In Minnesota's month-early 2009 home season opener, 2008 champs Rockits rolled to a big 83-26 victory over a reconstituted Dagger Dolls, while the Garda Belts used a late 17-0 run to defuse the Atomic Bombshells, 72-51.

Busta Armov recaps the action from Los Angeles, where flat-track all-stars Santa's Lil' Helpers stormed back from a 19-point 3rd quarter deficit to take a 2 point lead with six minutes to play, but the home L.A. Ri-Ettes held on for a dramatic 75-68 victory on the banked track.

RollerCon 2008 raised over 10k by raffling off a panoply of awesome donated goods to benefit severely injured skater Tequila Mockingbird. Only one problem: most prizes went unclaimed! DNN begins auctioning off the rest today.

In Brew City's first overtime bout, the Crazy Eights got two stellar late-bout explosions from jammer Cookie Ciano to tie the bout with 7 seconds left and win 75-72 in the OT jam, while Romaniac and Rejected Seoul led Maiden Milwaukee to a 78-64 win over the Shevil Knievels.

Busta Armov previews another flat-on-banked assault, as Santa's Li'l Helpers, a pickup team of (mostly) flat track skaters, assembles to challenge the L.A. Derby Dolls' dominance on the banked track. Leadjammer Boutcast Saturday 7pm Pacific.

A few big jams and a very solid defense led the Texas Rollergirls to a 133-60 victory over the Rose City Rollers Saturday night. Texas would shut out the team from Portland, Oregon in 21 out of 36 jams in Austin.

Sunday's match at Carolina's Dorton Arena features a clash between a Nationals team and a team that got stopped one bout short of qualifying for Nationals at their regional tournament, as Madison hopes to take down a high-ranked rival in Carolina.

The first top-ten matchup in WFTDA play since last month's Nationals goes down this Saturday in the birthplace of modern roller derby, as Portland's Rose City attempts to become only the second team to knock off ultimate veterans Texas in their home at Playland Skate Center.

Excerpted from a forthcoming article in fiveonfive magazine, Hurt Reynolds reviews the DVD release of Hell on Wheels, a documentary chronicling the origins of modern roller derby in Austin, Texas at the start of the millennium.

In the first pan-European bout held in the UK, the Birmingham Blitz overcame a depleted roster and held off a late charge from Germany's Stuttgart Valley to take a narrow victory.

The non-WFTDA North Star Roller Girls of Minneapolis continue to raise their all-star profile, scoring their second November defeat of a WFTDA team with a convincing win over Indianapolis' Naptown.

Minnesota scores an upset against their longtime North Central rivals, coming back from a 26 point deficit at the intermission to get their first-ever win over the crew from Madison on the back of a thrilling, last-jam 11-0 comeback.

After a busy and exciting tournament season, the staff at Derby News Network is taking a welcome long holiday weekend off. We're thankful for all the support the derby community has given us this year, and especially for yesterday's founders and today's skaters for bringing us this sport we love. Content submissions are queuing up, so we'll be back with a pile of stuff at the start of the week! What are YOU thankful for?

Moose and the Nationals announcer crew, including Randy Pan, Rocko Billy, Hymen Heaven, Chip Queso, Mouthpiece, and Corndog, interview key skaters from the final day of action at the 2008 WFTDA National Championship Tournament.

Madison and Minnesota get a jump start on a 2009 North Central Region rivalry as Madison heads up to the Roy Wilkins to take on Minnesota on their own turf.