The St. Albert Heavenly Rollers (STAHR) weren’t very hospitable hosts on Saturday night.
Playing their second-ever home game at Performance Arena in Servus Credit Union Place, the roller derby squad notched their first-ever win, defeating the Saskatoon Killa Bees 191-48 in front of a crowd of about 300 fans.
“We are so pumped right now, very excited,” said STAHR’s Leanne Johnson, who goes by the nickname Cherry-Oto-Fire on the derby track. “We’ve been practicing hard. We’ve been playing hard, trying new things. And our girls just really worked together and came through for us.”
Johnson chalked up the big win to the Heavenly Rollers’ improved communication and confidence, which allowed them to deliver some big hits against Saskatoon.
“There’s a lot going on the derby track at one time,” she said. “It’s a lot of awareness, letting each other know where you are, letting each other know the jammer’s coming in. It can be really confusing, so once we got used to hearing each other’s voices, letting each other know where we are, we worked as a pack, as a team.”
In roller derby, each team puts five players on the track at once: four blockers and one jammer. Each team tries to manoeuvre their jammer through the pack. After going through the pack once, the jammer scores points for each opponent she legally passes during the two-minute session, called a “jam.”
The first team to move their jammer through the pack earns the “lead jam,” meaning they can call off the jam at any point to prevent the other team from scoring.
Compared to their last home game — a loss to the Deathbridge Derby Dames out of Lethbridge — the Heavenly Rollers were able to secure the lead jam much more often, which Johnson said is a huge advantage.
“You’re in total control of the points,” she said. “It’s also a confidence boost for the girls. They feel they have the control, and you’re way more motivated to get in there and get the points.”
St. Albert also had a number of players on the track Saturday who were injured or unavailable for the game against Lethbridge, which also made a big difference.
“We had a jammer back that definitely helped us score some points and we had a blocker who kept holding that line,” Johnson said. “When you get your whole team back together, it feels great.”
Johnson herself was the jammer during some of St. Albert’s highest scoring jams early in the match, earning 10 points on the very first one and 14 on a jam about midway through the first half.
While they savoured the victory on Saturday, the derby ladies will be heading back to the practice track soon, as they have already lined up their next home match for Saturday, Aug. 13, against the Lakeland Ladykillers from Cold Lake.
Johnson said that results like Saturday’s are encouraging and give the Heavenly Rollers confidence they can start to step up the level of competition they face.
“Every win puts you in that mentality, that you can compete at a higher level,” she said. “But we’re a pretty humble team too and we won’t let it go to our heads.”
