On March 22 and 23, the Ohio Roller Girls (OHRG) “All Stars” and “Gang Green” traveled to Toronto Ontario for the 5th Annual Quad Cities Chaos Roller Derby Tournament. This was our hometown heroines’ third appearance there, where they have a solid record against two of the toughest teams in Canada: Toronto's “CN Power” and Montreal's “New Skids on the Block.” Ohio's B-team, “Gang Green,” also had a bout against Montreal's “Bay Street Bruisers.” The tournament also featured an appearance by Bloomington Indiana's “Bleeding Heartland.” All four charter teams played each other once. This left Ohio's two teams, the “All-Stars” and Gang Green, skating three bouts in a single day on the March 22. Ohio has several players skating for both Gang Green and the All-Stars teams, making it three bouts in a single day for some skaters and a total of four bouts in two days. Canadian announcers at the event noted Ohio skaters delivering on their reputation for endurance and their willingness to shrug of injuries and continue play. Both traits were in evidence throughout the weekend. Ohio Roller Girls All Stars vs Montreal New Skids The Quad city tournament opened with a match off between two charter teams, Ohio's All Stars and Montreal's New Skids on the Block. Seventeenth-ranked Montreal came onto the track looking for payback, as they had taken a hard loss from Ohio, but never been beaten at the Quad Cities tournament. It was their first bout of the year. The New Skids were hungry and their offense was immediately fierce upon the All Stars, with their jammer Melli Wanna picking up an unanswered 19 points in two power jams in the very first jam. The next five jams saw the teams trading single-digit scoring advantages until Montreal's Honey Badger pushed the score 14 points ahead in the sixth, followed by a 22 point jam by Gretta Bobo in the seventh. Ohio seemed to get traction when Smacktivist brought them 19 points in the eighth, although this was answered in the same jam with 19 points from the New Skid's Mellie Wanna. Montreal's Wanna seemed determined to defy Ohio's top tier defense throughout the bout, scoring a total of 102 points and leading the New Skids to a 382-158 win. This winning season opener will have an effect on the world rankings of both teams in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, although official ranking changes have not been posted yet. Although Ohio's vaunted defense did not hold the score down, it was not for a lack of hard effort. 2014 has been called a rebuilding year for Ohio by some, with the loss of veterans Phoenix Buns and Pippy Ripyourstockings to retirement in the off season. Ohio brought the shortest bench of any team to this year’s Quad City Tournament Ohio Roller Girls Gang Green vs Bay Street Bruisers Next up was Ohio's B-team, Gang Green against Montreal's Bay Street Bruisers. Ohio was hoping to make some adjustments and apply the earlier bout's lessons learned and bring home win against the Menace of the North. The Bruiser's offense started off with a 4 point jam from Sneaky D, a transfer to Montreal from Halifax. This would prove to be the first 51 points brought in Sneaky in the first half, including a 5 grand slam run in the 18th. Montreal's defense held Ohio to a mere 37 points in the first half, with the score 37-134. The second half revealed more effort put into defense, a much more physical game, and many more penalties, with both OHRG president Texas Chainsaw Saskicker and Montreal's Tushy Galore fouling out. The penalties included jams with both jammers taking seats in the penalty box simultaneously in the 7th, 9th and 14th. The final jams of the bout produced an injury for Ohio blocker Loraina Acid. Her dislocated thumb was taped and splinted and she was skating again before the end of the half. Acid went on to skate and block throughout the weekend. This prompted one Canadian announcer to claim that “It must take missing limbs to get these Ohio Roller Girls off the track.” Overcoming injury did not overcome repeated scoring jams from Montreal who took the bout 94–304. Ohio Roller Girls All Stars Vs Bleeding Heartland Flatliners OHRG took the track for a third bout in a single day against Bloomington's Bleeding Heartland Flatliners as the final bout of the day. This would be the 5th lifetime bout between our hometown heroines and the Flatliners, with Ohio winning all of the previous four. Right from the beginning, Ohio's All Stars skated to dominance. The first four jams saw Ohio picking up little single digit scores. The fifth saw Ohio assert their authority, as Ohio jammer Smacktivist personally recycled Flatliner jammer Speedium Rare and then skated on to five grand slams while Speedium caught a dragback from Ohio blocker Amy Spears. Ohio had begun to make Bleeding Heartland live up to their name. The Flatliners flat score finally ended with a five point pickup in the 6th by Knuckle Sammy before Ohio jammer Kitty Liquor Bottom passed the helmet cover to pivot Outtamywayman, who then skated on for five grand slams in the 7th. Not to be outscored, Kitty Liquor Bottom brought the All Stars an amazing six grand slam 30 point jam in the 20th before Outtmywayman ended the 22nd jam of the first half with a pass back to Kitty again for a final six points. The half ended with the score 156-133 in Ohio's favor. The Flatliners hopes for a second half comeback were dashed from the opening whistle as their lead jammer Knuckle Sammy called the first jam after being knocked both off her feet and out of bounds by Smacktivist. Smacktivist went on to pick up the second of three 30 point sextuple grand slam power jams for Ohio of the bout in the 3rd. As the second half went on, and the Bloomigton's Flatliners continued bleeding points, penalties compounded their problems leading to more power jams for Ohio. This allowed Kitty Liquor Bottom to garner herself a second 30 point six grand slam power jam while Ohio started the jam with a four to three pack advantage in the 12th. The bout ended with a high scoring chaos as Bleeding Heartland blocker Thigh Candy fouled out while sending Ohio Jammer Outtamywayman to the EMT table at the end of the 18th. Merely shaken, she called off but not before picking up 25 points. Smacktivist then added 2 more grand slams of insult to Outmywayman's injury to close the bout with a resounding 291-94 victory for the Ohio Roller Girls. Ohio Roller Girls All Stars vs Toronto's CN Power After a hard day of hard derby the OHRG All Stars had a much less hectic schedule for the second day of the Quad City tournament with a single bout against Toronto's CN Power. Ohio was 2 and 0 against Toronto and the host city was looking to break the losing streak. The bout was tough derby with a hard fought pack in the very first jam that yielded Toronto a single point. Hard defensive play continued with single digit scoring jams for both teams and the lead repeatedly changing hands until the 8th jam, when CN Power jammer Valoraina picked up for grand slams making the score 9-34 in Toronto's favor. Toronto maintained their offensive momentum through most of the first half. In the 22nd jam Outmywayman picked up 6 grand slams in a power jam with a 4–2 pack advantage before getting called out on an illegal procedure. Toronto jammer Motorhead Molly managed to get her team 14 points in the final jam bringing the score to 63 to 91 at the half. The beginning of the second half saw Toronto leaving the locker room loose and relaxed and our hometown heroines leaving with quiet intensity. This focus translated to the track straight away. The first jam saw Ohio's defense go into high gear holding Toronto to a single grand slam in a power jam. Through the next six jams Ohio held CN Power to nine total points while shrinking their lead to four. The 8th jam saw Ohio's offensive capitalize on mistakes to take the lead. Ohio jammer Smacktivist scored four grand slams in one power jam before a track cut gave her a second power jam. Two more grand slams gave Ohio the lead, 131–105. Toronto blocker Scarcasm left the track with a back injury after a big hit from Ohio blocker Avatar and CN Power was held scoreless for two more jams. Toronto attempted to regain some momentum in the 11th with three grand slams by Valoraina despite heavy pack blocking. The 11th jam also saw CN Power skater Dusty leave the track with an arm injury and Ohio's Loraina Acid depart, having fouled out. The remainder of the half saw very physical defensive play as both teams tried to elbow forward. Mistakes cost Toronto in the end as a power jam in the 20th was capitalized by a star pass from Dyna Hurtya to Betty Bomber only to be lost to a penalty after 5 points and Ohio went on the run out the clock in the 21st getting the win with a final score of 185 to 172. The Aftermath The weekend's events are sure to have an effect on the rankings of all teams involved. Ohio entered the weekend ranked 22nd against 17th ranked Montreal, 29th ranked Toronto and 42nd ranked Bloomington and walked away 2 and 1 in charter team play. All four teams are in division one. B-Team bouts do count for ranking purposes. The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association has not posted new rankings as of yet, but Ohio is still 3 and 1 going into their next bout, a home game against the 44th ranked Tri-City Roller Girls from Kitchener Ontario.http://searchengineland.com/guest-post-google-penalty-187707