It was only the home opener, and yet it was so much more.
The city's newest roller derby team, the Brass Knuckle Derby Dames, won its first-ever bout on Saturday night, defeating Chilliwack's NWO Roller Girls 154-150 at the Nanaimo Ice Centre.
"The fact that we did this is amazing," said Amanda (Miss B. Haven) Gould, assistant captain. "We've got some great girls and we've brought everything together and it's just been wonderful."
The matchup came down to the final jam, and while the NWO women were able to make it close, they couldn't quite catch up. There was a nervous moment for the home team as officials tallied the points, and when the final score was revealed, the Brass Knuckles celebrated as though they'd won a championship.
"We have a little bit of a track record – we don't usually win," Gould said.
Not many of the BKDDs had ever won a roller derby bout before Saturday, as some are former members of the winless Nanaimo Nemesis team. But that was then, this is now.
"We just had a core group of girls that were here to skate, to have fun, to be p
art of a great community," Gould said.
The victory capped off a perfect derby doubleheader, as Nanaimo's co-ed junior team, the Candy Crushers, handled the NWO Honey Badgers by a 345-255 score earlier that night.
"We have some amazing skaters on that team…" said Gould, who coaches the juniors. "The stuff that takes me six months to learn, they pick it up in a week. It's pretty cool to see them come together and be part of a team."
DERBY DETAILS … There are no other scheduled derby bouts in Nanaimo until the Vancouver Island Exhibition in mid-August, when the Harbour City Rollers host NWO … For information about the Brass Knuckle Derby Dames, Nanaimo Nemesis, Harbour City Rollers or Candy Crushers, click the preceding links or search Facebook.
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