Congratulations to Skee Town Skirtz!

Thank you to everyone who made it out to January 23rd's Fresh Meat Tournament as well as visiting leagues - Mid Michigan, Skee Town Skirtz and The Chicago Outift.

Congratulations to the Skee Town Skirtz, Muskegon MI on taking first place.

SCORES
Game 1
Skee Town 34
Chicago Outfit Shade Brigade 23

Game 2
Mid-Michigan 30
Killamazoo Killamazoo Fresh Meat 19

Game 3 (Battle for 3rd & 4th place)
Killamazoo Killamazoo Fresh Meat 53
Chicago Outfit Shade Brigade 65

Game 4 (Battlle for 1st & 2nd)
Mid-Michigan 29
Skee Town 135

Just in case some of you were wondering where some of the more familiar faces of KDD were - Killamazoo decided to hold this tournament in order to give brand new skaters, skaters returning from leave, injury or pregnancy, or players wanting to play some new positions track time against newer leagues and B-Teams.

It was the very first game for Ramona D. Flowers and Represent who made our league very proud. It's amazing how far these two have come in a short amount of time.

This tournament was Killamazoo's first event held at the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds, as previous bouts have been held June - August at Wings Stadium. Playing at the fairgrounds winter through spring gives us the opportunity to have more home games outside of the summer months.

Here's a recap from games one and two from Terrorhawk.

New Year's Bash a HUGE success!

"I would give it 9 out of 10, the only thing that would have made it a ten would be a hot air balloon outside." - Bumpin' Jack Flash.

The night started off on the right foot, with Bumpin' Jack receiving an award for his dedicated volunteer work throughout KDD's season. There is no way we could put on bouts without our amazing volunteers, let alone a four team tournament! We would like to thank ALL the volunteers from each league for stepping up to the plate and making this an event to remember.

In case you missed it, here's a little re-cap.

Game one brought The Skee Town Skirts to the track, a fresh new team from Muskegon, Michigan fronted by long time friends and supporters of KDD Dot Matrix and Tamara Hurtsworse. There they met the Chicago Outfit's Shade Brigade for the first 20 min affair. In that short 20 minutes Skee Town skater Rika Reckless and Shade Brigade captain Valerie of the Dolls poised themselves as skaters to watch by way of agile jamming and assertive blocking. Skee town emerged victorious with a score of 34 to the Shade Brigade's 23.

Secondly the home-town Killamazoo Derby Darlins took the track against the Mid-Michigan Derby Girls from Mt. Morris Michigan. It was the second time these two teams have met on the track, the first resulting in a large margin win by Killamazoo. Mid-Michigan quickly displayed the results of all their hard work in practice pulling out to a quick 10 point lead in the opening jam. It was fresh meat skater Represent who stepped up in the first jam of her first bout ever and put Killamazoo on the board with a 5 point grand slam. For roughly 15 minutes the score stayed tight, until Mid-Michigan was able to monopolize on some ill-timed trips to the penalty box by Killamazoo jammers. Shelby Inappropriate and Misty Motorboatin were stand-out jammers for Mid-Michigan while many oohs and ahhs were coerced from the crowd by Killamazoo skater Kiki UrHaz after SIX jammer take-outs in a single two minute jam. 20 Minutes skated and done left Killamazoo under Mid-Michigan 30-19.

For the next 40 minutes the night would bring together the Shade Brigade and Killamazoo in a very close, hard fought bout. In the first 20 minute half, fans witnessed Killamazoo behind by 25 points thanks to some major defensive work by Outfit skaters, primarily blocker/pivot Lady K.

After a quick break Yoga Nagettit scored 15 points with the blocking assistance of Jane Deere, Dee Struction, Ramona D.Flowers and Lady Hawk. Killamazoo went on to outscore the Shade Brigade 35 to 8 over the next couple of jams. Sadly, it's the end score that matters, which placed Killamazoo in 4th and the Chicago Outfit Shade Brigade in 3rd with the score of 65-53.

With the championship trophies having been displayed on the announcers table the entire day, all inside the Hazel Gray building were anxious for the main event. Skee Town and Mid-Michigan took the track for the last game of the tournament.

Skee Town came out guns blazing, literally, with Livingstun Gun demanding respect at the jam line. Skee Towns jammers all followed suit and soon Mid-Michigan were looking up from the down end of a 116 point defecit. The skaters from Mt. Morris showed considerable determination, stamina, and teamwork, though not enough to penetrate the force that became the New Year's Bash Champion!

Congratulations to the Skee Town Skirts for taking it home! Congratulations also to tournament MVP's, Livingstun Gun and Lady K.

Killamazoo would like to thank all the fans that came out Saturday, and invite everyone to the first official game of our home season on April 10th when we play Les Sexpos from Montreal.

Our next home game on April 10th against the Montreal Sexpos will contain Killamazoo's top rostered skaters. Presale tickets will be available starting March 1st.

February 20th we'll be heading out to Rockford IL to play against the Rockford Rage.

Photos by Derek Ketchum
Ketchum Memories Photography
www.flickr.com/dketchum