Major League Roller Hockey
|
Most recent season or competition: 2011–12 MLRH season | |
 | |
| Sport | Inline hockey |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1998, Alexandria, Virginia, United States |
| Inaugural season | 1998 |
| CEO | Doug Jones |
| President | Bill Raue |
| Country | United States |
| Headquarters | Alexandria, Virginia, United States |
| Continent | North America |
| TV partner(s) | Roller Hockey TV |
| Related competitions |
MLRH Pro MLRH Elite MLRH AAA MLRH Grassroots MLRH Europe MLRH Summer Cup Slamm Hockey League |
| Official website | MLRH.com |
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 league was organized in 1998 in Alexandria, Virginia, United States, after the suspension of operations of a predecessor organization, Roller Hockey International (RHI), which had been founded in 1993.
MLRH draws many players with former college and pro ice hockey experience, as well as "pure" inline hockey players. Although Americans have historically constituted the majority of the players in MLRH, the league also attracts Canadian and European trained players to the league.
MLRH expanded to Europe in 2012 with a pan-European series of competitions spanning from top level hockey to youth and amateur competitions.
History
| Team | Titles | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PA Inferno | |||||
| Vourlean Veikot | |||||
| Mission Axiom | 3* | ||||
| Marple Gladiators | 2 | ||||
| D.C. Filibusters | 1 | ||||
| Anaheim Bullfrogs | 1 | ||||
| Boston Storm | 1 | ||||
| Buffalo Wings | 1 | ||||
| Colorado Crush | 1 | ||||
| Detroit Revolution | 1 | ||||
| Dynamo Pardubice | 1 | ||||
| IHC Tunechoddy | 1 | ||||
| New York/New Jersey Rockers | 1 | ||||
| Rocky Mountain Wolverines | 1 | ||||
| Williamsburg Warriors | 1 | ||||
After the suspension of Roller Hockey International (RHI) for the 1998 season, Major League Roller Hockey was founded in 1998 in Alexandria, Virginia by entrepreneur Bill Raue. The inaugural season featured two franchises from the suspended RHI (the Anaheim Bullfrogs and Buffalo Wings) and 18 new franchises, with 11 in the United States, one in Canada and six in the United Kingdom. The first games were played during the summer of 1998. Hugo Belanger of the Virginia Vultures, former Roller Hockey International leading scorer, finished the inaugural season leading the league in goals (79), assists (79) and points (158). The Anaheim Bullfrogs defeated the Orlando Surge to win the first Jason Cup title in front of 10,000 fans at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California.
While MLRH operated successfully in its inaugural season, the league went on hiatus for the 1999 season. Roller Hockey International returned in 1999 for one last season before folding for good. MLRH however fell victim to the demise of RHI and was brought down as professional roller hockey flamed out in 1999. According to Bill Raue, "There were so many bad feelings when RHI folded with $40 million in losses that it was virtually impossible to play at the professional level."
Returning in 2000, MLRH operated throughout the Midwest and Eastern seaboard, playing with primarily amateur players. Starting in 2005, MLRH expanded to a Super League with the American champion facing the European champion in a world championship. In 2009, MLRH moved to a pro tour-style league before returning to a traditional home-and-home style league in 2010.
In 2008, Bill Raue brought aboard former professional ice and inline player Doug Jones, who had a reputation for being hard, but fair, when it came to league policies and enforcement. Jones, who had much success with the Wayne Gretzky Roller Hockey centers, which at one time had five locations in the western and eastern United States, had also been a pivotal behind-the-scenes organizer in the resurrection of professional inline hockey in Southern California, the Elite League, IHA, Jones as both a player and later as president of IHA, had moderate success with helping to promote and get the league recognition. The league played in the Anaheim Convention center during the 2006–2007, season. Jones's team the SC Bulls were in first place when the league ceased operations after 6 regular season games. Jones, known for his hard stance on rules and no-nonsense attitude, had MLRH owners frustrated with their inability to "complain" to turn things their way. This included failure to pay franchise fees and other league expenses. Jones began cleaning up MLRH and removing the teams and owners who had not met their financial requirements – a move that clearly brought him much criticism by the teams and owners who had been used to running things their way.
"MLRH had a great product, my goals were to recognize the leagues' assets, its players and put forth fair and reasonable rules and codes of conducts to ensure growth and an even playing field for all who participated." – Doug Jones, MLRH Commissioner, 2009
In 2009–2010, Jones set structure with teams in place and a board of governors which included team owners to head MLRH back on track with their issues and problems. With the difficulty in managing self-serving personalities who tried to benefit themselves rather than the league, Jones and Raue made the decision to scrap the democratic process and eliminated the board. MLRH then proceeded to have two of its most popular seasons in 2010–2011, and 2011–2012, where the Mission Axiom won both championships and dominated the playing floor with a record of 30–0–0, in regular-season play. However, it would be Bill Raue's move of question at the end of the season which hurt MLRH's credibility. Raue, in a move that would cost MLRH one of its most competitive teams, went to LA PAMA Cyclone team owner, Mike Nijjar and tried to sell the entire league, for $25,000 right before the 2010 playoffs. Nijjar, a well respected business man, refused Raue's offer and then after the season's conclusion, removed his team from MLRH. As would be typical with the history of MLRH, after achieving success, it would shoot itself in the foot. Raue's flying to California one week before the playoffs and his offer to Nijjar to buy the league, had the entire league concerned about its stability. It would take the efforts of Jones to step in and repair the public relation's disaster that was caused by Raue. After the season ended, Jones worked and recruited to develop a Midwest division, which resulted in the addition of the Chicago Carnage, Motor City Assault, Ny Rockers and Buffalo Excitement, in 2011–2012. This accompanied by the Mission Axiom, Hollywood Dream, Anaheim Bullfrogs and Arizona Arsenal, MLRH had a resurgence in 2011–2012 with a "West vs. East" final between the Mission Axiom and the Motor City Assault. The finals resulted in Mission winning the league championship, two games to one over the Assault.
In 2011, MLRH sued Michael Staple of MIHA for trying to take MLRH's intellectual property and teams. Staple, a consistent problem with both MLRH's board of governors and league, was found to be recruiting MLRH team's and players for a league he was forming at MLRH events. Staple also failed to pay his league fee, which led to his dismissal from MLRH. The final straw was as MLRH tried to launch their midwest division, Staple had a friend put a team in, The Chicago Shamrocks to play the event and join MLRH, only to then leave the league after the event. After it was found that Staple was behind the orchestrating of this move, MLRH sued him. The lawsuit was settled out of court and terms were not to be disclosed, however, Raue defaulted on payment to the Michigan law firm for their work and the settlement became public, being posted on the internet by Michael Staple.
MLRH brought forth "Rollerhockeytv", (rollerhockeytv.net) to viewers across the world. RHTV, a webcast of MLRH games, brought viewers "live" action of MLRH games from California and the Midwest. While a great idea and concept, RHTV would suffer from the same problems as everything MLRH. Raue's refusal to fund it properly and to provide quality service, while "over promising and under delivering". During the 2010–2011 season, MLRH featured division games from the Pacific division for viewers to partake and watch. This bolstered by the success of sponsors, MLRH had record numbers for revenue and a game on February 12, 2011, between the Pama Cyclones and Mission Axiom which garnered over 10,000 views. In this game, Juaquin Chavira and Chris Connole respectively of the Cyclones an Axiom, squared off to a fight that drew a crowd of over 500 in attendance. Rollerhockeytv.net also acquired sponsors like Mission Hockey, Labeda wheels, Tour hockey, Revision and Rinkrat wheels. At the beginning of the season MLRH had over 15 sponsors as a part of their webcasts. Due to the budget constraints and Raue's refusal to pay a quality streaming service, the lack of professionalism by the company streaming MLRH's webcast's cost MLRH ten sponsors in their first month. While Jones was upset over the loss of sponsors, as he would learn, as with most endeavors conducted by the MLRH president there were little care of the results. The productions were low quality, the streaming often with blackouts, shutdowns and reboots. All of these issues were presented to Raue, but he choose to continue to produce the show with knowing issues and failing stream issues even though he was made continually aware of the production problems.
In 2011–2012, MLRH and rollerhockeytv.net continued its presence, webcasting a record eight events from both California (The Rinks in Irvine) and Michigan (Total Roller Hockey) for games during the season. During the MLRH playoffs, games were not webcast due to Raue not paying its production company, Videotrails, who then refused to work the event at the last minute. MLRH temporarily secured new production and webcasted the State Wars hockey event from St. Louis, Missouri, August 2012 and it's regular season in October 2012 once again, from Irvine, California at the "Rinks" in Irvine. The league brought back the Anaheim Bullfrogs of RHI and on opening in October 2011, retired Joe Cook's jersey. Jones, orchestrated the former Anaheim Bullfrog's owner, Stuart Silver, to attend Cook's retirement and Silver, spoke about Cook's career to all on the historic night. Jones, was also able to get Silver to relinquish all claims and rights to the Bullfrog logo and name. In December 2011, Jones repeated his quest to honor the Bullfrog name's which had been a mainstay in their history by retiring Rob Laurie's jersey; both are high up in the rafters at the "Rinks" in Irvine. (Note* Laurie's jersey that evening was painted by Raue as he failed to get the banner done in time due to lack of payment to the first creditor for Cook's jersey). Jones then worked to have McCaughey, Gervais and Mitrovic also retired but was turned down by Raue. The key to the success was the ability of Jones to limit Raue's interaction with production and deals. As Jones would find out, things would be smoother and less complicated with Raue not involved in the daily needs and meetings and by making sure that what was promised was produced.
For the 2012–2013 season, MLRH had a Pacific Division and Midwest division and expanded into the Texas and Florida area with the "Lone Star and Sunshine Division". MLRH is also working on teams in Southern Florida as well. The 2012–2013 MLRH Finals have been set for Novi, Michigan in March 2013 and MLRH has awarded a semifinal seed to its brother league, MLRH Europe, (mlrheurope.com) for the 2013 playoffs in the Midwest. MLRH Europe's top team will come to the US to play in the playoffs and have an opportunity to compete for the $10,000 cash purse in the 2013 post-season. In the 2012 - 2013 Finals, MLRH had its first world championship as the Koovee Roller (Finland), the Marsblade Capitals, (Sweden), The Houston Venom (Houston, TX) and Breakaway Bullies (Santa Ana, CA) competed for the $10,000 purse. The Bullies would edge the Rollers three games to two to meet the Capitals in the finals. The Bullies would win both games 4 - 3 and win the MLRH World Championship. The league again ran into several problems as monies owed by Raue were not paid to teams from Texas and Florida. MLRH was at the mercy of the Florida rink schedule and had to run playoffs on an Easter Sunday. Due to rink limitations and issues in Florida, MLRH again, had to squeeze two days of hockey into one day. The Texas team which participated, had a deal by Raue to allow them to play, but then expected MLRH to pay their expenses. The league immediately ceased all dealings with the Houston facility inline director, who later would be terminated over embezzlement charges (Houston). The Houston facility was not made for MLRH hockey as players who were checked into the boards, would break the dasher boards and bench doors, which seemed to be made of a "balsawood/sawdust" mixture. Games would have to be stopped while solutions were sought to broken doors and rink dasherboards, with no replacements. So MLRH games would have to stop a game and wait for public session on the other rink to end, before continuing. Once again, Raue had gotten involved in dealings and issues reappeared. After the World championships, Florida, Texas and the midwest would fold their divisions and drop from MLRH. Teams would cite unpaid expenses, promises made for reimbursement and an unfair schedule as the prime reasons for their decision. This came about after Raue, again was involved in negotiations and made several unfulfilled promises to teams and owners.
MLRH Europe ran its first events this year in 2012, including the European Cup, which saw the Koovee Rollers of Finland defeat everyone on their way to the European title. Raue, had selected Setti Mulari to govern MLRH Europe, but Mulari was removed from his post when it was discovered funds from several events were used to fund a rink he was building in England. (The facility is now closed due to finances)
The 2013 - 2014 MLRH World Championships would see former NHL player, Bob Sullivan and friend of Jones, become MLRH European president and the results were the first world championships played in Mannheim, Germany which saw Vuorlean Veikot as the new MLRH Champion as they defeated the Koovee Rollers (both teams from Finland). It should be noted that "7" players from both teams ended up playing the in IIHF World championships and won the World title. Lassee Lapoleinen was the MLRH 2014 MVP. "Bringing Bob Sullivan in with his contacts and respect in the European market was a breath of fresh air and a huge help to bringing us credibility", stated Jones.
Also during the season, through the hard work of Jones, Rollerhockeytv.net scored some big viewership and special guests as Future NHL HOF'er Charlie Simmer, former NHL player Chris Kotsopolous, Former Pittsburgh Penguin owner and 2 time Stanley Cup champion Howard Baldwin, plus NHL players Patrick Maroon and Anaheim Ducks 2nd round draft pick Nic Kerdiles all appeared on the show.
During the summer of 2014, the league immediately began to prosper as Commissioner Jones, tired of the continued hassles and issues with various "veteran" players and certain team management in Southern California, recruited younger players and their being "new" to MLRH. This proved to be successful as these players wanted to play and were excited to participate in the first MLRH SUPER LEAGUE which began play starting in June at Washington, DC and had 7 teams. This season would end with the Bullies, winning their third consecutive championship as they defeated the Philadelphia Demons in the best of three in Irvine, California. The Bullies dominated the Demons. As the season ended, tensions would surface between Jones and Raue and the league would sputter to start the 2014 - 2015 season.
The 2015 season would prove to be the ending of the partnership between Raue and Jones. There was no regular season as the former three time champions, refused to participate due to insurance issues. MLRH ran a "World Championship" in Pennsylvania and opened it to teams who wished to participate. Attending were Mannheim and Leicester, two teams who had been made for expenses and reimbursement by Raue to get them there. As Leicester would find out, they would be left to fend for themselves and get home after their deal with Raue did not come to fruition and had to sit in an airport for a day to get back to England. The Mannheim Stars, then also had to pay out of pocket for things that were promised. By now tensions had begun to surface between Raue and Jones, as Jones spent a majority of his time at the championships talking to the upset team owners and players, while Raue sat at a desk by the front door, trying to sell inline hockey pants, he had over purchased before the event. The Pennsylvania Inferno would win the world championships defeating the Mannheim Stars in two games. The commissioner was becoming tired of the same issues with teams, owners and players over promises he had no control over. This included the financing of the cash prize for the Inferno, which Jones had no control over.
With the world championship fiasco over, the Super League was to begin in June 2015, but players available in Southern California were not competitive enough to compete with the three time champions, who had refused to play after the insurance issues. The younger players, did not like the full check format and did not wish to play based on the "stories" of unpaid insurance claims. Jones, also had to deal with a team owner who was in federal prison and had not paid half of his MLRH league fees from the previous season, another owner who had embezzled charitable funds after collecting them at MLRH events and was banned from MLRH, another owner who manufactured a fake PayPal receipt for $2,500 for his 2014 league fees and then threatened both Jones and Raue with bodily harm when he was told his receipt was bogus. This owner, then saw his Las Vegas rink go out of business and finally, two teams of players who could not compete at the pro level, so he shut down the Southern California division. Raue, then said he had the "keys to success" for MLRH and ran his Super league on the east coast. Teams would play with 4 players and a goalie, show up at events with mismatched uniforms, rules were not being implemented, forfeits and scores of 33-0 and 18 - 0 were just the tip of the iceburg. After all this, the dropping of a franchise, the remaining east coast teams refused to finish the Super League season.
Raue, scrambling to end the Super League, put together a "faux" team to play the PA Inferno who made it known they refused to travel to any events due to the lack of competitive teams. It was only after Raue had promised the PA Inferno to travel to California, he realized he had to make good on his continued ignoring and reimbursing a Bullies player for his injuries. But it was too late. The former three time champions dropped out of MLRH and refused to cooperate, leaving Raue to have to put a "faux" team together.
In addition to Jones departing MLRH, MLRH Europe's president Bob Sullivan also resigned his commission and broke his alliance with MLRH. MLRH Germany was dissolved and no longer affiliated with Raue. Sullivan has also refused comment.
Raue, with no other options, then had his "faux" team the Phoenix in the 2015 Super League final with the PA Inferno. The Inferno easily defeated the team to earn the title of the 2015 Super League champions and $2,500. Once again, the integrity of the league was compromised due to the rules once again being thrown out the window and Raue doing business as he had in 2008, which led to the league's original downfall.
November would see Raue in a twist to remove all remnants of the former commissioner, debut the new "Roller Hockey today" show with host Matt Popchok. The show webcast to less than 300 viewers and while the efforts of Popchok were to be applauded, it failed to gain the numbers of the previous 103 episodes of "This week in Roller Hockey" and over 930,000 views on ustream and 103,000 on YouTube. That show was hosted by Doug Jones. Jones had consistently averaged over 1,500 viewers per episode on a shoestring budget per episode. Raue's new format, while a different concept met with little to no support or viewership.
In November, Raue has now promised a new non check league which he will introduce to play for $10,000 this January 2016. He is listing events in Southern California and Washington, DC with a new payment format. The event claims to pay $100 per game won and $500 for the event winner. The first MLRH event, scheduled for January 16th, had no schedule published, no teams listed and was postponed until January 23rd. In another move by Raue, Jeffrey Buma was coordinating the West coast event on January 30th, in Irvine, Ca. Buma, has less than a stellar reputation in the events/administration field.
Game
Each Major League Roller Hockey PRO regulation game is played between two teams and is 34 minutes long. The game is composed of two 17-minute halves with an intermission of either one minute between the halves. At the end of the 35-minute regulation time, the team with the most goals wins the game. If a game is tied after regulation time, a 5-minute overtime ensues with the floor strength 3 on 3. If no winner is declared, four shooters for each team in turn take a penalty shot. The team with the most goals during the four-round shootout wins the game. If the game is still tied after the four shootout rounds, the shootout becomes sudden death. Whichever team ultimately wins the shootout is awarded a goal in the game score and thus awarded two points in the standings. The losing team in overtime or shootout is awarded only one. Shootout goals and saves are not tracked in hockey statistics; shootout statistics are tracked separately.
Shootouts do not occur during the playoffs. In the playoffs, sudden-death 20-minute four-on-four periods are played until one team scores.
Inline hockey rink
Major League Roller Hockey games are played on a regulation hockey rink with rounded corners surrounded by walls and Plexiglas. MLRH standards call for a rink measuring 85 feet by 200 feet. The center line divides the floor in half, and is used to judge illegal clearing violations. Near the end of both ends of the rink, there is a thin red goal line spanning the width of the floor, which is used to judge goals and illegal clearing calls.
Rules
While Major League Roller Hockey follows the general rules of inline hockey, it differs slightly from those used in National Hockey League games. Infractions of the rules can lead to either the stoppage of play in the case of offside and illegal clearing calls, or a penalty call for more serious infractions.
The league has different rules regarding being offside. First, the league only has an "offside pass" rule, which requires a stoppage in play if a pass originating from inside a team's defending zone was completed on the offensive side of the center line, unless the puck crossed the line before the player. Furthermore, the league also does not have an a standard "offside" rule resulting from skate position.
Another rule difference between MLRH and the NHL rules concerns how illegal clearings are called. In MLRH, a linesman stops play due to illegal clearing the moment the puck crosses the goal line, in contrast to the NHL rules where play is stopped if a defending play (other than the goaltender) touches the puck before an attacking player is able to. It is similar in that, when a team is guilty of illegally clearing the puck they are not allowed to make a line change before the following faceoff. No line change is allowed of the offending team.
MLRH also has an instigator rule for players who wear half shields and cages. Any player wearing such who receives a high sticking penalty is assessed a double minor automatically. Any player who instigates a fight wearing such, is assessed a minor automatically, unless at the discretion of the official, the player takes his helmet off to square off with his foe.
Teams
Major League Roller Hockey originated in 2008 with fourteen American teams, and through a sequence of team expansions, reductions, and relocations, MLRH currently consists of 15 teams, all of which are based in the United States. The Marple Gladiators are the most successful franchise with two World Championships. The most successful active franchises are the Buffalo Wings and Mission Axiom, each with one World Championship. The longest streak of winning the World Championship in consecutive years is two, held by the Marple Gladiators from 2002–03 to 2003–04 and Mission Axiom 2010 - 11 to 2011 - 2012.
The current league organization is divided into two divisions: the East Division,and the West Division.
In 2014 the MLRH World Championships were held in Mannheim, Germany.
List of world participant teams
SJC Bullies,USA
Koovee Rollers, Finland
Marsblade Capitols, Sweden
Anaheim Bullfrogs, USA
Chicago Carnage, USA
Les Jokers, France
Houston Black Venom, USA
Mannheim Royals,Germany
SF Tropics,USA
Leicester Dragons, England
Darmstead Dukes, Germany
Hollywood Dream, USA
Les Spiders de Rouen,France
Cabuxos,Spain
HC Aguilas,Spain
Mannheim Monsters,Germany
BRHA Misfits,England
Arlington Texans,USA
Mannheim Stars,Germany
Arizona Arsenal,USA
Dynamo Pardabuce,Czech Republic
Hugelsheim Rhinos,Germany
Orebro Eagle Sports,Sweden
Baden Bruins,Germany
Mannheim Blue Devils,Germany
HC Aguilas,Spain
SJC Vengeance,USA
Houston Red Venom, USA
Palm Beach RollerHawks,USA
Arlington Texans,USA
Manprimaten,Germany
Southhamtpon Hornets,England
Divji Petelini,Slovenia
SS Outlawz,USA
Las Vegas Jokers,USA
DC Filibusters,USA
Delco Demons,USA
Vuorelan Veikot,Finland
Texas Roadkill,USA
CPLV Mozo Gray,Spain
Season structure
Major League Roller Hockey season is divided into an exhibition season (October), a regular season (from the first week in November through early to mid March) and a postseason (the MLRH playoffs). During the regular season, clubs play each other in a predefined schedule. The MLRH playoffs, which goes from March to the end of May, is an elimination tournament where two teams play against each other to win a single elimination game in order to advance to the next round. The final remaining team is crowned the MLRH World Champion.
In the regular season, each team plays 15 games; in tournament fashion (three games per event). Points are awarded for each game, where two points are awarded for a win, one point for losing in overtime or a shootout, and zero points for a loss in regulation.
Points are awarded for each game, where two points are awarded for a win, one point for losing in overtime or a shootout, and zero points for a loss in regulation. Among major professional sports leagues, the NHL is the only one to award a team points for losing in overtime.
At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points in each division is crowned the division champion. The three division champions along with the five other teams in the league with the next highest number of points, for a total of 8 teams, qualify for the playoffs. The division winners are seeded one through three (even if a non-division winner has a higher point total), and the next five teams with the best records in the conference are seeded four through eight. The MLRH playoffs is an elimination tournament, where two teams battle to win a single elimination game in order to advance to the next round. The first round of the playoffs, or quarterfinals, consists of the first seed playing the eighth seed, the second playing the seventh, third playing the sixth, and the fourth playing the fifth. In the second round, or semifinals, MLRH re-seeds the teams, with the top remaining seed playing the lowest remaining seed, and the other two remaining teams pairing off. In the third round, MLRH Finals, the two remaining teams play each other for the world championship.
In each round the higher-ranked team is said to be the team with the home-floor advantage. The game is played at this team's home venue. In the MLRH Finals, the game is played at a neutral-site regardless of where each team ranks.
Notable active players
The top five point scorers in the 2010–11 season were Juaquin Chavira (58), KC Groon (39), Chris Connole (33), Chris Fraterrigo (25), and Josh Larrichia (24). The top goaltenders (by goals against average) were Mike Urbano (2.12), Troy Redman (2.29), Troy Strong (2.48), Lucas Pagliassotti (3.33), and Nevin Iwamatsu (3.49).
Notable players in MLRH the past few years, Ontario Reign goaltender, Troy Redmann, Pat Lee, Chicago Carnage, Ian Rezac, Stephen Campbell, Juaquin Chavira, Itan Chavira, Jamie Cooke, Team USA, IIHF and FIRS
See also
- List of American and Canadian cities by number of major professional sports franchises
- List of defunct MLRH teams
- List of professional sports teams in the United States and Canada
- List of TV markets and major sports teams
- Major League Roller Hockey 2
- Major League Roller Hockey AA
- MLRH AAA season
References
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Major League Roller Hockey. |