The Cominco Arena hosted the West Kootenay Roller Derby League’s Miss Trial on Saturday, in a bruising doubleheader to end its regular season.
The home team, Rossland Trail Roller Girls, (RTRG) was looking for its first win of the season as it opened the event with a match against the Valley Brutality, and Castlegar’s Dam City Rollers vowed to take the defending champion Nelson Killjoys down a few notches in the second match of the evening.
It was an intense back-and-forth match right from the start as the Roller Girls and Brutality exchanged leads through the early going with both teams looking much improved.
But the Brutality would slowly take control, with a wall of Valley blockers suppressing any attack and knocking RTRG jammers to the floor with reckless abandon. A relentless series of punishing exchanges eventually led to the ejection of two skaters for racking up too many penalties, and despite the smooth skating and aggressive jams from RTRG’s Saskwatch, the Brutality continued to put points on the board. While the game remained close, the Roller Girls could not overcome a 117-82 deficit at the half, as Valley Brutality skated to a 233-182 victory.
In the main event, the Dam City Rollers battled the Nelson Killjoys for the regular season title and top-seed in the upcoming playoff.
The Killjoys had won their last meeting in 2013, but the Dams quest for the Golden Boot has seen them rattle off three wins in a row, and intent on completing their clean season sweep Saturday.
In a particularly bloody affair, Dam City stifled the Killjoys’ normally vaunted attack, with Pantsoff shutting down Killjoy jammers at will, while jammer Juggernaut Lady MacDeath racked up points by crashing through Killjoy walls to lead the Dam City Rollers to a 358-276 victory.
The playoffs start Saturday at Selkirk College in Castlegar with the Dam City Rollers taking on the Rossland Trail Roller Girls at 3 p.m., and the Valley Brutality playing against the Killjoys at 5 p.m. to determine which teams will play for the championship at Mountain Mayhem 5 on June 28 in Nelson.