This is a guest post from Disloyalist team co-captain Little Orphan-Maker Annie, who may have written it dockside at her cottage, where she is vacationing for the week.

Every time I think of this past weekend, the theme song to Rocky plays in my head. With so many undermatched teams in the Disloyalists’ schedule this season, it was great to finally rise to the challenge of a solid, established team. Although we didn’t win according to the score, these two back-to-back weekend games against the acclaimed Rideau Valley Roller Girls’ Riot Squad didn’t feel like losses. The first pairing, at Carnival Carnage in Kingston, saw the Riot Squad eke out a win against a strong Disloyalist team with a score of 162-132. At the rematch last weekend in Ottawa, our team took what we learned from Carnival Carnage and managed to avoid getting caught by their same strategies, but it just wasn’t enough to pull off the win. The Riot Squad came out on top with a score of 171-115.

As always, we outscored the Riot Squad in the second half, which featured impressive jamming by Luci Fleur and Manic Breeze, but the shining star of the game was Viva Long Legas, who earned lead jammer status regularly and was a strong point scorer for the team. This did not go unnoticed by the Riot Squad, who chose Viva as MVP for The Disloyalists. This was a bittersweet game for Viva, though, who was playing her last game with our league before leaving us to head west to finish her PhD. “It was great to play a team of tall players,” said the 6’0″ jammer, who found it easier to break through their walls on her toe stops, something not easily practiced with her own team.

This weekend also offered an additional, exciting opportunity for some of our players. The first game of the double-header was a matchup between the highly ranked Venus Fly Tramps of Tri-City Roller Girls and RVRG’s other home team, the Slaughter Daughters — currently ranked #1 among Canadian home teams. When an email came in from Tri-City looking for some skaters to top up their roster for their game, Luci Fleur, Queen Blitz, and I jumped at the amazing chance to warm the bench for the talented Venus Fly Tramps!

Surprisingly, they played us a fair amount and we had an amazing time skating with such a skillful, experienced team. Thanks to Tri-City for the opportunity to play against Semi Precious and Soul Rekker (my favourite players!), both of whom played for Team Canada in the Roller Derby World Cup last December.

Thanks also to RVRG, our super hosts, and especially to the Riot Squad for the learning experience that comes with playing such a challenging team. You can bet the Disloyalists will do whatever we can to fit the Riot Squad into our 2013 schedule. Don’t miss the opportunity to see these two teams take each other on next season.

- LOMA