LVRG vs Broad Street Butchers Bout Wrap Up 6/9/13

This past Sunday, the Lehigh Valley Rollergirls’ (LVRG) Hissy Fits traveled to Philadelphia to play the Philadelphia Roller Girls' Broad Street Butchers.  According to flattrackstats.com, LVRG was the heavy underdog going into this bout. It was expected that the Broad Street Butchers, ranked 113^th in North America out of 1354 teams, would beat LVRG (ranked 353), with a point spread of 45 points for every 16.  The Broad Street Butchers came prepared with veterans on their team that also skate for the WFTDA Chartered All Star Philadelphia Liberty Belles, such as Shenita Stretcher, Teflon Donna, Antidote, Copper Top, Damage Dahl, and Devoida Mercy. Whereas LVRG came with their usual blocking iron curtain containing Lin Diesel, Rose Beef, Chikki Sixx, Loogie Vuitton, Levilin Levi, Hell Razin’ Hussy, Arista Crash and Helen DaRink.

Both teams came out heated from the first whistle.  The Lehigh Valley Rollergirls got ahead quickly in the first few jams with a swift 7-4 lead by both LVRG jammers Betty Switch and Ginga Railed U getting lead jammer status.  The first half of game play was an all out head to head brawl.  Within the first 20 minutes of play, LVRG’s jammers were flawless and stayed out of the penalty box. This is when LVRG was able to capitalize on a few power jams against Philadelphia and took a quick 25 point lead over the Broad Street Butchers.  Towards the end of the first half, Philadelphia’s Shenita Stretcher turned on some great blocking and forced a LVRG jammer cut track, sending LVRG’s jammer to the box and allowing Philadelphia to catch up and match the LVRG score of 57 to 57. The Broad Street Butchers then began to build momentum and broke away with lead jammer status for the remaining jams of the period. This brought Philly an additional 40 points, awarding them as the points leader at the end of the first half of game play.

It was still any body’s game, as the second half was just as feverish as the first.  Both teams physically were aggressive and strategically attempted to outplay the other.  Philadelphia’s jammers Teflon Donna and Antidote were matched toe to toe with LVRG’s jammers MJ Slammer and Toxic Shock.  Pound for pound, these girls were so closely matched that the game was ultimately mismatched by preparedness of strategy against a great Philadelphia defense. In the second half of game play LVRG was given many opportunities to capitalize on power jams.  However, with Philadelphia’s tight defense, the point scoring potential was limited. Without changing up their strategy, LVRG fell short when they should have excelled.  Power jams aside, LVRG maintained a steady stream of points on the scoreboard throughout the entire game and more so in the second half of play. But overall, when the opportunity was presented, the Broad Street Butchers were the team that capitalized during their jams of advantage and pulled ahead for a win over LVRG with a final score of 243-161.  The Broad Street Butchers were overall a team that played cohesively with strength and strategy.  Their hard work off the track was truly visible through their passion on the track.  Although a loss to LVRG, they increased their standings on flattrackstats.com by 12.1 points and performed at a much less point differential (only 24 to 16) than expected.  The MVPs of the game were Evol Kitty from LVRG and Sue E. Side Hotline from Philadelphia.

Looking ahead, the Hissy Fits will be playing a closed bout on June 27^th against United Kingdom’s Auld Reekie Roller Girls, the Twisted Thistles.  This bout will be evenly matched as both teams are within 4 rankings of each other in the East Coast division of WFTDA. 

Lehigh Valley’s Special Vixens Unit will also travel this weekend to Cumberland, MD to match up with the Iron Mountain Roller Girls on June 15^th.  

Find us online at: http://www.lehighvalleyrollergirls.com

All functions will be held at the Independence Family Fun Center, 4345 Independence Dr, Schnecksville, PA.

For more information about becoming a skater or official, contact us at join@lehighvalleyrollergirls.com

A big thank you to all of the volunteers, officials, friends, and family that make our team the best in the Lehigh Valley. This is as much your team as it is ours. Thank you.





Broad Street Butcher photo by Joellen Leather-Urban

All LVRG photos by Jim Rhoades. See Jim Rhoades' derby pictures at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickdastardly/sets/.