SHOWDOWN IN THE SNOW

The snow was flying and so were the derby girls on Saturday, December 3, as the Mad Rollin' Dolls hosted the Arizona Roller Derby for a show-down between their traveling teams, The Dairyland Dolls and the Tent City Terrors. An enthusiastic crowd of 700 fans braved a snowstorm to witness the mayhem that was the first inter-league flat-track bout ever held in Madison. The teams played three 20-minute periods; the bout was long, brutal and spectacular. The crowd was wild with excitement from beginning to end, as the Dolls and the Terrors clashed like Titans, and the score went back and forth to the bitter end.

The first jam set the stage for the entire bout: short jams with a quick pack and the fastest jams the crowd had ever seen. The Tent City Terrors were eager to establish their dominance early with fast starts and lead jammer status. The Dolls would not submit to the Terror's tactics of intimidation, however, and began pulling some of their own moves in the fourth & fifth jams. The action-filled first period ended with a score of Dairyland Dolls, 42, Tent City Terrors, 45. During the first intermission, the crowd got a sneak preview of the Mad Rollin' Dolls' new skaters for the 2006 season. They showed off their power with a few rounds of Blood and Thunder, a no-rules, no-holds-barred blockfest where the last skater standing wins.

The second period brought more fast-paced action. Tension was high as the last full jam started with a tied score. Mouse and Dottie D.U.I stepped up to jam. Dottie D.U.I. took lead jam status and called the jam just after her third pass through the pack, but Mouse would not be denied, scoring seven points to Dottie D.U.I.'s six. The second period ended with the Dairyland Dolls one point ahead of the Tent City Terrors. Halftime featured the Ahjabu bellydance duo who kept the fans in their seats with their amazing combination of African and Indian dance.

The entire third period was filled with action and tension as the teams fought to maintain a scoring lead over each other. In this period, Dolly Pardon Me repeatedly found holes in the TCT defense and skated through them to nab lead jam status and points for the DDs. In the ninth jam of the period, TCT jammer Bootleg Bonny tackled Mouse, which resulted in a two-minute penalty jam, leaving Mouse as the only jammer on the track. The TCTs kept the pack speed up and the defense brutal during this jam, keeping Mouse from scoring any points. After three long periods of intense blocking and strategy, with the teams jockeying for the lead jam after jam, it all came down to the last few minutes. The Tent City Terrors pulled ahead in the last jams and won 117-112. The Dairyland Dolls aren't letting them off that easy, looking forward to a rematch at the Dust Devil tournament in Tucson this February.

Score:

Dairyland Dolls 114, AZ Tent City Terrors 116

Check out the photos.

Check out the Dairyland Dolls.

Hear a little bit about the Dairyland Dolls and Wisconsin Roller Derby - 5 minute WPR clip.