Sacramento River Rats

Roller Hockey International (1994-1997)

Tombstone

Born: 1994 – The Connecticut Coasters relocate to Sacramento, CA
Folded: Postseason 1997

First Game: June 8, 1994 (L 9-3 vs. San Diego Barracudas)
Last Game: August 9, 1997 (L 9-8 vs. Anaheim Bullfrogs)

Murphy Cup Championships: None

Arenas

1994-1996: ARCO Arena (14,000)

1997: Cal Expo Arena (5,000)

Marketing

Team Colors:

1995: Forest Green, Brown, Yellow, Black & Grey

Mascot: Ricky (the River Rat)

Ownership

Owners:

1994: Rocky Kalish, John Murphy, Larry King, et al.
????-1997: Larry King, Nancy King & Terry Harper

Expansion Fee (1994): $125,000 (Roller Hockey International to Rocky Kalish)¹

Background

The Sacramento River Rats were a pro Roller Hockey outfit that played four summers in the California capital city during the mid-1990’s. The Rats were part of Roller Hockey International. At its peak, the league had 19 clubs all across the U.S. and Canada and had a cable TV deal with ESPN2.

The team was generally terrible, finishing in distant last place in three of four years. The exception was 1995, when the Rats had their only winning season (12-9-3). The team claimed an average of between 3,000 and 4,000 fans per game each year between 1994 and 1997.

Skaters

The Rats featured a handful of players with NHL experience. Defenseman Bruce Bell played in over 200 NHL games with four teams between 1984 and 1990. Legendary former North Stars and San Jose Sharks goon Link Gaetz played briefly for the Rats in 1994 and drinking his way out of the NHL. Stu Kulak and Jim McGeough also logged parts of several seasons in the NHL.

Three players – Latvian defenseman Victor Ignatjev, Russian winger Andre Bashkirov and Canadian winger Mike MacWilliam – made it to the NHL after playing in-line hockey for the River Rats.

The Rats best known player – well, other than Sharks cult hero Gaetz – was female goaltender Manon Rheaume, who skated sporadically for the team in 1996 and 1997. Rheaume rose to fame by appearing in pre-season exhibition games for the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992 and 1993. She later appeared for a number of minor league and roller hockey clubs around the country during the 1990’s, typically playing on a handful heavily promoted dates in each city before moving on.

Rheaume later married and had a son with River Rats teammate Gerry St. Cyr.

Move Outdoors & Demise

During the Rats final season in 1997, the team moved out of ARCO Arena and into the Cal Expo Arena, an outdoor rodeo ring at the state fairgrounds. With 5,000 seats Cal Expo was a more appropriate scale for River Rats crowds than ARCO, which hosted the NBA’s Kings.

The move was a disaster. The Rats’ 1997 home opener was postponed – with 2,000 fans already at the facility – when workers were unable to assemble the rink in time. The team’s 2nd home game in 1997 was no better. Though officials ruled the arena playable, the Sport Court surface buckled in the outdoor heat and the opposing Anaheim Bullfrogs refused to take to the court, choosing to take a forfeit instead. This “victory” turned out to be the Rats’ only win in their first 10 games of the 1997 season.

At the end of the 1997 season, RHI suspended operations. After going dark in 1998, the league resumed play in 1999 without the River Rats franchise. The league folded for good after the 1999 season.

Trivia

The River Rats were one of two RHI clubs to experiment with outdoor play. The other was the 1993 Utah Rollerbees.

Billie Jean King’s ex-husband Larry King was majority owner of the River Rats and also served as CEO of Roller Hockey International.

Roller Hockey International Shop

Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks & Bucks

A Rocking History of Roller Hockey International

By Richard Neil Graham

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.

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