Keweenaw Roller Derby jammer Kim Kong out-paced the competition Saturday evening, where she earned honors in KRD’s win over Harbor City. (Chelsea Bossert/Daily Mining Gazette)

CALUMET — Keweenaw Roller Derby (KRD) faced off against Harbor City Roller (HCR) Saturday evening in a mid-season bout at the Calumet Colosseum.

The excitement from both teams was evident, friendly pregame conversations between skaters of both teams proved to be a red herring, however, as the locals fiercely took out HCR, defeating them 239-93. 

HCR got off to an early lead, outscoring KRD 18-8 in the opening minutes of the first half with Java the Hutt scoring HCR’s first 14 points. Then, KRD’s Kim Kong outmaneuvered the competition to score 15 to put KRD over HCR 23-18. 

The score was in KRD’s favor, 30-18, after the first ten minutes of the half. Both teams scored points in the next few jams. Highlights being KRD’s team captain, Johnny Crash and jammer Luna Stormborn scoring four points each respectively. Kim Kong added two points to the tally to put KRD up 40-26. 

With around 12 minutes to go in the first half, Johnny Crash scored 12 points after breaking away from two separate HCR-occupied portions of the track, eventually putting KRD up 63-28. Kim Kong scored four points in the following jam. After, KRD’s Suomi Slammer added 12 to the scoreboard by threading the needle through two separate HCR walls; KRD led 79-36 with around eight minutes left in the half. 

HCR went cold in the last five minutes of the first half. After scoring two points of their own, they allowed KRD to score 32 unanswered points, leaving the score 111-38 at the half. In one jam during the stretch, Kim Kong scored 20 points before calling it off. 

HCR showed a bit of fight in the second half, with Java the Hutt leading the charge for their first couple of big points, scoring eight points before penalties took the jammer out of the fray for some time. KRD still led 131-47 after scores from KRD’s Slayer Mars, Johnny Crash and Kim Kong. 

After some back-and-forth, KRD retained the lead the whole second half — never letting HCR score over 100 points. First time jammers for KRD, Spellcheck and Hook. Line. & Sink-Her, scored their first points in competition during the closing seven minutes of play. Meanwhile, after scoring just 38 in the first half, HCR scored 55 in the second. Johnny Crash closed out the game for KRD, scoring twelve before the last jam concluded. 

As is tradition, MVPs were named from opposing teams, with HCR’s most valuable jammer being awarded to Crash BandiCootCoot, and its most valuable blocker going to Kitty Kitty Bang Bang. KRD’s most valuable blocker ended up going to Slayer Mars, a reliable pivot-jammer for KRD. Most valuable jammer for KRD went to Kim Kong, who after the bout said the mindset going in was on the game and doing well. 

“Once I get out there, I’m in such a mindset of just, go, go, go,” Kim Kong said. “You don’t stop until you hear those final whistles.”

Up next

KRD will face off next against Grand Raggity-Attack, from Grand Rapids, on Aug. 22 at the Calumet Colosseum. Then they will host the 12th annual Solar System Smackdown Mixer on Sept. 12.