World Roller Hockey League

Last updated

World Roller Hockey League (WRHL) was a professional inline hockey league. It lasted only one season.

Contents

The WRHL was the creation of promoter David McLane. WRHL games were played with a puck on an outdoor rink with a SportCourt surface at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida . 1993 was a pivotal year in the sport of Roller in-line hockey as inline skates were just coming into use in the sport. Previous roller hockey had been played using quad roller skates. In line skates were faster, changing the speed of the game. WRHL was one of the first events to give public exposure to the new development in an organized form. [1]

Former NHLers such as Ron Duguay and Pierre Larouche played in the league. The season lasted slightly less than two months in the early summer of 1993 as a made for television event. [2] Games were taped during the short season and aired on ESPN. They were later aired in Canada on TSN.

The intent was to capture the viewers enthusiasm for the sport of roller hockey, which at the time had 10 million participants and 28,000 amateur leagues. [3] The games were faster because, as Jerry Greene the Orlando Sentinel observed "These guys can't stop."

Former NHL All Star Robert Picard, who played for the Titans observed "It really is a good game. It's a little slower than ice hockey, but the flow is better because you can't stand still." [4]

Memorabilia from WRHL is housed in the Roller Hockey Hall of Fame. [5] Following its initial season, McLance merged WRHL with Roller Hockey International. [6]

Teams

The Express captured the only WRHL title in a best-of-three final.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hockey</span> Sports played with hockey sticks

Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers of players, apparel, and playing surface, they share broad characteristics of two opposing teams using sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal.

Roller hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using wheeled skates. It can be played with traditional roller skates or with inline skates and use either a ball or puck. Combined, roller hockey is played in nearly 60 countries worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roller skating</span> Sport, activity, or form of transportation

Roller skating is the act of travelling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on streets, sidewalks, and bike paths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inline skating</span> Sport discipline

Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a metal or plastic frame on the underside of a boot. The in-line design allows for greater speed and maneuverability than traditional roller skates. Following this basic design principle, inline skates can be modified to varying degrees to accommodate niche disciplines.

The Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports was the world governing body for roller sports, including skateboarding, rink hockey, inline hockey, inline speed skating, inline alpine, downhill, roller derby, roller freestyle, inline freestyle, aggressive inline skating, inline figure skating and artistic roller skating. It was established in April 1924 in Montreux, Switzerland by two Swiss sportsmen, Fred Renkewitz and Otto Myer, who had close connections to the International Olympic Committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roller Hockey International</span> Inline hockey league

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street hockey</span> Variant of other hockey sports

Street hockey is a collection of team sport variants played outdoors either on foot or with wheeled skates, using either a ball or puck designed for play on flat, dry surfaces. The object of every game is to score more goals than the opposing team by shooting the ball or puck into the opposing team's net. All games are derivatives of either the sport of ice hockey, floor hockey, bandy, and/or field hockey.

USA Roller Sports (USARS), formerly the United States Amateur Confederation of Roller Skating, is the national governing body of competitive roller sports in the United States. It is recognized by the International Roller Sports Federation (FIRS) and the United States Olympic Committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inline hockey</span> Sport discipline

Inline hockey or roller hockey is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent's goal to score points. The sport is a very fast-paced and free-flowing game and is considered a contact sport, but body checking is prohibited. There are five players including the goalkeeper from each team on the rink at a time, while teams normally consist of 16 players. There are professional leagues, one of which is the National Roller Hockey League (NRHL). While it is not a contact sport, there are exceptions, i.e. the NRHL involves fighting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association</span>

The National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (NCRHA) is an "incorporated not-for-profit corporation" which operates a national collegiate inline hockey league consisting of five divisions of competition. Headquartered in Torrance, California, the NCRHA is the national governing body of college inline hockey. The National Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships is held annually to determine the national champions at the end of each season.

The International Inline Skater Hockey Federation (IISHF) is an international sporting federation that internationally organizes inline skater hockey. Each of the current 10 member federations are the national governing inline skater hockey bodies in their countries.

<i>RollerJam</i> American television series

RollerJam is an American television series featuring roller derby that aired on The Nashville Network from 1999 to 2001. It was the first attempt to bring roller derby to TV since RollerGames.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anaheim Bullfrogs</span> Ice hockey team in Anaheim, California

The Anaheim Bullfrogs were a professional inline hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Bullfrogs played in Roller Hockey International (1993–1997) and Major League Roller Hockey (1998) before returning to Roller Hockey international (1999). The Bullfrogs played their home games in the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roller hockey (quad)</span> Variation of hockey

Roller hockey, rink hockey or quad hockey is a team sport played on roller skates. It is a quad-skate team sport where two teams face-off against one another, trying to drive a hard ball with their sticks into the opposing teams' goalnet. Each team has five players on the rink at a time, four of whom are skaters and one who is the goalkeeper. The ball can only be put in motion by a stick, not the skate, otherwise a foul will be stated. The game has two 25-minute halves, with 15-minute halftime intermission, plus up to two 5-minute golden goal periods to settle ties with the clock stopping when the ball becomes dead. If the tie persists, a penalty shootout will determine the winner. Players – including the goalie – use quad skates, whereas inline skates are used in inline hockey. The sticks are similar to those in bandy and shinty. Excessive contact between players is forbidden in rink hockey, unlike inline hockey.

Pro Beach Hockey (PBH) was a professional inline hockey league. The league was created by David McLane, who had previously created the World Roller Hockey League. It lasted three seasons, 1998, 1999 and 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Professional Inline Hockey Association</span>

The Professional Inline Hockey Association (PIHA) is an "incorporated for-profit association" which operates an inline hockey league, with two conferences, of 11 franchised member clubs, all of which are currently located in the United States. Headquartered in Middletown, Pennsylvania, the PIHA is considered to be one of the premier inline hockey leagues in the United States. The Founders Cup Finals is held annually to crown the league playoff champion in the Pro and Minor divisions at the end of each season. PIHA also offers divisions for teens, & adults 35-and-over.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Major League Roller Hockey</span>

Major League Roller Hockey (MLRH) is a limited liability company which operates multiple inline hockey leagues and tournaments. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, MLRH is one of the only full-contact inline hockey competitions in the world.

The USA Rink Hockey National Championship is the biggest Roller Hockey Clubs Championship in United States. In the U.S., the sport is largely owned by roller rink operators. The sport suffers stateside since players are mostly made up of operator's family members and a gaggle of childhood friends. Since the sport transitioned to the United States in the 1960s, teams and players competing in the United States have waned as roller rinks continue to close nationwide. Teams are often completed by tapping skaters from ice or inline hockey who are willing to give it a go and round out teams at U.S. nationals; many playing on inline skates. The sport is struggling in the U.S. due to the lack of public access to the sport found in other countries where the sport continues to grow. In contrast to other countries, the U.S. players and teams are managed and vetted by roller rink operators and their families. This practice explains the recurring players, teams, and regions who compete each year, and the loss of total number of teams since the 1960s and 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Skate</span> Roller sports governing body

World Skate is the only governing body in the world for all sports performed on skating wheels. The organisation is the successor of the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS) founded on 21 April 1924.

References

  1. ↑ Engh, Fred (2002). Why Johnny Hates Sports. Square One Publishers. ISBN   9780757000416.
  2. ↑ "Slap Shots In The Parking Lot". Bloomberg.com. 1993-10-24. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
  3. ↑ "Roller Hockey: Is It Just a Fad or is It Serious New Sport?". Los Angeles Times . 1993-07-18.
  4. ↑ "A Problem for Roller Hockey: Finding a Way to Stop Rolling".
  5. ↑ "Commercial for NJ Rink & Info on the RHHOF | Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association".
  6. ↑ "prop – mclane-dme". mclane-dme.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-04.


Roller Inline Hockey.svg

This inline hockey related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.