The Oly Rollers get a first round bye in the WFTDA Championships, will play winner of Minnesota/Kansas City first round game.

The Oly Rollers are heading to Atlanta this weekend to take part in the 2012 Women’s Flat Track Derby Association Championships. By winning the Western Regional, Oly earned a first round bye and will play the winner of Friday’s Minnesota Rollergirls/Kansas City Roller Warriors bout on Saturday at 9:00 AM Olympia time. The Rollers have made the final game of the WFTDA Championships three straight years, beating the Texas Rollergirls for the title in their first year of eligibility in 2009 but falling to Gotham in 2010 and Rocky Mountain in 2011.

Oly comes into the tournament as one of the most controversial and hated teams in the tournament because of their (completely by the rules) pickups of skaters from out of the area. The team picked up Psycho Babble and Ecko from Rocky Mountain, Onda Sligh from Slaughter County and Lindsay Loblow from Tucson before the season started and added a trio former Oly skaters that had moved away from Olympia right before the rosters had to be finalized for the post-season. Atomatrix, Hockey Honey and Joy Collision joined the squad after skating for other teams this season, ruffling a lot of feathers in the derby world.

But despite coming from by far the smallest market* of any team in the WFTDA Championships, Oly comes into the tournament as one of the favorites to win the Hydra. If seeding holds, they will take on Minnesota on Saturday in the quarterfinals. Minnesota came to Olympia in late August and lost by 60 points to a Cosa Nostra Donnas team that wasn’t at current strength (probably the same can be said about Minnesota, though). And beyond the quarters, if the favorite prevails, the Texas Rollergirls would be looking to avenge a 95 point loss at Skateland! also in late August. Oly avoids a game with Gotham until a possible finals bout on Sunday.

You can follow all the action from the WFTDA Championships on WFTDA.tv by purchasing a live streaming pass for $20. Or you can follow @WFTDALive on Twitter, the Oly Rollers Twitter account and Facebook page and of course on OlySports.com and @OlySportsBlog.

Also, check out the Derby News Network’s excellent preview of all 12 teams involved in the WFTDA championships.

*Cities fielding teams in the WFTDA championships: Little old Olympia, Denver, Baltimore, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Kansas City, Philadelphia, the Bay Area, Chicago, New York and Austin.