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Roller hockey seems to be dying and the apathy towards it by the NHL and others,.....
Why play roller when you can play ice? I think that's the decision making process for a lot of people.
because there isnt an ice sheet within an hours drive?
Roller failed because they didnt follow little league baseballs path, invest in young leagues, keep people playing and keep people aware of the sport.
It also struggled because there was really nowhere to go with it in a big part of the country. Why keep playing, its not like your going to play pro roller or even college roller on some kind of scholarship.
It does ok where I am at but it could be better with a little TLC
Roller failed because they didnt follow little league baseballs path, invest in young leagues, keep people playing and keep people aware of the sport.
It also struggled because there was really nowhere to go with it in a big part of the country. Why keep playing, its not like your going to play pro roller or even college roller on some kind of scholarship.
So basically, it was the very definition of a fad...
Yeah it seemed like just about everywhere in North America had a RHI team, but most lasted only one or two years in a city before moving somwhere else. I remember the Vancouver Voodoo being reasonably successful from 1993 to 1995 playeing at the Agrodome. I think they drew around 3,000-4,000. Then they played a year at GM Place then folded.
In 1995, they played at the Coliseum. That year, I saw them play San Jose (My friend's 12th birthday party, there was a long delay before the game because they had to clean chemicals off the floor from the pre-game pyro display or something like that.), Oakland, LA, and then Oakland again in the playoffs (My 12th birthday party. I remember the playoffs went by a home and home aggregate goals (like the Champions League in soccer), and they won the home game 10-4, to go to the next round.). Rogers 4 always showed the games, so I watched that a lot, I think Vancouver even hosted a RHI All Star Game, one year. The Voodoo were always at or near the top of the standings. It wasn't hard to juggle being a fan of both them and the BC Lions during the summer. Also, the logo was awesome. There was a lot of teams with minor league type logos in the RHI, but the Voodoo's really was pretty good. I also had a Voodoo shirt or two back in Grade 6.
Actually, I just found this old Vancouver Voodoo rattle a few weeks ago that I still have after all these years. It's missing the purple and orange streamers, though.
Great spectator sport, truly a shame that league didn't last.
I remember ESPN 2 would show outdoor Roller Hockey from Cali. There was a ramp behind the nets. There was also a line if you scored from behind it it counted as 2 points.
I remember ESPN 2 would show outdoor Roller Hockey from Cali. There was a ramp behind the nets. There was also a line if you scored from behind it it counted as 2 points.
Pro Beach Hockey.
Someone actually just sold a Heavy Metal jersey on eBay for $40 a few days ago. I'd have been more interested, but the most prominent player on the team was Jarrod Skalde.
i grrew up in central nj and its still somewhat popular here. there are three indoor rinks where its played and the mens leagues are fairly full. however if you look at the youth leagues they are starting to dwindle partly because of more ice rinks being built which means that there are more ice hockey options now. when i was 9-10 i started out playing roller and gradually made my way to ice as did some people my age, while others played roller only. at 9-10 some roller in house leagues had up to 24 teams participating, however like i mentioned this number dwindled as people left to play ice. now these mens leagues also have large numbers, but the future looks bleak because more kids are either a) not playing hockey or b) starting out playing ice. in the future the dedication to roller hockey will dwindle more and more unless something sparks its return.
because there isnt an ice sheet within an hours drive?
Roller failed because they didnt follow little league baseballs path, invest in young leagues, keep people playing and keep people aware of the sport.
It also struggled because there was really nowhere to go with it in a big part of the country. Why keep playing, its not like your going to play pro roller or even college roller on some kind of scholarship.
It does ok where I am at but it could be better with a little TLC
I disagree. The youth system really wasn't that different from ice hockey's. There were travel teams and in-house teams. Really the only difference was the lack of a junior system, but the best amateur teams that could afford to recruit players thanks to sponsorships were similar in that regard.
I also don't think not having anywhere to go with it had much to do with anything. Most people play sports for fun, they don't expect to eventually make money from it. Especially kids who are put into sports by their parents who just want them out of the house. It surely hasn't stopped lacrosse from being the country's new fastest growing sport - though college lacrosse is getting bigger.
I think roller hockey's growth and decline is entirely dependent upon ice hockey. Roller hockey got big in the 90's when the NHL was growing to it's highest popularity ever and expanding all over the continent - even in the south where ice was rare if it even existed at all at the time.
Roller hockey provided a fairly cheap and easily accessible way for the increasing demand of kids to play hockey - especially in the south where ice hockey was new as well but there weren't enough arenas for the supply to keep up with the demand.
And even in LA - which would become a roller hockey hotbed - even though ice hockey had already been around for a while, Gretzky's move from Edmonton sparked huge growth in interest in the sport at around the same time which the local ice rinks surely couldn't keep up with.
Eventually more and more ice rinks would be built and the demand for roller hockey would decrease. While it remained a cheaper alternative in some cases, if you were going to play competitively there usually wasn't much difference in price with ice so unsurprisingly there was a massive migration from the sport court to the ice.
Roller hockey became something you just played for fun rather than seriously. For example, we had an outdoor roller rink down the street that we could play on anytime for free. So we saved our money to play in an actual league at the ice rink, and spent our free time playing pick-up at the roller rink. Eventually this led to roller hockey being seen as a uncompetitive/less-serious alternative.
A different youth system or college/pro prospects would not have changed this. As the availability of roller v.s. ice hockey began to even out, roller hockey began to decline while ice hockey continued to grow. All this means is that hockey players prefer the ice, not that there was something inherently flawed with the roller hockey community (though like anything it had it's drawbacks).
Roller hockey isn't going anywhere. It may not be as popular as it once was, but it's a fun way to spend a day with a stick and puck. While ice may be the preferred game, there will always be those of us who can enjoy playing both. And in some cases, roller hockey is still more readily available - such as in my case with the public outdoor roller rink right down the street, compared to the 20-30 minute drive to the ice rink where I would have to pay to play.
I have a feeling that roller hockey is more popular still than most people realize. It just isn't played as competitively anymore. And with USA Hockey dropping it's inline department, it'll be even harder to know for sure just how many people are out there playing unsanctioned roller hockey. Just because people prefer the ice for organized league play does not mean people don't play roller at all.
Having played ice hockey all my life, I could never get into roller. I played for two seasons but perhaps my skating stride did not suit rollerblades but I was all over the place.
Having played ice hockey all my life, I could never get into roller. I played for two seasons but perhaps my skating stride did not suit rollerblades but I was all over the place.
i know the feeling, i finally started playing again last year after playing nothing but ice for 8 years, im still looking for edges that arent there
I can see, to some degree, where you have ice rinks in the same town, as to why you may want to not do roller, however, I've heard a few ice players say that doing roller, hurts their ice game and that's why they don't do it. Odd.
What the lack of promotion does, is, just as an example, make towns that only have roller rinks, unaware, that this is a way to get kids playing some kind of hockey and help their business.
I think New Orleans right now, only has roller hockey, since Katrina, destroyed their ice rink. I hear it's still doing fine.
I can see, to some degree, where you have ice rinks in the same town, as to why you may want to not do roller, however, I've heard a few ice players say that doing roller, hurts their ice game and that's why they don't do it. Odd.
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Ice hockey was always too expensive here, and we mostly were kept to playing pond hockey in wintertime.
During summer we would drag out a net and everyone had rollerblades, so roller hockey was popular for me growing up. We tried pucks a few times, but I think we played before that pro-puck was around, I've never seen one of those. At any rate, I was the only kid that had a ball, and we played on rough-ish asphalt so it worked much better than the pucks did.
Our only big problem was with goalies. If you had no skates, or broke your skates, you got to be goalie.... but no one had any pads or anything, and they would just glove with a baseball glove. Once our goalies got bruised up enough they would usually go home.
I would definitely play in a roller league if there was one nearby. I was always better on rollerblades than ice anyways... but I used to use those skates you used in half pipes and and on rails, etc. They were more durable and agile, but offered less speed.
i know the feeling, i finally started playing again last year after playing nothing but ice for 8 years, im still looking for edges that arent there
I just started skating ice again, and I'm dealing with the same issues. Edges are very different. Stopping on inlines and stopping on ice are two completely different things.
Roller Hockey is still alive in Edmonton thanks in part to indoor soccer. The facilities bult for it get converted for the use of roller hockey and box lacrosse during the summer months. Remove the astroturf and its ready to go with painted lines.
Most of the players invovled were former ice hockey players who wanted to still play a form of the game, but not deal with the way ice hockey is now run.
There's plenty of healthy Roller Hockey leagues here in Southern California and manufacturers are always putting out new inline hockey gear. The sport is far from dead.
There's plenty of healthy Roller Hockey leagues here in Southern California and manufacturers are always putting out new inline hockey gear. The sport is far from dead.
Good to hear, since others have told me it's dropped like a rock there, because most moved on to ice hockey and never looked back.
Last edited by beenhereandthere: 04-06-2012 at 05:56 PM.
Depressing thread!!! I played high level in southern ontario in the early 2000s. I do remember playing against TJ Hensick and Matt Hunwick on Honeybaked... but those are the only two I know of that went on to the NHL. I'm sure there are more....
