Normally it's the crowd that roars when the Rated PG Rollergirls skate out onto the track, but on Saturday night, it was a chainsaw bringing the noise at the Roll-A-Dome.
For the first bout of the season against the Grande Prairie Rage N Fyre, PG assistant captain Sistah Viberosis wielded the powertool in typical rollergirl intimidation fashion.
But the visiting Alberta team, playing only their second sanctioned bout, didn't let the customary entrance cut them down to size in front of a packed house.
After a strong and aggressive start by the Rollergirls - with jammers Sistah Viberosis, Edie Sedgewhip and Sarabellum racking up points - Grande Prairie got physical and jammer Hurt Quake was able to grab the lead position in the fourth jam, taking advantage of P.G.'s Yard Sale getting knocked to the floor.
The rest of the 30-minute half was filled with bodies hitting the oval, creating pile ups and and a string of trips to the penalty box that allowed Grande Prairie to continue to shrink the scoring gap.
After a taking abuse almost every time she put on the jammer star, Edie Sedgewhip got the home crowd cheering in the dying seconds of the first half by knocking Grande Prairie's Blondie Bruiser to the ground.
Rollergirls captain Lockdown said she was pleased with the game at the half, which saw P.G. leading Rage N Fyre 55-42.
"It's a lot fairer than I thought it would be," she said, noting she didn't get the impression it would that way after having breakfast with the visiting team that morning. "They came giving their A-game."
Though focused on playing their own top game, the Rollergirls had to make a few adjustments after blocker Derby Deeds left the game in the first half with an arm injury.
"We're going to play our game and keep at it," Lockdown said.
And keep at it they did in the second half, with Sarabellum used her long legs and agility to gain speed and deke around Rage N Fyre blockers for a whole two minute-jam to boost the Rollergirls nearly 20 points late in the second half.
But Grande Prairie continued to gain confidence over the remainder of the bout, making the Prince George pivots (responsible for calling plays) work extra hard to get their skaters to take up room on track to block the opponents' jammers.
After a solid effort, it was the Rated PG Rollergirls who notched their first win of the season with a score of 114-94.
But Rage N Fyre didn't go home defeated.
"We knew [Prince George] had a few more bouts under their belt," said Grande Prairie assistant captain Sassy Taffy. Rage N Fyre played their first sanctioned bout back in October. "We came into this saying that if we did lose, we wanted the score to be divisible by two."
The Rated PG Rollergirls host Log Jamming, a double header, Feb. 25 at the Roll-A-Dome. Quesnel's Gold Pain City Derby Girls take on the B Team from the Okanagan Shuswap Roller Derby Association, the Candy Strykers. Prince George will tackle the OSRDA's A Team, the Raggedy Rollers, for the headlining bout. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with the first whistle at 6 p.m.
