Before champion hopefuls The Fury and Manic Attackers faced off for the Ivy King Cup on Saturday, a charity bout benefiting Tequila Mockingbird warmed up the UIC Pavilion. The White Zombies III, piloted by guest coach, Coach Joe, took to the track against D Force, who was coached by guest coach Midnight Rain. The bout was charitable, but still just as much a battle. When the smoke cleared, the brain-eating White Zombies III came out on top with a score of 84-50.
Before the bout started, the WCR Chorus, made of derby skaters and officials from within the league, sang our National Anthem. Fanfare aside, it was by and large the most beautiful version of the Star-Spangled Banner to date.
Both teams came out with some heavy-hitting action. For a charity bout, it was obvious there was plenty of leftover frustration from the season being let out during the first half. Both teams were up and down and hitting hard. Jammer selection from both guest coaches was spot-on and an excellent combination for both the athletes and the fans to get into.
Some highlights from the bout included killer blocking and hitting on both sides from Sunshine N Painbows skating as Tutti Frutti, Dinah Party skating as Chai Alert, Hoosier Mama skating as Badonk and Joanie Utah. These ladies weren’t leaving anything out when it came to defense, and for a scrimmage, there was some serious pain being dished out. Still though, when it all comes out in the wash, these ladies love and respect each other to the highest degree.
Shocka Conduit, Unicoroner skating as Unicorona, Deb Autry skating as Dawn of the Deb and Varla Vendetta were putting up some major points for the White Zombies III. Both teams were going back and forth on scoring for the majority of the bout. D Force had Athena DeCrime skating as Amber Lamps, Abbey skating as ABBEY!!!!! and for the first time in two years – Riley Coyote putting up points for them with reckless abandon. All of the ladies, coaches and captains from each team did a great job on the track and the end of the bout was the icing on the cake.
Dawn of the Deb took to the jammer line against Amber Lamps for the final jam, and she skirted the inside track and got Lead Jammer. As Dawn of the Deb came around to turn two, Badonk tackled her to the ground and the D Force team cleared the bench sparking a “brawl.” Both teams erupted into a mock hockey-style finish, the only difference being there were hugs and congratulations instead of punches and expletives. Both Dawn of the Deb and Badonk received Player of the Game and Coach Joe ended the night 3-0 as a guest coach for the Black and White Scrimmage.