Friday 17 August 2012

Upcoming Weekend Events

This is another big week for Roller Derby here in the Nation's Capital, as the Rideau Valley Roller Girls put on another of their famous double header events, one of which will be the first Mens Roller Derby match to be played in Ontario. Also, the Capital City Derby Dolls unveil their new official B team. More information coming right up.

RVRG's last home bout of the 2012 season takes place this Saturday, August 18th. The Brewer Brouhaha starts with the Slaughter Squad, Ottawa's first and only Men's Roller Derby team playing against Montreal's Mont Royales, followed by RVRG's own Riot Squad taking on CCDD's Dolly Rogers.
The event takes place at Brewer Arena, 210 Hopewell Ave, right across from the Carleton University campus. Doors open at 6.
For more information, please check out the event's Facebook page.

Also taking part this weekend, CCDD's new house team, the Dollinquents, travel to Kingston to take on Kingston Derby Girl's new team, the Skateful Dead. The Dollinquents name has been used the last two years for the team sent to Fresh and Furious tournament that the GTA Rollergirls put on every summer in Toronto to showcase the years new crop of fresh meat. And when it came time to name their new house team, it was the clear favourite. For those of you living in the Kingston area, or who are interested in travelling down to catch the action, more information can again be found on the event's Facebook page.

While we're at it, can I just say that I hate Facebook, and their stupid forced Timeline? Who thought this was a good idea? Sorry, rant over. Lets have another great Derby weekend.

Friday 20 July 2012

Quick Update

It has been several months since I’ve put up a blog posting (or a podcast, come to think of it), so here’s a short write-up about what’s been going on.

The last two months have been incredibly busy, derby wise, with most weekends being taken up by either home or away matches. Some of you may know that in addition to running Ottawa Derbycast, I also take care of all of the home announcing duties for the Capital City Derby Dolls. This year I’ve somehow managed to do the announcing at all of their away games as well, not to mention covering every bout of the Too Fresh Too Furious tournament in Toronto last weekend (in the main hall, at least), and this several bouts for this upcoming weekend’s RDAC Eastern Championship tournament.

All in all, there have been a ton of games (7 weekends out of 10, with only 2 of them being home games). With so many games being played out of town, it has been impossible to attend any of the Rideau Valley Roller Girls’ bouts this year or any of the events that Ottawa Roller Derby has put on, and I’m worried that the posting is going to become too one sided. This venue is not meant as CCDD advertising, but is supposed to be an unbiased coverage for all roller derby in Ottawa. With that in mind, we're looking for additional people to help cover the events that I am unable to personally attend. Anyone interested in writing up a review of a past or upcoming event, please let me know and we'll add you to the list of blog writers, and get your writing out to our followers

With that out of the way, here are some derby events that are coming up over the next two weeks.
This weekend, July 21st, the Rideau Valley Roller Girls are hosting the Four-Wheel Fury double header at the Barbara Ann Scott Arena (2250 Torquay Ave). The Slaughter Daughters will be taking on the Venus Fly Tramps from Kitchener’s Tri-City Roller Girls, while the Riot Squad will face off against Kingston Roller Derby’s Disloyalists. The doors open at 6, and tickets are only $15 at the door. More information can be found at the event’s Facebook page.

Next weekend, July 28th, Ottawa Roller Derby is throwing another of their fabulous Roller Discos. The event takes place at Brewer Arena (210 Hopewell Avenue, right across Bronson from Carleton University). Doors open at 7pm, and its only $5 to get in. And if you don’t own a pair of skates, there will be some available for rental for a mere $10 charge. Again, check out their Facebook page for further information.

Last, but not least, the Capital City Derby Dolls travel to Guelph, ON this weekend to take part in this year’s Roller Derby Association of Canada’s Eastern Championships. This is a new setup for the old Canadian Women’s Roller Derby Association that ran last year’s Blood Spill on the Hill event. This year, RDAC are running regional championship tournaments in the West, Central, Eastern, and Atlantic regions, with the top two teams from each region travelling to a final 8 team tournament that will take place early next spring to crown the Canadian Roller Derby champions. Other teams included in the tournament are the Forest City Roller Girls (last year’s champions), the Royal City Roller Girls, GTA Rollergirls, Toronto Roller Derby, Renegade Derby Dames, and the Nickel City Rollergirls.      

Thursday 10 May 2012

May News Update

Hello derby fans.

The first weekend of May has come and gone, and along with it came an incredibly exciting bout in Kanata where the Capital City Derby Dolls' travel team, the Dolly Rogers, battled against Les Duchesses from Roller Derby Quebec.
For those of you who were lucky enough to watch it, you witnessed a tough, physical battle between the squads, who were meeting for the first time. These were two very evenly matched teams, and the lead changed hands several times throughout the bout, coming down to a 1 point difference in the scoreline at the end of the match.
The final result was shrouded in a bit of scandal and controversy, as the scoreboard showed the Doll ahead 109 to 104 at the start of the last jam of the evening, and Les Duchesses were only able to pick up 4 points, leaving them losing the game by 1 point. There was a quick recount of the scores at the end of the bout, however, and the final total turned out to be 111 to 109, in favour of the visiting team. It was a hard result to take for the Dolls, who stated that they would have (rightly) changed their tactics for the last jam had they known that the true score was 109 to 107.
It certainly makes for fine drama if they manage to arrange a re-match, reverse fixture in Quebec City sometime near the end of their bouting calander.

Next up for the Dolly Rogers is a trip to Alliston, ON to take part in Mother's Day Mayhem this upcoming weekend, where they will face the Renegade Derby Dame's Misfit Militia

In other away news, the Rideau Valley Roller Girls' travel team, the Vixens, were in Toronto this past weekend to bout against the GTA Rollergirls' GStars. It was a resounding victory for the Vixens as they finished the game with a score of 278 to 39.

This upcoming weekend, RVRG is hosting their first double header of the 2012 bouting season.
Wreck 'n' Roll takes place at the Barbara Ann Scott Arena, in Nepean. The first bout will have the Slaughter Daughters against the Hellions of Troy, from Troy, NY, while the Riot Squad take on the Tatas, from Sudbury, ON. Doors open at 6. Please refer to their event's Facebook page for further details.

But that's not all... that's right, there's even more derby action going on in Ottawa this weekend.
Ottawa Roller Derby are holding their first Black and White scrimmage of the year at Brewer Arena, just across the street from Carleton University. While this isnt a full blown bout, it does provide casual derby action as randomly selected lines of skaters (made up from ORD, CCDD, and our favourite visitors, the Limestone CrusHers) run through jam after jam. Its a nice, easy way to familiarize yourself with the sport of Roller Derby, especially for people looking to try it out.
They're even offering an Open Skate hour before the event begins where you can try on some skates and see what the girls have to deal with down on the track (non-contact, of course). Skate rentals will be available for the Open Skate hour. As always, Facebook holds the key (oh, and here's the Open Skate info).

Since we cannot be in 3 places at the same time (and as our host, the Emir of Istanbul, is providing announcing services for the Mother's Day Mayhem bout in Alliston), we will not be able to provide coverage of the two events taking place here in Ottawa. If some freelancers wish to provide match coverage, or do some journalistic work on our behalf, we would love to post some articles about them. You can contact us at ottawaderbycast@gmail.com if you're interested.

Thursday 19 April 2012

Upcoming Events

Hello, Derby fans, here's what you have to look forward to in the next few weeks (the 12th of May is an especially busy day).

This upcoming weekend is the 5th installment of Montreal Roller Derby's Beast of the East tournament. This is a 2 day event that sees 16 teams from around Ontario, Quebec, and the eastern provinces playing in a series of  25 minute, single period bouts as they determine who will be crowned champions. The Rideau Valley Roller Girls, winners of last year's competition, return to defend their crown.
The event takes place April 21 and 22 in Montreal. For further information, please visit http://beast.mtlrd.com/information

Speaking of the Rideau Valley Roller Girls.
In addition to their trip to Montreal this weekend, RVRG and the Slaughter Squad Men’s Derby Team are teaming up to ROLL OVER MS by participating in the MS Walk on Sunday, April 29th, on skates!
You can donate directly to their team by using the following link

On the 5th of May, the Vixens, RVRG's travel team, will head to Toronto to face the GTA Rollergirl's GStars. More details on their trip will be posted when they become available.

And finally, on the 12th of May, RVRG will be hosting the Wreck 'n' Roll double header event.
The Slaughter Daughters will be battling against the Hellions of Troy in the first bout of the night, who will be visiting from Troy, NY. The second bout of the night has the Riot Squad facing against the Tatas from the Greater Sudbury Roller Derby league.
The event starts at 6pm at the Barbara Ann Scott Arena, in Nepean.
Tickets are $12 in advance, or $15 at the door.
For more information, please visit the event's Facebook page.

The Capital City Derby Dolls also have a busy May. They start off with their Season Opener home bout on the 5th of May as the Dolly Rogers meet Les Duchesses from Roller Derby Quebec for the first time.
The event takes place at Jack Charon Arena, 10 McKitrik Drive, in Kanata. Doors open at 7pm.
Tickets are $7 in avance, $10 at the door.
For more information, please visit their Facebook page.

The Dolly Rogers will be travelling to Allison, Ontario the following weekend, May 12th, for Mothers Day Mayhem to face off against the Renegade Derby Dames' Misfit Militia. The Facebook page contains further details.

The 12th of May is also the date of Ottawa Roller Derby's Black and White scrimmage, where lines made up of random skaters bout against each other. The event takes starts at 5:30 at Brewer Arena, near Carleton University. Skaters looking to take part in the scrimmage have until the 1st of May to contact ORD.
As always, Facebook is the place to find further information.

Monday 27 February 2012

Weekend Recap

The exhibition bout that took place last Saturday evening, hosted by RVRG's Riot Squad, and featuring CCDD's Dolly Rogers, was a tremendous success. The event was held at a sold out Norm Fenn Gymnasium, and the spectators were treated to a delightfully tense match. The final result was 150 to 127 for the Riot Squad, but it really could have been anyone's game if the bout had gone on for another 10 or 15 minutes.

Each side had a mixture of veteran players, returning newbies from last season, and "fresh meat" who were preparing for their first ever live bout. If the spectators weren't familiar with the players on each of the squads, they might be hard pressed to pick out which skaters were in which category.

The Riot Squad came out strong in the first half and wracked up an impressive 40 point lead after the first three or four jams, but then were shut out for the next ten minutes as the Dolly Rogers clawed their way to in front. The lead went back and forth several times before the end of the first half, with the Riot Squad just ahead 77 to 66.

The second half started the same way, and the Riot Squad took a commanding lead which they managed to maintain right to the end of the bout, but the Dolly Rogers didn't make it easy on them. It was an incredibly physical half, with neither side holding back, and there were a glut of penalties near the end of the game. That's not to say that it was a mean spirited match, and the atmosphere on the track and on the benches were joyous and upbeat.  The only ejection of the night was for the Dolly Rogers as the ever boisterous Lobster accumulated one major penalty too many, and she stormed to the penalty box with a theatrical toss of her helmet. She was eventually escorted to the dressing room by the head ref for the bout, Chronic Master-Nate-Er.

The MVP for each team, as decided by their opponents, were #9 Pix E. Cutz for the Riot Squad, and #31 Ha-Lou-Ween for the Dolly Rogers. I know that this was Ha-Lou-Ween's first official match, having passed her min. skills a month or two before. I'm not sure about Pix E Cutz, but I believe she is also a fairly new skater, so congratulations go out to both girls, and to all of the players who took part in the bout. Lets hope to see more in the coming season.

In Ottawa Derbycast news, the twitter feed was being regularly updated throughout the bout by our host (and derby announcer) the Emir of Istanbul during official time outs, but it was a distraction from his announcing duties. If someone wants to volunteer to run the feed for us during home matches, please drop us a line at ottawaderbycast@gmail.com. Recording for the first podcast of the 2012 season has begun, so look for that by the end of the week.

Also, the Capital City Derby Dolls' "Learn to Skate" program starts this upcoming weekend. Places may still be available, so if you're looking to try out this derby thing, or if you're just looking to try out skating on quads for fun and exercise, drop them a line at capitalcityderbydolls@gmail.com.

Monday 20 February 2012

Local Intra-League Exhibition Clash Coming Up This Weekend

Norm Fenn Gym, home to Carleton University's Ravens basketball team, will host the first Roller Derby bout of the 2012 season this upcoming Saturday as the Rideau Valley Roller Girls' Riot Squad hosts their cross-town rivals, the Dolly Rogers from the Capital City Derby Dolls in an exhibition match. The bout is set to start at 8:30.

Due to the small capacity of the gym, this is a semi-private event. If you are looking for tickets, I would suggest contacting your favourie Derby Doll as they have a few unsold tickets left.

If you cannot make it to the game, be sure to follow us on Twitter (@ottawaderbycast) as we will be tweeting updates throughout the game.

Here are the rosters for each of the teams:
Riot Squad
#278 Mudblood
#22 Glamazon Warrior
#130 Tarantulove
#9 Pix E Cutz
#66 Axxident
#69 Pretty Pants
#-40 Frostbite
#81 Lipsick
#777 The Warden
#1075 Smother Nature
#11 Purella Deville
#15 Arsenic Martini
#1980 Death from Below
#2 Red Hot

Bench Staff:
Jenna
MR Massacre

Dolly Rogers
#25 Bust’er Up
#12 Ruby Wreckage
#F-150 Delicate Plow'her
#21.1k Run'er Over
#7 Lobster
#1701 Deanna Destroi
#XIII Violently Jill
#31 Ha-Lou-Ween
#1313 Dawn Cherry
#WK3D Maiden Millhaven
#00 Bagels
#808 Shari Bomb 
#23 Shutter Down
#10-93 Whips N. Chaynes
x86_64 Eastern Block'her

Bench Staff:
Red

Friday 3 February 2012

Welcome to a whole new Derby season

So, its 2012, and we're at the onset of a brand new season of Roller Derby here in the Nation's Capital. February is normally early for bouting to start, but not here in Ottawa. We've got some open house news and a bout going on at the end of the month.

First up, the Capital City Derby Dolls are holding an Open House/Intro to Skating clinic this weekend and next, open to all females over the age of 18. The events take place at 11am Saturday, Feb 4 and 11am Saturday, Feb 11 at the Ottawa Technical High School, 440 Albert street, in the gymnasium directly above the primary parking lot. There's a $10 fee to attend, and another $10 is required to rent skates if you dont own your own pair of quads. If you like what you see, you can join up for their 12 week Fresh Meat program. More information can be found at their Facebook page.

Also, the first bout of the year for our local Derby enthusiasts takes place at the end of the month, and sees the Rideau Valley Roller Girls' Riot Squad throw down against the Capital City Derby Dolls' Dolly Rogers in a true Derby derby (footie fans will know what I'm talking about) on the 25th of February. This is an exhibition match that takes place at Norm Fenn gym at Carleton University. More information will be delivered as we get closer to the date, but mark your calendars now and make sure you dont miss it.