
Bonnie Thunders and OMG WTF join Serelson in the very select club of skaters to win the Hydra with two different teams! #talk2wftda
— Andrew Marron (@AMarronOHIO) November 12, 2018
The final game was a close and riveting battle and a scintillating end to the 2018 postseason. Standout performances include Victoria’s Jambi, a recent transfer from Sun State Roller Derby and an excellent addition to their jammer rotation. Rose City’s Gal of Fray proved to be a triple threat, and her outstanding work garnered her the Tournament MVP award.
If Galbert is not tournament MVP I will flip every table in a 10-mile radius #TALK2wftda
— Sarah “Pie Wizard” Giffrow (@SarahGiffrow) November 11, 2018
The Rose City Rollers first took the gold at the 2015 International WFTDA Championships in St. Paul, Minn., U.S., breaking Gotham Girls Roller Derby’s four-year streak. They defended their title on their home turf the following year, as they hosted and won the 2016 Championships in Portland, Ore., U.S.. This will be the third Hydra in the team’s collection.
Back to 2018 International WFTDA Championships New Orleans Tournament Central