Jingle Bells, Knee Pads Smell ... Christmas Scrim Write-Up!

Jingle belles (ho ho ho) descended on York this Saturday, for yet another fabulous Christmas Scrim. The spirit of festive fun was definitely in the air, for a nail-biting game to settle the score between Naughty and Nice.

The first half started strong, with both teams equally matched for score and skill. Shin Pain pulled out some fancy footwork for the Nice team, using jumping transitions to get around the strong defences put up by the Naughties, enhanced by fantastic communication from Naughty team Captain Gem O' Cide. Hylander emerged as the naughtiest Naughty of the first half, taking 5 penalties, whilst the Nices took the lead by a hair's breadth, with 76 to the Naughties' 72.


After a quick half-time break for brownie bites and a pep talk from bench managers Misery Stitches (Naughty) and Durbinator (Nice), our festive fracas continued. Widening the gap, the Nice team quickly extended their lead, making good use of two new Minxters post-mins, Bing and Lethal Fawce, who both pulled some cracking jamming out of their Christmas stockings for this scrim. Nevertheless, the Naughties didn't give in, and managed to claw back an excruciating one-point lead, triggering a high-strung final few minutes of play. The small crowd of spectating friends and family were on the edge of their seats, and with the room so wrapped-up in the heat of the moment, the final whistle came as a surprise to all involved. At the end of a close scrim, the Nice girls finished first, with a finishing score of 125-119.


After a quick photo op, we took the Captains of Naughty and Nice to one side to get their thoughts on our jolly holiday showdown.


Nice Captain (Victoria Deck Em):

Q: Congratulations! You won. Did you have a strategy going in?

A: We didn't go in with a strategy – for a Christmas scrim, I just want to make sure the whole team has fun. We are the Nice team, after all.


Q: Aww, that is nice! Did you have fun?

A: We did! I've skated a few times with York before, and it's always so good to scrim with them – they're always lovely.


Q: Great! And finally, how do you feel about winning?

A: I didn't even notice we'd won until after the final whistle, but I'm thrilled.


Naughty Captain (Gem O'Cide):


Q: Captain, my Captain! That was a close game. What was your strategy?

A: Our strategy was mostly about good, defensive blocking, making sure our walls were strong. I know we have some amazing jammers on this team that didn't need help, so we focussed on building great walls.


Q: Those were some sweet walls. Are you disappointed about not winning?

A: I loved every second, so I'm not disappointed about losing. It was a good, fun day, with some great effort and teamwork. I'm very proud of my Naughties.


Q: Good to hear! Finally, how are you feeling about Christmas?

A: I'll be honest – I haven't done any of my Christmas shopping yet, but this has definitely got me into the spirit!


Finally, no scrim would be complete without our honourable skater awards. Congratulations to our award-winning skaters, who were selected by the opposing team in the following categories: Best Jammer, Best Blocker, MVP (Most Valuable Player) and the Spirit of Christmas award, for the player who showed the most festive cheer.


                                                                       Nice                                                                                       Naughty


Best Jammer                                                Bing                                                                                       Stella
Best Blocker                                                  Victoria Deck Em                                                                 Jenuine Article
MVP                                                               Shin Pain                                                                              Wendi Go-Go
Spirit of Christmas                                      Boba Threat                                                                          Hylander




Thanks to everyone to came to play, watch, ref and NSO – Merry Christmas to you all!


Photos to follow!