Roller Hockey International

Roller Hockey International

Roller Hockey International
Sport	Inline hockey
Founded	1993
Commissioner	Ralph Backstrom
Inaugural season	1993
No. of teams	31
Country(ies)	United States Canada
Ceased	2000
Last champion(s)	St. Louis Vipers
Most championships	Anaheim Bullfrogs (2)
Founder	Dennis Murphy Ralph Backstrom Larry King

Roller Hockey International was a professional inline hockey league that operated in North America from 1993 to 1999. It was the first major professional league for inline hockey.

RHI hoped to capitalize on the inline skating boom of the early 1990s, but lost steam as the fad died down. Key parts of its success were its stance on no guaranteed contracts, instead teams would all split prize money. Teams were generally made up of minor league ice hockey players playing on inline skates during the summer months between ice seasons. RHI was also known for its unstable franchises and instability in the league's front office itself.

Ultimately, after five seasons of play, RHI folded in 1998 with two of its franchises joining Major League Roller Hockey: the Buffalo Wings and its premier club the Anaheim Bullfrogs. After folding there was a movement to revamp and come back the following year as Major League Hockey, but it never came to fruition. RHI was revived in 1999, but cancelled the 2000 season and the league finally folded operations in 2001 when their sites were limited to arenas in California.

History

Rules

The rules in the RHI were similar to but not identical to those of the National Hockey League at the time, but seemed to try to appeal to the younger extreme sport generation; the RHI had four players and a goalie at a time on the playing surface opposed to the NHL's five and a goalie; the penalty times on average were about 1/4 less than the NHL's; there were no blue lines; the puck itself was smaller, a 3 1/2 oz. piece of red plastic; there were four 12 minute quarters opposed to the NHL's three 20 minute periods; a tie score at the end of regulation time would go straight to a shootout instead of a five minute extra period before a shootout; and the average number of goals scored per game was 16.7 to the NHL's 7.

Teams

Note: RHI 1993-97, revived RHI 1999

• Anaheim Bullfrogs (1993-1997; 1999)
• Calgary Rad'z (1993-1994)
• Connecticut Coasters (1993) / Sacramento River Rats (1994-1997)
• Florida Hammerheads (1993-1994)
• Los Angeles Blades (1993-1997; 1999)
• Oakland Skates (1993-1996; 1999)
• Portland Rage (1993-1994)
• San Diego Barracudas (1993-1996) / Ontario Barracudas (1998-99)
• St. Louis Vipers (1993-1997; 1999)
• Toronto Planets (1993)
• Utah Rollerbees (1993) / Las Vegas Flash (1994)
• Vancouver Voodoo (1993-1996)
• Atlanta Fire Ants (1994) / Oklahoma Coyotes (1995-1996) / Las Vegas Coyotes (1999)
• Buffalo Stampede (1994-1995)
• Chicago Cheetahs (1994-1995)
• Edmonton Sled Dogs (1994) / Orlando Rollergators (1995, renamed Orlando Jackals 1996-1997)
• Minnesota Arctic Blast (1994; 1996)
• Montreal Roadrunners (1994-1997)
• New England Stingers (1994) / Ottawa Loggers (1995-1996, renamed Ottawa Wheels in 1997)
• New Jersey Rockin Rollers (1994-1997)
• Philadelphia Bulldogs (1994-1996)
• Phoenix Cobras (1994-1995) / Empire State Cobras (1996) / Buffalo Wings (1997; 1999)
• Pittsburgh Phantoms (1994)
• San Jose Rhinos (1994-1997; 1999)
• Tampa Bay Tritons (1994)
• Minnesota Blue Ox (1995; 1999)
• Detroit Motor City Mustangs (1995)
• Denver Daredevils (1996-1997)
• Long Island Jawz (1996-1997)
• Chicago Bluesmen (1999)
• Dallas Stallions (1999)

Note: The Palm Desert Silver-Cats (1995) of Palm Springs, California and later in Ontario, California (1997) were a semi-pro team that played exhibition games with the Blades and Bullfrogs of the RHI league.

Expansion

Murphy Cup Championship Winners

• 1993 Anaheim Bullfrogs def. Oakland Skates
• 1994 Buffalo Stampede def. Portland Rage
• 1995 San Jose Rhinos def. Montreal Roadrunners
• 1996 Orlando Jackals def. Anaheim Bullfrogs
• 1997 Anaheim Bullfrogs def. New Jersey Rockin' Rollers
• 1998 No season (MLRH Champion: Anaheim Bullfrogs)
• 1999 St. Louis Vipers def. Anaheim Bullfrogs

History

Licensing

The league inspired at least one video game, Super Nintendo's RHI Roller Hockey '95, although the game was never released.^[1]

There was also a call-in style stats, scores and interview hotline where fans could call in following games. 1-800-741-4RHI This line was updated nightly following each game.

NHL Alumni

• Manny Legace
• Tyler Moss
• Bryan Trottier
• Francis Bouillon
• Dave "Tiger" Williams
• Nick Fotiu
• Daniel Berthiaume
• Al Secord
• Steve Poapst
• Walt Poddubny
• Harry York
• Sasha Lakovic
• Frank Caprice
• Jose Charbonneau
• Mike Kennedy
• Glen Metropolit
• Darren Langdon
• Darren Banks
• Radik Hamr
• Victor Gerves
• Bob Woods

References

1. ^ http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:7460

External links

• RHI statistics
• List of RHI rules
• RHI at The Internet Hockey Database