Roller Derby: AFA The Inferno live report June 15, 2019

Kate, Wesley, and I made the short drive to Auburn for the Androscoggin Fallen Angels home opening bout of the season as The Inferno took on the Hurt of the Commonwealth from the Worcester Roller Derby League of out Massachusetts.

I'm not privy to insider information but it appears as though the AFA has shifted their home venue from the Lewiston Armory to the Norway Savings Bank Area in Auburn.  I love the Armory, it's a fantastic building but this is a great venue.

Located next to the Auburn Mall behind Shaws it has two ice rinks inside it.  The second floor has a concession stand called the Upper Level Pizza & Grill with a full menu of food and snacks and the prices are very reasonable compared to other venues.  They also have some video games and air hockey plus the old school hockey games.  More importantly though they had a pinball machine, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and I played a couple games.

Another cool thing about the venue is that if you can't go to the bout you can live stream it, or anything they have going on, on LiveBarn.com just search for the venue.  I'm not sure if it's just a hard camera on the ice, but it's a cool feature.

The bout today was excellent!  Very hard hitting and competitive play between both teams.  Queen Bootycca was on fire today as the jammer.  Many times you'd see her tip toeing around the blockers right on the line to get passed them to score.  It earned her to top jammer honor for the game for her team.  Hoots got the top blocker honor and others that stood out included Taco Badger and Slim Katie.
 

Standouts for Worcester included Pocket Rocket, the top jammer, and Alysin Wonderslam who were jammers for the team and Nancy Drew Blood was voted the top blocker of the game.  There were a lot of other great players, I'm just not familiar with them all.

I'm not doing the ladies justice with my memory of the bout, as there was a lot of hard hits and some great game play.  The top blocker and jammer awards are voted on by the opposing team, so Infernos voted for Commonwealth and vice versa.

At the end of the first half the game was quite close, but in the second half the Inferno's really turned up the heat and took a strong lead the just kept climbing until the final jam.  The Inferno won their home opener with a score of 141 to 104.

I can't stress this enough as to how much fun it is to go and watch this live.  This is out 4th bout and the more you watch the more you pick up on the little things that go one out there on the floor.  They had a good crowd in the building tonight and they got loud whenever the Inferno took command.

You can show your support for both of these leagues at their links:

Androscoggin Fallen Angels   

Worcester Roller Derby

The Infernos next bout is at home on July 20th with no announced opponent

Worcester's next bout is June 23rd as their team the Triple Deck-Hers travel to Hoosick Falls, New York to play the Soutshire Roller Derby.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Until next time!

Central Maine Derby Live Report 10/20/2018

On October 20, 2018 the Northwood Knockouts of the Central Maine Roller Derby hosted a bout against the Spitfires of the Capital City Rollers at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

Katie, Wesley, and I stopped at Chick-Fil-A for dinner before heading to the venue.  Honestly I'm surprised they have their bouts here because it has to be expensive to rent.  They use the main floor, the Center has staff working, I saw at least seven employees, and even though they had about 200 fans in attendance because the venue is so large it doesn't look like there is that many people there.

Tickets were $10 in advance and $12 day of the show, Wesley was free.  They started promptly at 6:00 pm as advertised with the team introductions and then they started right into the bout.  This was our second time attending Roller Derby, the first time was in August you can read about it here, first time for Central Maine Roller Derby.

The rules were the same this time as last, however straight way this bout had much more aggressive play and faster paced action.  These girls played rough and were knocking each other down, throwing big blocks and really going at it.  There was also less penalties in this bout.

It started off even but just before the end of the first half the Knockouts took decent lead and didn't let up in the second half.  In the end they won by 100 points with the final score being , I believe, 236 - 136.

Northwoods Knockouts

The Spitfires

Comparing the two I would say I really like the intimacy of the Lewiston Armory better, but the sounds system here was amazing and clear.  I enjoyed the game play at both but was really into the aggressiveness of tonight's action!

We both had a great time and will definitely be back for another bout.  I didn't bring my bring my camera so these pictures were taken with my phone.

The Northwoods Knockouts are part of  Central Maine Derby based in Bangor, Maine.  The league started in 2012, you can read more here: Central Maine Derby

The Spitfires are part of the Capital City Rollers based out of Fredricton, New Brunswick, Canada.  The league started in 2010, you can read more here: Capital City Rollers

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!

Helter Swelter: AFA Roller Derby live report 8/18/2018

Growing up Saturday Mornings were not just cartoons there was some live action excitement in there as well.  The line up changed depending on the season but it was typically Candlepin Bowling, Monster Trucks, Roller Derby, Professional Wrestling, and Creature Double Feature.

I've played Candlepin Bowling many, many times, I've been to several Monster Trucks shows, and I pretty sure you know about my love of professional wrestling.  Roller Derby though, always eluded me mostly because it just didn't exist in Maine.

In 2006 A&E started airing the show Roller Girls, about the banked track all girls Texas Roller Derby league.  I loved this show, I hadn't seen Roller Derby on my television since the WSL Roller Jam that ran from 1999 - 2001.

This show started a resurgence on all girls Roller Derby including Maine Roller Derby based out of the Portland, Maine area.  Try as I might for different reasons I never made it to a bout.

A couple weeks back my coworker told me about roller derby being at the Lewiston Armory.  Looking into it I had never heard of the Androscoggin Fallen Angels Roller Derby before but was excited to read about their team The Inferno and their upcoming bout on August 18, 2018.  The best part was the doors opened at 5:30 pm for a 6pm opening whistle, I had time to go before work!

To my surprise I asked my wife if she wanted to go and she said yes.  So after dropping the kids at her mothers, she was taking them and their cousins camping for the weekend, he headed out for a rare night out on the town.

We got the venue about quarter past five and I saw my coworker Andrea with her family.  Doors opened promptly at 5:30 and it was only $7 for adults and I counted roughly 150 in attendance at intermission, which I think is an good house.

I love the Lewiston Armory, I have been there for many wrestling events and once in high school a full contact Karate Tournament.  The venue has a balcony on three sides and I was surprised to find the old wooden seats at are quite comfortable and did not feel crammed in at all.  We also had a great view of the whole track and all the action.

The bout was between The Infernos of the Androscoggin Fallen Angels and the Upper Valley Vixens of Twin State Derby.  The bout started just about on time, my only complaint is that we couldn't hear the MC on the PA system it just sounded like a foreign language.

They play two thirty minute periods with a 15 minute intermission.  You can read the full official rules here, but the basics are five members play at a time and scoring is accomplished in two minute jam sessions.  The jammer for each team starts at the back of the pack and works there way forward to the front of the pack and then around to the back of the pack again.  Each player on the other team they pass they score a point for their team.  Jammers can score as many points as possible in the jam session and only the lead jammer can call off the jam before the two minutes are up.

Jammers trying to break through the pack

The Inferno started off strong and jumped to an early lead but the Vixens quickly made a comeback taking the lead and never looking back.  The final score was I believe 194 - 118 in favor of the Vixens.

Being out first bout I'm not familiar with all the players but the stand outs for the Inferno's that I could tell where the jammers Seitanic Beast and Queen Bootycca.  The VIP of the game though was Jagged Little Pill on the Vixens.  She was a tremendous jammer and on two occasions I saw her score twenty points in one jam session.

All of these girls are tough and work very hard on the floor.  They are not kidding when they say it's full contact as they are constantly pushing and bumping each other jockeying for position.  Seitanic Beast tooked a wicked fall near the end of the bout and was removed from the game.  I hope it's nothing serious.

Jagged Little Pill of the Vixens becoming the lead jammer

Next time I'm going to bring my good camera but here are some shots I got with my phone.

Jagged Little Pill maneuvering around the packs to score points

I loved it and my wife really enjoyed it.  We will definitely be returning for another Inferno bout and checking out the other Leagues around the State.

Maine Roller Derby Leagues

Androscoggin Fallen Angels

Maine Roller Derby

Central Maine Derby

Rock Coast Rollers

Aroostook Roller Derby

Upper Valley Vixens - New Hampshire

Calling off the jam

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!