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Derby season underway

The sixth season of West Kootenay Roller Derby action kicked off Saturday in Castlegar’s Selkirk College gym.

Submitted to the

Castlegar News

The sixth season of West Kootenay Roller Derby action kicked off Saturday in Castlegar’s Selkirk College gym.

Before an enthusiastic large crowd of fans, the local roller derby league hosted its first double header of the season, featuring bouts between Salmo/Slocan Valley Brutality and the Rossland-Trail Rollergirls, and a much anticipated rematch between the Nelson Killjoys and Castlegar’s Dam City Rollers.

The first whistle blew and a fierce battle commenced. The Killjoys leapt to an early lead, which they maintained throughout the game. The league’s defending champions had home track advantage but found themselves unable to come back from a series of costly penalties.

The Dams battled to regain the lead, but could not keep together against the powerful offence the Killjoys put forward. Several times the Dams threatened to come back, but were rebuffed time and again.

At the end of the bout, the unofficial final score was 253-229, ending a year-long undefeated streak for the Dams.

The second game featured the Rossland-Trail Rollergirls versus the Salmo/ Slocan Valley Brutality. The Valley put up a huge battle, playing with a roster of seven skaters, half the usual number.

Rossland-Trail has been working hard during the off season to be a real threat to the front-running teams this year, and it was clear they were ready to dominate the track.

The Rollergirls had the bout well in hand, and Valley Brutality wore themselves out playing short handed. The bout ended with an unofficial score of 278-171 for Rossland-Trail.