Roller Hockey International

For the airport in Wisconsin see Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport

Roller Hockey International
Sport	Inline hockey
Founded	1993
Country(ies)	United States Canada
Ceased	2001
Most championship(s)	Anaheim Bullfrogs (2)

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 1990's, 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.

1 Rules
2 Teams
3 Murphy Cup Championship Winners
4 History
5 Licensing
6 NHL Alumni
7 External links

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, Major League Roller Hockey 1998, revived RHI 1999-2000 and California Roller Hockey League 2001, folded before 2002 season.

Anaheim Bullfrogs (1993-1997;1999 and 2001)
Calgary Rad'z (1993-1994)
Connecticut Coasters (1993)/Sacramento River Rats (1994-1997)
Florida Hammerheads (1993-1994)
Los Angeles Blades (1993-1997; 1999 and 2001)
Oakland Skates (1993-1996; 1998-99 and 2001)
Portland Rage (1993-1994)
San Diego Barracudas (1993-1996)/ Ontario Barracudas (1999)
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) and (2001)
Buffalo Stampede (1994-1995)
Chicago Cheetahs (1994-1995)/Michigan Cheetahs (1996-1997)
Edmonton Sled Dogs (1994)/Orlando Rollergators (1995)/Orlando Jackals (1996-1997)/ Miami Jackals(1999)
Minnesota Arctic Blast (1994; 1996)
Montreal Roadrunners (1994-1997)
New England Stingers (1994)/Ottawa Loggers (1995-1996)/Ottawa Wheels (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 and 2001)
Tampa Bay Tritons (1994)
Minnesota Blue Ox (1995; 1999)
Detroit Motor City Mustangs (1995)
Denver Daredevils (1996-1997)/ Detroit Renaissance (1999)
Long Island Jawz (1996-1997)
Toronto Trojans (1999)
Chicago Bluesmen (1999)
Dallas Stallions (1999)
Utah Sun Dogs (1999)/ Spokane Sun Dogs (2001)
Austin Chiles (1999)/ Arizona Chiles (2001)
Fresno/Bakersfield Bombers (2001)
Idaho Idols (1999; 2001)
Milwaukee Blue Waves (2001)
Minnesota Brown Shirts (2001)
Phoenix Phantoms (2001)
Ventura County Surfers (2001)
San Diego Jackals (2001)
Virginia Seagulls (1997-1998)/ Oakland Seagulls (1999)/ San Diego Seagulls (2001)
Washington Web Warriors (2001)
Washington DC Power (1998-1999)/ Portland Power (2001)
Iowa Roadhogs (1999)/ Reno Roadhogs (2001)
Kansas City Chiggers (1999)/ Fresno Chiggers (2001)
Kansas City Rollerhawks (1999)/San Bernardino Rollerhawks (2001)
Reno Redskates (1999)/ Redding Redskates (2001)
Sacramento Golden Wheels (2001)
San Francisco Hippys (2001)
Santa Rosa Radikals (2001)
Stockton Silver-Kats (2001)

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

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
2000 No season (MLRH Champion: St. Louis Vipers)
2001 No season (MLRH Champion: St. Louis Vipers)

History

See also: List of RHI seasons

Licensing

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

NHL Alumni

External links

The original article is from Wikipedia. To view the original article please click here.
Creative Commons Licence

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