The Edmonton Sled Dogs entered Roller Hockey International in the spring of 1994 as part of an orgy of expansion for the second-year in-line skating promotion. The 1994 season saw RHI expand from 12 to 24 teams, with new franchises parceled out all across North America. Of the 15 new cities that joined the league in 1994 via expansion or relocation, 11 were gone by the start of the 1997 season. Edmonton was among the weakest of the bunch.
The Edmonton Drillers indoor soccer team of the late 1990’s was a brand revival of the original Edmonton Drillers (1979-1982) of the North American Soccer League (NASL). The NASL Drillers competed year-round, playing outdoors at Commonwealth Stadium and Clarke Stadium in the spring and summer and indoors at the Northlands Coliseum during the wintertime. The new Drillers competed in the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL), playing a winter-only indoor season at the Coliseum. The team disbanded due to financial problems one month into its fifth season in November 2000.
The Edmonton Drillers were the final alias of this nomadic entry in the North American Soccer League, lasting four seasons between 1979 and 1982. The club’s highlight was capturing the 1980-81 indoor season championship of the NASL. The lowlight was a chaotic final campaign in 1982 when the last place Drillers nearly folded midseason and team owner Peter Pocklington was taken hostage during a home invasion and inadvertently shot and wounded by police during his rescue.
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