Toronto Roller Derby

League history and structure

In 2006, two separate organziations, the Toronto Terrors and the Smoke City Betties, formed independently with the goal of launching roller derby in Toronto, and after taking part in an event known as "Betties D Day" that August, joined forces to create Toronto Roller Derby.

As of the 2017 season, Toronto Roller Derby has an all-star travel team, a rookie team, and a four-team house league, all of which play against each other at Home events at The Bunker (also known as "Studio 3"), a former Canadian Armed Forces supply depot, located in Downsview Park: Chicks Ahoy!, The Death Track Dolls, The Gore-Gore Rollergirls and the Smoke City Bandits.

Home teams

The Chicks Ahoy! feature bright green uniforms with a sailor theme. "The Chicks" appeared in the league final five out of the league's first six years, and were the league champion in 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2016.

The Death Track Dolls uniforms are white jerseys with red "blood splatter" accents. "The Dolls" won their first league championship in 2013.

The Gore-Gore Rollergirls wear distinctive leopard-print outfits. The only team to have appeared in all of the first six championship bouts, "The Gores" were the winners of the league's first final in 2007 and were the first league team to capture back to back titles, winning in 2009 and 2010.

Originally known as the Smoke City Betties, the Smoke City Bandits wear black and blue uniforms and were runner up in the 2009 and 2013 league finals, and in 2015 won their first championship. In December 2016, the league announced that the team had rebranded as the Smoke City Bandits.

League championship history

At the end of every season, Toronto Roller Derby holds playoff bouts, with the two finalists playing for the league championship trophy, known as The Boot.

Toronto Roller Derby All-Stars

Toronto Roller Derby's charter travel team, formerly named CN Power (playing on the name of the CN Tower, a Toronto landmark) is the Toronto Roller Derby All-Stars. Every year, league members, including transfer skaters who have yet to be drafted to a home team, participate in tryouts, the results of which are used to select the All-Stars' roster. The team colours are pink, silver and white, and it plays home and away games against teams from other cities' leagues. Toronto was originally placed in WFTDA's North Central region, and after the introduction of the Divisions system debuted in Division 2 at 49th overall. By the end of 2013, Toronto had advanced 20 slots to 29th overall, and competed as a Division 1 team beginning in 2014.

WFTDA competition

CN Power, initially representing Toronto in the WFTDA's North Central Region, received their first ranking at the conclusion of the 2011 WFTDA season, and debuted at 17th in the region. At the conclusion of the first quarter of 2012, this ranking had improved to 15th, and after the second quarter, another improvement, to 13th. In 2013, the WFTDA did away with regional rankings, and changed to ranking all member leagues from top to bottom; as of April 2013, Toronto was ranked 49th out of 155 ranked teams overall. In July 2013, it was announced that Toronto had moved 10 spots up in the rankings, to 39th overall, qualifying them for their first appearance in the WFTDA Division 1 playoffs, held in September 2013 in Salem, Oregon. On the first day of the tournament, Toronto, seeded 10th in the tournament, upset the 7th-seeded Sacred City Derby Girls in their first bout of the weekend, 215–90. This set up a bout versus the 2nd-seeded Atlanta Rollergirls, who defeated Toronto 219–171. On the Saturday, CN Power upset the 6th-seeded Boston Derby Dames, narrowly defeating them 204-198, and qualified for the bout to determine 5th place on the Sunday, where they fell 208-124 to the All Stars from the Victorian Roller Derby League, ending the tournament with a 6th-place finish. As of March 31, 2014, Toronto was ranked 13th in the WFTDA, making Toronto the highest-ranked team in Canada for the first time.

In 2014, CN Power qualified for the WFTDA playoffs for the second time, with an overall ranking of 23, earning them an appearance at their second consecutive Division 1 playoff tournament, held September 19–21 in Evansville, Indiana. Toronto entered the tournament as the 6th seed, and played their first game of the tournament against the Windy City Rollers of Chicago, losing 327-80, relegating them to the consolation bracket. Toronto then defeated the All Stars of Houston Roller Derby 220-140, lost to Arizona Roller Derby 167-137 and defeated Steel City Roller Derby of Pittsburgh, 184-170, to finish the tournament in 7th place.

In 2015, CN Power again qualified for the WFTDA Division 1 playoffs, entering as the 8th seed in Omaha, Nebraska, and lost all 3 of their games to end the tournament in 10th place.

All-Stars bouting history

The charts below itemize all-time results for Toronto Roller Derby's A team in competition.

     indicates game result was officially sanctioned by the WFTDA

Quad City Chaos

Toronto Roller Derby hosts an invitational tournament called Quad City Chaos each March, bringing in three WFTDA Division 1 leagues' A teams to play the All-Stars, along with B teams. In 2015 the leagues were the Boston Derby Dames, Steel City Roller Derby from Pittsburgh and the Rideau Valley Roller Girls from Ottawa.

Bay Street Bruisers

The Bay Street Bruisers were one of the original six home teams when the league started play in 2007, but disbanded in early 2009 along with the original D'VAS. In 2011 the Bruisers name was resurrected for a "B team", to be a secondary travel squad in addition to CN Power. In October 2011, it was announced that they intended to start game play in 2012. The Bruisers uniforms are navy blue and gold, and feature a necktie detail, referencing their namesake in Toronto's financial district, Bay Street. On May 20, 2012, The Bruisers played their first interleague bout against the Ohio Roller Girls' B-team, Gang Green, bowing to the Ohio team, 163–109. In July 2012, the Bruisers competed at the Roller Derby Association of Canada's Eastern Region Championship tournament, held in Guelph, Ontario, and finished the tournament in first place, defeating the All Stars from Forest City Derby Girls (London, Ontario) in the final, 163–88. The Bruisers' roster is determined using the same tryout process that determines the CN Power roster.

Vipers

Two teams from the original group of six in 2007 disbanded before the start of the 2009 season. The D-VAS and Bay Street Bruisers both folded in the Spring of that year, with their skaters dispersed to the remaining four league teams. The D-VAS (pronounced diva, and short for Deadly Viper Assassination Squad), were relaunched in 2010 as the league's rookie squad, composed of newer and transfer skaters who have yet to be drafted onto the other four league teams, and they skate against other leagues' emerging talent.

In 2011, the D-VAS split two bouts against Nickel City Roller Derby's Sister Slag squad, with the D-VAS winning the first bout in Toronto 71 to 38, and Nickel City hosting the follow-up bout in June in Sudbury, and taking the win 157 to 36. In July 2011, the D-VAS took second place in the 2 Fresh 2 Furious rookie tournament hosted by the GTA Rollergirls. In September 2011, the D-VAS faced off against Guelph's Royal City Roller Girls All-Stars, with Guelph winning, 203 to 42. They wear black and red.

In November 2016, the D-VAS officially changed their team name to the Vipers.

Whip It promotion

During the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, Drew Barrymore's film Whip It had its North American premiere. To help promote the film, Toronto Roller Derby skaters wore "Hurl Scouts" uniforms from the movie, while others from the league held a public exhibition bout at Yonge-Dundas Square, an event which was attended by the stars of the film at halftime, giving Toronto Roller Derby their largest media exposure to date. ToRD's luck in securing the premiere, the legacy of the film festival event, and the film itself, have contributed to larger crowds and greater numbers of women trying out for the league.

Rogers TV

Since 2010, Rogers TV in Toronto has been airing playoff games from the Toronto Roller Derby house league season, beginning with the Championship Bout from November 2010, which was the first time a complete ToRD event was broadcast on local television. Starting in 2011, Rogers property CITY-TV has been providing regular news coverage on CityNews, provided by sports anchor Kathryn Humphreys, as well as Hugh Burrill.

Roller Derby World Cup

It was announced in early 2011 that Toronto Roller Derby was chosen to host the inaugural Roller Derby World Cup. In early December 2011 the event saw teams representing 13 countries in a four-day tournament held at The Bunker at Downsview Park. League member Brim Stone, captain of both the Gore-Gore Rollergirls as well as CN Power, was named to Team Canada for the event, and was also named co-captain for the team. The event was won by Team USA who defeated Team Canada in the final.

On December 29, 2013, five members of Toronto Roller Derby were announced as having made the 2014 Team Canada roster for the 2014 Roller Derby World Cup, to be held in Dallas, Texas: Bala Reina, Dusty, Dyna Hurtcha, Nasher the Smasher and Rainbow Fight. All five skaters are members of CN Power.