The Yukon Roller Derby team fell to Alaskan team Ptarmageddon in roller derby action Saturday night in front of a boisterous crowd at Mount McIntyre.

The score at halftime was fairly close, with Ptarmageddon in the lead 131-92.

Ptarmageddon pulled away in the second half, though. The final score read 250 to 143.

Ptarmageddon jammer “Niketah” was instrumental in the win, effortlessly slicing through the Yukon defence.

“Raging Radish” Loos and the other Yukon jammers did their best to match Niketah, but fell short.

The game was part of a roller derby doubleheader, “Wham! Bam! Solstice Slam!”, the first held in the territory in years.

In the first game, Flower Power (Alberta) triumphed over Midnight Stunners (skaters from Alaska, B.C. and Y.T.). 291-103.

Yukon was coached by legendary roller derby queen Miracle Whips (Claudia Maréchal).

“It was very emotional, it was full of really hard commitment. People tried plans. Some things worked. Some other things didn’t. In the end, everybody is leaving this experience grown. It’s really beautiful to see.”

Asked what stood out to her, Maréchal replied, “You always have the option of reinforcing your defence, and that’s the safe way. But they decided to keep on sending support for their jammers, their point scorers. They sent offence, they tried a plan, they tried another plan. There’s been a beautiful evolution throughout the two games.”

Maréchal added, “The roller derby scene in Yukon is really healthy. It’s a group that has a lot of momentum, a lot of kind, caring souls. If anybody’’s looking for an interesting hobby full of cool people, I really think they should check it out.”

Yukon Roller Derby Association President Christy Huey, AKA Christy Crack-Her, said, “It was so much fun. I got Most Valuable Blocker, voted by the other team. So that’s very exciting.

“Our team played really well. We’re really happy. We lost but we came to have fun and that was accomplished.

“I’m sure you could see energy’s high. Everybody had a good time.”

Huey agreed that the camaraderie seemed high as well, especially since the team hadn’t all played together before.

“We all met each other for the first time this weekend. But you already have that thing in common and you’re joust so happy to be here, so we have, like a new part of our family now.”

Huey agreed that Niketah gave them a tough time and said Ptarmageddon has some pretty high-end, experienced players.

“Definitely. They’re a team that hits hard and is really aggressive and we have a really brand new team so we knew we weren’t gonna win, quite honestly, but we came into it just to do our best getting experience. We learned a lot. Going back into practice, we have a lot of things we can focus on. and I think we’re just going to keep on getting better and better the more we play together.”

Andrea “Honey Badger” Badger won Most Valuable Jammer in the game.

Huey added, “Tonight was amazing. Anyone who came out and saw it, hope you had a really great time.

“If you want to join us, we’re going to be doing Try Derby this summer. We’re gonna teach people how to skate. You can come out, become part of the action in some shape or form, and look out for us, because we’re going to be doing a lot more events.”

Judging from the reaction of the crowd to the intense, hard-hitting action, the unique post-game tradition of the players high-fiving the crowd gathered around the ring, plus the players knocking over stacks of beer cans after the game, a good time was had by all.