1994 RHI season

title
League Roller Hockey International
Sport Inline hockey
Duration June 4, 1994 – September, 1994
Regular season
Best Overall Record Minnesota Arctic Blast
Season MVP Russia Max Mikhailovsky
(Los Angeles)
Top scorer United States John Young
(Minnesota)
Playoffs
Eastern champions Buffalo Stampede
  Eastern runners-up Minnesota Arctic Blast
Western champions Portland Rage
  Western runners-up Anaheim Bullfrogs
Playoffs MVP Canada John Vecchiarelli
(Buffalo)
Murphy Cup
Champions Buffalo Stampede
  Runners-up Portland Rage

The 1994 RHI season was the 2nd season of Roller Hockey International. It began on June 4, 1994, with the regular season ending in August. The Murphy Cup playoffs ended in September, with the Buffalo Stampede defeating the Portland Rage to win their first Murphy Cup. The Vancouver Voodoo hosted the 1st RHI All-Star Game at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, British Columbia on July 9, 1994.

League business

Franchise changes

Arena changes

The Vancouver Voodoo played games at both their original home the PNE Agrodome, as well as the much larger Pacific Coliseum. The Calgary Rad'z made the Max Bell Centre their permanent home arena. The Anaheim Bullfrogs' home, Anaheim Arena, was renamed the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim.

New logos and uniforms

The Anaheim Bullfrogs, Florida Hammerheads, Los Angeles Blades, and Oakland Skates debuted new logos and uniforms for the season, while the San Diego Barracudas and St. Louis Vipers debuted new uniforms.

Contraction

The Toronto Planets folded after only one season in the league.

Relocation

The Connecticut Coasters relocated to Sacramento, California to become the Sacramento River Rats, and the Utah Rollerbees relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada to become the Las Vegas Flash.

Expansion

The league doubled in size from 12 teams to 24 by adding 13 new franchises, including the Atlanta Fire Ants, Buffalo Stampede, Chicago Cheetahs, Edmonton Sled Dogs, Minnesota Arctic Blast, Montreal Roadrunners, New England Stingers, New Jersey Rockin Rollers, Philadelphia Bulldogs, Phoenix Cobras, Pittsburgh Phantoms, San Jose Rhinos, and Tampa Bay Tritons.

Realignment

With the larger RHI, for this season the league realigned its teams into two conferences, each with two divisions, each with six teams. Following what new National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman had done with the NHL's realignment, RHI new conferences and divisions were now geographically-named. Teams were placed into either the Eastern Conference, in the Atlantic Division or Central Division, or the Western Conference, in the Northwest Division or Pacific Division.

In addition, the playoff format was altered to resemble that of the pre–1993 NHL. Whereas the playoffs had previously been bracketed and seeded by league, they were now broken down by division and conference: the top four teams in each division were seeded one to four, with one playing four and two playing three, with the two winners playing in the division finals. Then the two division winners would play for the right to play for the Murphy Cup. The length of the playoff series were also expanded from a single elimination until the Murphy Cup Finals which was a best-of-three games, to best-of-three games in all series, with the third game being a one 12–minute period. Game one would be played at the lower seeded team's home arena, while games two and three would be played at the higher seeded team's home arena.

Season schedule

RHI increased its regular season schedule from 14 to 22 games per team.

Regular season

Divisional standings

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division GP W L OTL GF GA PTS
y–Buffalo Stampede 22 15 3 4 196 159 34
x–Montreal Roadrunners 22 13 9 0 161 148 26
x–Philadelphia Bulldogs 22 12 10 0 187 185 24
x–New Jersey Rockin Rollers 22 11 10 1 158 165 23
e–Tampa Bay Tritons 22 11 11 0 178 166 22
e–Florida Hammerheads 22 4 17 1 139 188 9
Central Division GP W L OTL GF GA PTS
b–Minnesota Arctic Blast 22 18 3 1 260 187 37
x–Pittsburgh Phantoms 22 13 9 0 207 193 26
x–Chicago Cheetahs 22 12 10 0 182 190 24
x–Atlanta Fire Ants 22 10 10 2 168 190 22
e–St. Louis Vipers 22 8 12 2 154 173 18
e–New England Stingers 22 5 17 0 173 219 10

Western Conference

Northwest Division GP W L OTL GF GA PTS
y–Vancouver Voodoo 22 15 6 1 188 157 31
x–Calgary Rad'z 22 12 8 2 183 160 26
x–Phoenix Cobras 22 11 9 2 174 187 24
x–Portland Rage 22 11 10 1 197 173 23
e–Edmonton Sled Dogs 22 9 10 3 164 170 21
e–Sacramento River Rats 22 5 17 0 145 221 10
Pacific Division GP W L OTL GF GA PTS
z–Los Angeles Blades 22 18 4 0 180 133 36
x–San Jose Rhinos 22 13 7 2 167 159 28
x–Anaheim Bullfrogs 22 13 8 1 185 155 27
x–San Diego Barracudas 22 9 9 4 171 178 22
e–Oakland Skates 22 10 12 0 144 171 20
e–Las Vegas Flash 22 6 15 1 152 186 13

Note: x – clinched playoff spot, y – clinched division title, z – clinched regular season conference title, b – clinched best overall record, e – eliminated from playoff contention

Tiebreaking procedures

If two or more clubs are tied in points during the regular season, the ranking of the clubs is determined in the following order:

  1. The fewer number of games played.
  2. The greater number of games won.
  3. The greater differential between goals for and against for the entire regular season.
  4. The fewer number of goals against.

Statistical leaders

Scoring leaders

Player Team GP G A Pts +/– PIM
United States John Young Minnesota Arctic Blast 22 30 49 79 +9 18
United States Randy Skarda Minnesota Arctic Blast 21 18 59 77 +20 109
United States Chris Valicevic Portland Rage 22 25 50 75 +18 37
Canada Mark Woolf San Jose Rhinos 22 40 34 74 +9 20
Canada Gerry St. Cyr Portland Rage 22 42 31 73 +4 104
United States John Hanson Minnesota Arctic Blast 22 35 37 72 +19 18
Canada Sean Krakiwsky Calgary Rad'z 22 30 42 72 +10 30
United States Tim Hanus Minnesota Arctic Blast 22 36 35 71 +29 27
Canada Kent Hawley Philadelphia Bulldogs 22 29 37 66 –3 28
Canada Brian Downey Portland Rage 22 19 47 66 +1 28

Leading goaltenders

Player Team GP TOI W L OTL GA SO Sv% GAA
Russia Max Mikhailovsky Los Angeles Blades 19 856 15 3 0 100 0 .863 5.60
Canada Marc Delorme Montreal Roadrunners 18 522 9 5 0 67 0 .837 6.16
Canada Ken Kinney Vancouver Voodoo 15 575 9 3 0 77 0 .842 6.43
Canada Lance Carlson Portland Rage 18 736 9 4 2 101 0 .844 6.58
Canada Randy Jaycock Calgary Rad'z 11 476 6 3 0 66 0 .835 6.65
United States Chris Gordon Anaheim Bullfrogs 11 490 5 4 1 68 0 .816 6.66
Canada Grant Sjerven San Jose Rhinos 15 523 7 3 1 73 0 .838 6.69
Canada Scott Humphrey St. Louis Vipers 13 473 5 4 1 68 0 .858 6.89
Canada Nick Vitucci Buffalo Stampede 22 1037 15 3 4 150 0 .827 6.94
Canada Todd Bojcun Florida Hammerheads 12 449 1 6 1 66 0 .850 7.04

Playoffs

Playoff seeds

After the regular season, 16 teams qualified for the playoffs. The Minnesota Arctic Blast were the Eastern Conference regular season champions and had the best overall record at 37 points. The Los Angeles Blades had the best record in the Western Conference with 36 points.

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division
  1. Buffalo Stampede – Atlantic Division champions, 34 points
  2. Montreal Roadrunners – 26 points
  3. Philadelphia Bulldogs – 24 points
  4. New Jersey Rockin Rollers – 23 points
Central Division
  1. Minnesota Arctic Blast – Central Division and Eastern Conference regular season champions; Best Overall Record winners, 37 points
  2. Pittsburgh Phantoms – 26 points
  3. Chicago Cheetahs – 24 points
  4. Atlanta Fire Ants – 22 points

Western Conference

Northwest Division
  1. Vancouver Voodoo – Northwest Division champions, 31 points
  2. Calgary Rad'z – 26 points
  3. Phoenix Cobras – 24 points
  4. Portland Rage – 23 points
Pacific Division
  1. Los Angeles Blades – Pacific Division and Western Conference regular season champions, 36 points
  2. San Jose Rhinos – 28 points
  3. Anaheim Bullfrogs – 27 points
  4. San Diego Barracudas – 22 points

Playoff bracket

In the first two rounds, the highest seed in each division is matched against the lowest remaining seed, with the two division finals winners in each conference matched against each other in the conference finals. The higher-seeded team is awarded home floor advantage, which gives them a possible maximum of two games on their home floor, with the lower-seeded team getting one. In the Murphy Cup Finals, home floor is determined based on regular season points. Thus, the Buffalo Stampede had home floor advantage in the Murphy Cup Finals. Each best-of-three series, with the third game a one 12–minute period, followed a 1–2 format. This means that the lower-seeded team had home floor for game 1, while the higher-seeded team had home floor for game 2, and if necessary, the 12–minute period game 3.

Division Semifinals Division Finals Conference Finals Murphy Cup Finals
            
A1 Buffalo Stampede 2
A4 New Jersey Rockin Rollers 0
A1 Buffalo Stampede 2
Atlantic Division
A2 Montreal Roadrunners 0
A2 Montreal Roadrunners 2
A3 Philadelphia Bulldogs 0
A1 Buffalo Stampede 2
Eastern Conference
C1 Minnesota Arctic Blast 1
C1 Minnesota Arctic Blast 2
C4 Atlanta Fire Ants 0
C1 Minnesota Arctic Blast 2
Central Division
C2 Pittsburgh Phantoms 1
C2 Pittsburgh Phantoms 2
C3 Chicago Cheetahs 1
A1 Buffalo Stampede 2
N4 Portland Rage 0
N1 Vancouver Voodoo 0
N4 Portland Rage 2
N4 Portland Rage 2
Northwest Division
N2 Calgary Rad'z 1
N2 Calgary Rad'z 2
N3 Phoenix Cobras 0
N4 Portland Rage 2
Western Conference
P3 Anaheim Bullfrogs 0
P1 Los Angeles Blades 2
P4 San Diego Barracudas 0
P1 Los Angeles Blades 0
Pacific Division
P3 Anaheim Bullfrogs 2
P2 San Jose Rhinos 0
P3 Anaheim Bullfrogs 2

RHI awards

1994 RHI awards
Award Recipient(s)
Murphy Cup Buffalo Stampede
Eastern Conference Champions Buffalo Stampede
Western Conference Champions Portland Rage
Coach of the Year
Defenseman of the Year Randy Skarda (Minnesota Arctic Blast)
Executive of the Year
Goalie of the Year Max Mikhailovsky (Los Angeles Blades)
Leading Scorer John Young (Minnesota Arctic Blast)
Most Valuable Player Max Mikhailovsky (Los Angeles Blades)
Playoff MVP John Vecchiarelli (Buffalo Stampede)

See also

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