Remembering Roller Hockey

There’s this childhood memory that recently popped into my head.

It’s the early 90s - sometime during the summer. My parents and I were visiting the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. A crowd gathered in the exhibition hall. Naturally, my family wanted to see what was garnering all the attention.

To my delightful surprise, it was a group of inline hockey players demonstrating their sport. Of course, they were just regular hockey players wearing inline skates. But to a young kid, it was an amazing sight.

Back then, inline skating was all the rage. If you wanted to be cool and popular, you’d save your quarters for a new pair of “rollerblades.” They were a status symbol. Like any popular trend, there were those who tried to profit off of the inline fad. Included in this group were the founders of Roller Hockey International.

The RHI was a professional inline hockey league. Formed in 1993, teams were spread out all over North America. Almost every NHL city had an RHI club as well. There were the Toronto Planets, Montreal Roadrunners, Buffalo Wings and Anaheim Bullfrogs just to name a few.

The rules for inline hockey were slightly different than what was played on the ice. For instance, there were only four skaters (not including the goalie) allowed on the playing surface. Games were divided up into four 12-minute quarters. A match would go straight to a shootout if the teams were tied after regulation. And there was no blue line.

Of course, the equipment – including the puck – was different too. The league was comprised mostly of minor leaguers. However, there are some current NHLers who played in the RHI. Glen Metropolit and Manny Legace were two of them.

Eventually, rollerblades lost their lustre and the RHI formally ceased operations in 2001. There have been some new leagues started since then, such as Major League Roller Hockey.

The International Ice Hockey Federation has also organized the annual InLine Hockey World Championship since 1996, with Karlstad, Sweden slated to host next year’s tournament. But from a professional standpoint, the sport has disappeared.

This brings me back to my childhood memory.

Inline hockey was an incredible discovery for me. The idea of being able to play ice hockey on non-ice surfaces seemed so brilliant.

I realize now it was just a simple novelty. Sure, you and your buddies can still throw on a pair of rollerblades, grab your sticks and have fun. But aspiring professionals have no time for inline hockey.

With an emphasis on on-ice training during the summer months, there’s no reason for the likes of Sydney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin to trade their sharp blades for rubber wheels. The sport will always have a presence, but don’t expect it to take over 20,000 seat arenas anytime soon.