Roller Hockey International (1994)
Tombstone
Born: 1994 – RHI expansion franchise
Folded: May 26, 19951ASSOCIATED PRESS. “SPORTS BRIEFS: Phantoms exit roller hockey league”. The Daily American (Somerset, PA). May 27, 1995
First Game: June 5, 1994 (W 10-5 @ New England Stingers)
Last Game: August 27, 1994 (L 14-11 & L 4-1 [Mini-Game] @ Minnesota Arctic Blast)
RHI Championships: None
Arena
Pittsburgh Civic Arena
Opened: 1961
Demolished: 2011-2012
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owners: Howard Baldwin, Morris Belzberg & Thomas Ruta
Phantom Threads
Pittsburgh Phantoms RHI
Logo T-Shirt
Right up there with the Jean-Claude Van Damme shoot-’em-up Sudden Death and a crazed joint venture with the gangster-ridden Soviet Red Army hockey club, the Phantoms roller hockey team stands as another oddball pop culture sidecar of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Howard Baldwin era. In this case, a inline-skating themed retirement village for retired Penguins stars like Bryan Trottier, Warren Young and Rick Kehoe. Fun While It Lasted – in this case about 3 months.
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Background
The Pittsburgh Phantoms were a professional roller hockey promotion that ran for one summer season at the Civic Arena in 1994. The Roller Hockey International (RHI) expansion club was owned by Pittsburgh Penguins owner Howard Baldwin and his partners and maintained various close ties to the Penguins organization.
Retired Penguins star Rick Kehoe coached the Phantoms and three former Penguins players suited up for the team. Future Hockey Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier, who retired from the NHL as a Penguin at the end of the 1993-94 season, appeared in 9 games for the Phantoms. 38-year old Warren Young, a 40-goal scorer for the Pens in 1985, split time between assisting Kehoe behind the bench and appearing in a handful of games. Alain Lemieux, the older brother of Pens legend Mario Lemieux, appeared in a single NHL game for the Penguins back in 1987. He saw the most RHI action of the Pens’ alumni squad. Lemieux notched 12 goals and 16 assists in a dozen appearances.
In Competition
The Pittsburgh Phantoms finished their debut (and only) season with a 13-9 record, good enough for a 2nd place finish in RHI’s 6-team central division. The Phantoms disposed of the Chicago Cheetahs in the first round of the playoffs before falling to the Minnesota Arctic Blast in a best-of-3 quarterfinal series in the playoffs.
24-year old center George Wilcox, a recent college grad and former junior hockey player from Quebec, was the Phantoms’ leading scorer with 28 goals and 34 assists in 22 games.
Quebecois goaltenders Alain Morrissette and Sylvain Rodrigue split the bulk of the goaltending duties. But 23-year old American goaltender Erin Whitten also appeared in three games for the Stingers. In October 1993, Whitten became the first woman to record a win in a professional hockey game for the Toledo Storm of the East Coast Hockey League. On July 13th, 1994, Erin Whitten started for the Phantoms on the road against the New Jersey Rockin’ Rollers, who featured Manon Rheaume in net. It was the first professional hockey (well…roller hockey) game in history with female goalkeepers representing both teams. Whitten made 41 saves, but the Phantoms lost 10-7.
Demise
In late May 1995, the Phantoms quietly withdrew from Roller Hockey International on the eve of what would have been the league’s third season and the Phantom’s second campaign. When Pens owner Howard Baldwin introduced the Phantoms as a low ticket price summer entertainment option at the Civic Arena in 1994, he also formed a summer indoor soccer team at the same time, the Pittsburgh Stingers. The Stingers did return a second season in the Continental Indoor Soccer League in 1995. Both clubs shared the same General Manager, Jeff Barrett. By 1996, Baldwin had shuttered both summer promotions at the Arena, claiming to have lost “a couple million” on his roller hockey and indoor soccer adventures.2Madden, Mark. “Baldwin pulls plug on Stingers, Phantoms.” The Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA). February 23, 1996
Roller Hockey International went on hiatus after the league’s fifth season of play concluded in 1997. After going dark in 1998, the league returned for a final season in 1999 before disbanding permanently.
Pittsburgh Phantoms Shop
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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.
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Pittsburgh Phantoms Video
The Phantoms host the Montreal Roadrunners at Pittsburgh Civic Arena in 1994 Roller Hockey International action.
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