ROLLER HOCKEY INTERNATIONAL
Brief History...
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.
League president Dennis Murphy had been involved in the establishment of the American Basketball Association, World Hockey Association and World TeamTennis. RHI hoped to capitalize on the inline skating boom of the early 1990s. 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.
"Murphy saw big potential for the sport and believed that inline hockey could become the #1 hockey sport in the US. The league had plans to expand to up to 24 teams, including some from Europe, by 1997. However, RHI became known for its unstable franchises, instability in the league's front office itself, little media coverage and many teams struggling to attract crowds - while the Anaheim Bullfrogs led in attendance with an average of 9800, seven teams attracted less than 4000 on average, while the whole league's attendance averaged around 5000 by 1996.
Ultimately, after five seasons of play and a fading in the inline skating boom, 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, with a 10-team roster that included five holdovers that had played in RHI in 1997: the Anaheim Bullfrogs, Buffalo Wings, Minnesota Blue Ox, San Jose Rhinos and St. Louis Vipers.
The league cancelled the 2000 season and the league finally ceased operations in 2001 when their sites were limited to arenas in California.
In the 1994 and '95 seasons, there was a regular schedule of games on ESPN2. In addition, several teams had their own radio or TV contracts. For example, a number of Blades home games were seen on Prime Sports and the Bullfrogs had radio broadcasts from 1994 to '96.
The league inspired at least one video game, Super Nintendo's RHI Roller Hockey '95, although the game was never released."
- Source from Wikipedia RHI Page
RULES
The rules in the RHI had four players and a goalie at a time on the on the Rink. Minor penalties were only a minute and a half as opposed to two minutes and major penalties were four minutes instead of five.
One big change different from Roller Hockey today is there was illegal clearing (icing) and a different version of offside—a player could skate over the red line before the puck; however, the player couldn't receive a pass over the line. There were four 12-minute Periods. A tied score at the end of regulation time in the regular season would go straight to a shootout instead of overtime.
Playoffs
Playoffs was a best-of-three series format. The third game was not a full 48 minute game. Instead it was just a regular 12-minute quarter called "the mini game". If the teams were tied at the end of the quarter a sudden-death overtime period would follow.
RHI LEAGUE EXPANSION INFO
| Year | Teams | Games Played |
| 1993 | 12 teams | 14 games |
| 1994 | 24 teams | 22 games |
| 1995 | 19 teams | 24 games |
| 1996 | 18 teams | 28 games |
| 1997 | 10 teams | 24 games |
| 1998 | No season |
| 1999 | 8 teams | 26 games |
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
TEAMS IN RHI
RHI TEAM LOGOS
- 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)
- 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)
