On Saturday, May 11, 2013, the 49th-ranked Toronto Roller Derby’s CN Power travel to the historic Cincinnati Gardens to take on the 38th-ranked Cincinnati Rollergirls Black Sheep, while Cincinnati’s Violent Lambs will do battle with Richmond, IN’s The Dire Skates. Tank has a preview.

Canada. The home of hockey, maple syrup and winters so cold Yetis sometimes kill and gut other Yetis to wear as fur coats. Over the course of the final two home games of the season, the Cincinnati Rollergirls will clash with Toronto Roller Derby and Tri-City Roller Girls, both hailing from the Great White North. While we should thank them all for the Canadian gifts of RUSH and the Trailer Park Boys that have been bestowed upon the world, the Cincinnati Rollergirls will be looking to send both teams back across the border with losses.
Toronto comes into this game with a record of 4 wins and 5 losses while Cincinnati is 5-1, on a 5 game win streak, and undefeated at home this season. Toronto has been playing some high level teams including Ohio, Naptown, and Montreal. What interests me is that they lost to Montreal by less then 100 points, lost to Ohio by less then 50 points, and both of those teams are ranked in the Top 25 in the world. Make no bones about it: These girls can play some roller derby.
Cincinnati has one of the few buildings in the sport of roller derby that opposing teams hate to compete in. Thousands of fans pack the stands and are eager to share their feelings with the skaters on the track in a variety of ways. As Toronto will be making a close to 500 mile journey to get there, that’s like walking through the desert and then having to fight in the Thunderdome. I do not envy them in the least.
With June with a Cleaver still out with a broken fibula, Mirderher is on the Sheep roster in her place, sincethe coaching staff didn’t bring up another jammer expect a heavy dose of the one-two punch that is Wheezy and K Lethal. Speaking of jammers, Hannah Barbaric has really transitioned well into her role as a blocker this season, as her years of jamming give her a wealth of experience to draw from and enables her to know what the opposing team’s jammers are going to do before they do it.
Jungle Lacy and Ruff’n Passer are two of the unsung heroes of this team, because what they lack in big, crowd-pleasing hits, they more then make up for with intelligent stall blocking. Nuk’em and Sailor Scary remind me of the Bash Brothers from D2: The Mighty Ducks. Now CRG can always have at least one big hitter in every pack that can blast jammers out of their quads.
Finally, Buckhead Betty’s game is evolving. In the past Buckhead would go for the monster hit no matter what the circumstance, but this season she has really cleaned up her game, is making good decisions, and using the “disco ball of doom” to not only send jammers three rows deep into the seats but to block them in as well. Make no mistake about it, this is not going to be an easy game for the Sheep. But if they stay calm and stick with what has been working for them this season they can get the W and send Toronto back home like an unwanted Nickelback album.
The undercard bout this weekend is going to be a grudge match between the Violent Lambs and the Dire Skates of Richmond, IN. Last year, the Flock Ewes (CRG’s C Team) traveled to Indiana to play against Dire Skates, whose ref and NSO crews were very inexperienced at the time. There were discrepancies involving scoring during the course of the game and D.S. ended up winning by less then 10 points. Flash forward one year, and many of the Ewes of then are the Lambs of now and are salivating at a chance for revenge at the historic Cincinnati Gardens.
I am not sure how much Dire Skates has improved since last year, but this Lambs team is leaps and bounds beyond what it was 365 days ago. Ruthless Chris has to be the most improved player in the league currently. Don’t get me wrong, she was good last year, but this year she is great. The last time she took the track she scored 191 points and was averaging 10 points a jam; those are video game stats, people. Juwana Hurt looked great in the Heroes and Villains game, so I am excited to see what she brings to the track in this one. Annie Tomical and Garden of Beatin’ both made the roster for this one and I am excited to see what they do with their opportunities. Also I like what I am seeing out of Cincy Psych-O as she is growing as a player each and every game. This one is going to be a lot of fun.
The one thing I am not looking forward to is this game will be Karma Krash’s final appearance in a Cincinnati Black Sheep uniform. After her partner, the greatest pivot to lace skates in the state of Ohio, Sk8r-Kinney moved to San Diego last year, it was only a matter of time before Karma would be joining her. Now after graduating from nursing school, she is West Coast bound. Karma has been a living testament of what hard work, dedication to off skate workouts and a healthy diet can do steadily improving each and every year. I am going to miss her stall blocks and tendency to wear so much eye shadow that even raccoons are like “damn, that girl has some black eyes.” Good luck with life, Karma, and thanks for the years of watching you play with a large heart and a great fighting spirit.
-Tank
For ticket information for our May 11 double-header, Scout & Kids Night, click here.

Cincinnati Black Sheep vs. Toronto CN Power Rosters

Cincinnati Black Sheep: Buckhead Betty 33 // CandyKICKass 32 // Hannah Barbaric 85 // Jungle Lacy 83 // K. Lethal 18 // Karma Krash 3 // Kitten Kicker 30 // Mirderher // Nuk’em 86 // Penn Tupanga 77 // Ruff’n the Passer 29 // Sadistic Sadie 76 // Sailor Scary 92 // Wheezy 43
Toronto CN Power: 111 Santa Muerte // 1205 Renny Rumble // 2 Dusty // 2020 Candy Crossbones // 204 Motorhead Molly // 21 Dyna Hurtcha // 212 Lady Gag-Ya // 23 Betty Bomber // 26 Mega Mouth // 2X4 Nasher the Smasher // 31 Bruiseberry Pie // 33 Bambi // 905 Bela-Reina // L7 Tara Part // 7 Rebel Rock-It // 22 Mia Culprit

Cincinnati Violent Lambs vs. Dire Skates Rosters

Cincinnati Violent Lambs: Annie Tomical 91 // Big Ugly 72 // Bombtrack 12 // Cherry Choke 0 // Cincy Psych-O 99 // 16 Garden of Beatin’ // Hot Slice 71 // Juwana Hurt 4 // La Bruja 66 // Poppy Chulo 27 // Railroad 6 // Roxx Solid 74 // Ruthless Chris 5 // Sista Shovechild 2
Dire Skates: 00 Ruby KaBooM // 1013 DJ Smear-O // 1019 Stubborn Itch // 1116 EnTRUdir // 11D2 Bad Azz Mother Kutter // 31 Emily KickNSum // 360 Dizzy Queen // 415 Klepto Matic // 6 Six Inch Killetos // 613 April Plowhers // 621 Lish D Lish // 765 Manic Jack // 831 Booty Shaker // 9 Class DisNISSed // 0507 Terahrizin