Roller Hockey International (1994)
Tombstone
Born: March 2, 1994 – RHI expansion franchise
Folded: March 1995
First Game: June 5, 1994 (L 10-5 vs. Pittsburgh Phantoms)
Last Game: August 15, 1994 (L 18-6 @ Pittsburgh Phantoms)
Murphy Cup Championships: None
Arena
Cumberland County Civic Center
Opened: 1977
Marketing
Team Colors: Jade, Royal Blue, Black & White
Ownership
Owner: Tom Ebright & Godfrey Wood
Background
Roller Hockey International (RHI) was the brainchild of serial sports entrepeneur Dennis Murphy. Murphy helped found the American Basketball Association, the World Hockey Association and World Team Tennis in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. After a quiet decade in the 1980’s, Murphy re-emerged with RHI in 1993, co-founded with his former World Team Tennis partner Larry King.
Murphy and King sought to capitalize on the surge of interest in inline skating – often known at the time by the brandnomer Rollerblading – with a summertime league stocked with moonlighting minor league hockey players. RHI rules varied somewhat from ice hockey. Games were divided into four 12-minute quarters rather than three 20-minute periods. Teams played five-v-five with only one defenseman on a Sport Court (concrete) surface. Fighting was prohibited, punishable by a one-game suspension. The various rule changes all supported a higher-scoring, more fluid game. During the league’s inaugural season, RHI games averaged nearly 17 goals per game.
RHI debuted with twelve franchises in 1993, mostly in major NHL and NBA markets such as Los Angeles, St. Louis and Miami. Murphy and King attracted several major investors, including Los Angeles Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, a fellow World Team Tennis veteran. In 1994, the league expanded rapidly, adding six new franchises, primarily in big league cities such as Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Montreal. One exception in the 1994 expansion class was the archetypal minor league hockey market of Portland, Maine.
Extension of AHL’s Portland Pirates
The New England Stingers were introduced to Portland at a news conference on March 2nd, 1994. Experienced hockey operators Tom Ebright and Godfrey Wood owned the club, which they envisioned as a summertime extension of their Portland Pirates American Hockey League franchise. The duo were riding a wave of enthusiasm in the city. Ebright and Wood first came together one year earlier, partnering to move Ebright’s struggling Baltimore Skipjacks AHL club to Portland’s Cumberland County Civic Center. When the Stingers were announced in early March, the Pirates were nearing the completion of a storybook first season in the city, one which saw the club win the Calder Cup championship.
Portland Pirates Head Coach Barry Trotz served as Head Coach and brought along his AHL assistant, Paul Gardner. The Stingers roster included several veterans with NHL experience, including Len Hachborn and Kevin Kaminski. University of Maine rookie Cal Ingraham signed on and would lead the Stingers in scoring with 30 goals and 32 assists.
The Stingers struggled to adapt to the hybrid game, dropping the first seven matches of RHI’s 22-game season. In the front office, the challenges were just as daunting. Stingers management faced severe pressures both on the revenue and expense sides of the business. The Stingers experience stood in stark contrast to RHI co-founder Larry King’s 1993 boast to Sports Illustrated that “In this league coaches need more skill than owners need money.”
One Season & Out
The Stingers announced several larger crowds at the Cumberland County Civic Center as the season wound down, including successive attendace highs of 4,677 and 4,691 at the club’s final two home games in August 1994. Nevertheless, the Stingers finished the season with an estimated $300,000 operating loss and with average announced attendance of 2,850, 5th worst in the 18-team league. Adding insult to injury, the Stingers finished in last place with a record of 5-17.
Ebright and Wood formally withdrew from Roller Hockey International in March of 1995, under the guise of a one-year hiatus.
“This may be the fastest growing sport in the country, but maybe it’s a participatory sport, not a viewer’s sport,” owner Godfrey Wood told The Portland Press Herald in announcing the shutdown.
Trivia
Former New England Stingers coach Barry Trotz became the first head coach of the NHL’s Nashville Predators in 1998. He held the position for 15 seasons. In 2018 he coached the Washington Capitals to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup victory.
Voices
“We had no idea how difficult it would be to convince Mainers that they should watch an indoor sport when they have waited so long for summer, boating, golf and beaches! Frankly, even giving away tickets – that got used – was hard.
“It was extremely expensive to travel the team, particularly given summer airfares. Sponsorship was moderate, and I was concerned we were cannibalizing the (ice) hockey team’s sponsors.”
-Godfrey Wood, Owner, 1994 (2011 FWiL Interview)
Roller Hockey International Shop
Editor's Pick
Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks & Bucks
A Rocking History of Roller Hockey International
Who won the first professional sports championship for the city of Anaheim? Which Roller Hockey International team owner posed for Playboy? Which RHI team’s logo did Sports Illustrated describe as looking like “a malevolent vacuum-cleaner attachment?” Which coach won two championships for two different teams in RHI’s first two seasons? Why were fans nearly ejected from the Oakland Skates’ arena for celebrating a hat trick?
Author Richard Graham takes you behind the scenes to show how Dennis Murphy created Roller Hockey International, and why Murphy might be the most unlikely, least known and most influential visionary in North American professional sports history.
When you make a purchase through an affiliate link like this one, Fun While It Lasted earns a commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
In Memoriam
Former New England Stingers owner Tom Ebright passed away in 1997.
Downloads
2011 FWiL Interview with Stingers owner Godfrey Wood
Links
###
3 Responses
Very cool; great post! I’m Godfrey’s daughter, and remember these days fondly; too bad the team didn’t stick around longer! Another “fun while it lasted” team would be one more that he started – the Hartford Whalers:)
Nice write up, I found this article while looking for inforamtion on the proposed Global Hockey League from the early 90’s,(Godfrey Wood owned a team called the New England Clippers). I know it’s a long shot but it there any chance you’re familiar with the GHL/CHA. Or could point me in the direction of someone who does.
Thanks.
Rich – The Albany (NY) Times-Union provided some good coverage of the GHL start up efforts in 1990, due to the efforts of local sports promoter Joe O’Hara to land a franchise for Knickerbocker Arena. You can get access to these articles on Highbeam.com. They are a paid service, but you can get a 7-day free-trial which should be more than enough to get all of the Times-Union coverage of this league. Good luck.