What happend to the new Pro Roller Hockey League? [Archive]

PRHA

06-07-2007, 12:56 PM

I didn't know that there was going to be another league besides the PIHA & MLRH. If someone has any info on how to contact the owner or anything, please let me know. I would like to get involved, whether it's playing or something with a team office. Thanks.

We are going on hold untill we have some thing sorted out. You can email me if you would like more information.

AJ Barnett
PRHL President

Email
([email protected])

mcchockey9

06-07-2007, 03:01 PM

The problem with the PIHA is the same as the MLRH...Neither league pays! I played professional ice hockey the past couple of years, but I am having my family now, and can't leave them for months at a time. I played in the MLRH this year, and it was great. It would've been better had I gotten paid, or it just didn't cost a dime. We had a long season, luckily our owner kept the travel down as much as possible, but it still gets costly. I could play in the PIHA, but it isn't located near me, and I don't want to drive to Richmond or Pittsburgh to play. I hope that a true professional league comes out. Maybe this league with have it's act together so it lasts as a professional league. Both the PIHA and MLRH didn't just start up over night, and that's why they are still around. Charlie and Bill have done a tremendous job keep both leagues working. Good Luck to the new league, and hopefully everything works out.

INLINENut

06-07-2007, 03:48 PM

You should reply back with your stats and accolades so we can confirm you are truly a pro-ice player or just another chump that babbles about playing pro.

mcchockey9

06-07-2007, 05:12 PM

I played for the Ashville Aces (SPHL), Richmond Riverdogs (UHL), Lansing Ice Nuts (IIHL), Danville Pounders (NEHL), Michigan Rebels (MLRH). Those are the pro teams i played for. I also have a couple of semi-pro inline teams as well. Thanks for your input.

TheSnake22

06-07-2007, 09:45 PM

i hate to break it to you but you're probably not getting paid to play inline any time real soon, especially not with that joke of a league. piha is the closest to having the sponsorships and resources to compensate players, not to mention the highest level of competition.

not sure where you're living at the moment but i would guess that piha will be in your neighborhood either this season or next unless you're in living in a shack in the woods...

INLINENut

06-07-2007, 10:01 PM

Good reply snake,

But I dont see how you can consider PIHA to be a top pro league. Charlie has done a great job in getting the ball rolling. But I dont know how you can have 5 teams in one city and consider it a pro-league? Might as well play drop in with your buddies and have the wives and girlfriends come along for the ride. Who wants to seriously attend a game to watch St. Louis North vs. St Louis South play and maybe throw in East & West the following games. At least with MLRH they allow full contact and fights to bring in some fans. In my view I would think PIHA & MLRH will have to find away to co-exist or come together for a true pro league that can be marketed to the public and not just the family, friends, and wives.

TheSnake22

06-07-2007, 10:25 PM

your point is valid... however i never said piha was an top pro league, i said it was the closest to having players being compensated and that it was the best league in the country, which it certainly is in every way. there are some other threads on the subject where i expressed my whole point of view, but basically...

piha will continue to expand in the way it is now with divisions contained in a small geographic area. this serves to build the league in many ways. i could see the league sustaining upwards of 40-50 teams in its current format...

after the league has stabilized and secured the necessary finances, piha will be able to extract the true elite talent and set up a small scale "true" professional league with one team per major market, something like 6-10 teams. the existing form of piha will continue underneath this league and act as a feeding system into "piha elite"

the reason you can't just jump right to a true professional league is because the product just isn't at the level of quality needed to market it in a way to make a profit, and because the financial resources aren't available.

mcchockey9

06-07-2007, 10:38 PM

I agree with everything that you all say. You see this kind of stuff in minor ice hockey. Different leagues and such. I think that both leagues have their nitche of fans. Both leagues bring in different types and are run differently. I would love to play in the PIHA. However, there isn't the following in Michigan to carry a full division. I talked with charlie in year one of PIHA, and we could not get enough interst then, since there was already a division here for the NARHL and MPHL back 2000-2002. I believe that you could take the best talent from both leagues, and put a quality product on the floor. I know alot of the guys who play in both, and there is the talent, just not the following in the public eye. PBH put a black eye on inline hockey, and it is a stigmatism that inline hockey has to break before it will be taken seriously. I've talked with alot of guys from PIHA and had a contract with a team in PIHA last year, but couldn't come to terms for travel arragnements. I think PIHA is the most organized, but MLRH is the most fan enticing. I never said that this new league was going to go, I"ve seen at least 4-5 leagues try to come up, and none have made it. Unfortunatley, lacrosse has become a great sport and professional, yet inline hockey can't. There are a lot of politics behind it that no one knows about, and that plays a big role as well. I hope that PIHA will come to Michigan in the future and that there is a good enough following.

CoachClipboard

06-07-2007, 10:39 PM

That is all well and good, and yes, it would be great to have something like that right now for the very elite of elite. But fact is, it isnt happen at the moment. Many here have said that they believe that someday it may get to that level where there is money involved for players, and it most likely will, who knows? So where does that leave you if youre a good player? It leaves you with PIHA. You do want to play dont you? If you want the competition and youre of caliber, you play, you enjoy it, and you keep playing until that day hopefully comes. The alternative is two choices, Sit at home, on the pc and complain about how there is nothing for you as you grow older and older and eventually it slips by you, OR, you play house league somewhere to spite yourself and compete on the par/subpar level as your buddies play PIHA or MLRH having fun. Pro level doesnt always have to mean $$$$$$$. And how much do you think you will possibly make the first few years there is $$$ involved? Certainly not enough to pay bills, support a family, or take a lavish vacation. Pro level can also mean playing against professional quality players, some of which are the best in the country and actually being proud of that fact. The "Im too good to play unless someone gives me some beer money chump change" attitude is what hurts this level of roller hockey the most. Kinda Sad.

As for the PIHA and MLRH coexisting? Unless you live in that shack in the woods Jake was talking about, you would notice that PIHA manages just fine despite MLRH. Coexistence with each other isnt necessary, and that should be glaringly obvious for many reasons. Fighting puts fans in the seats? for roller hockey? It is drawing big for the MLRH and Im sure that the huge insurnace compensation package that is offered in that league is financially supporting those broken bones, damaged faces and lost time at their jobs. (yeah jobs, that place we all go just for fun because we already make so much $$$)
Realistic thought sometimes is warranted in this sport.

TheSnake22

06-07-2007, 10:51 PM

exactly. every word is right on.

kicksave60

06-08-2007, 12:15 PM

everybody chip in a buck and we can get alot of powerball tickets and WINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!then we all can get paid to play inline hockey. no wait that sounds stupid too.

whjs416

06-11-2007, 06:06 PM

good arguments from all i think that everyone needs to take a step back and look at the big pic i have never played ice hockey only roller and i have only been playing for 3 years but im excited that roller hockey is going in the right direction i love the piha and the fact that it will be expanding in 08 and who knows maybe they will sometime in the future be paid to play but for now i am just happy that roller hockey is rolling foward i know some guys that play in the piha and they all seem as excited as i am about it and i do know if players like myself and fans keep showing support then they can keep the ball moving i love what i see out of the piha and mlrh i love this sport and hope that the good hard work keeps up

RichardGraham

06-11-2007, 06:14 PM

GROWL

06-11-2007, 06:17 PM

Great points here. Pro level doesn't always mean compensation in terms of dollars and cents. The funny thing is that i bet more then less pro athletes have day jobs. While the elite pro players in the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB most likely will never need to work again... that is just a tiny sample of the amount of pro athletes there are in the world. How may seperate pro hockey leagues are there alone. Then figure in the minor leagues for other sports, plus things like lacrosse, soccer, ect. I went to a Camden River Sharks game the other night and walked through the player parking area. They are living the high life by what these guys were driving. The only difference between those players and PIHA's is that there is more money spent on marketing and stadium presentation for that league. Maybe one day there will be some minor compensation for roller hockey players, but let's be realistic.

calihockey

06-12-2007, 12:00 AM

If you guys want to get paid, you are going to have to go out an earn it. Players are a big key to helping the league. Word of mouth if free publicity. Not pointing fingers or blaming anyone, but it will take a lot of effort from a lot of people to get to were it is an actual business. We started to have something here at the convention center but enough of the players were worried about giving away free tickets and did nothing to promote the league and the hard work of Jeff Buma went down the drain. To sell a product, people need to know it exists, until that happens, we won't be seeing much financial compensation for playing pro roller hockey.

BLowe7

06-12-2007, 09:27 AM

If anyone says that pro roller hockey is going in a "bad direction" they're an idiot. I think that roller hockey is growing, nationwide and a lot more publicity is coming from it, the NCRHA has a lot of quality players that in a few years, will want to continue their roller hockey careers and where to go but PIHA, and maybe a few to MLRH. About getting paid though, I wouldn't expect to see that in quite a while, it's just too difficult to get sponsors and the funds to pay when even still, many people in surrounding areas dont even know what PIHA is. However, I know that the college leagues do have a lot of exposure to their surrounding area, be it the school newspaper and nationals being internet broadcast every year, so those kids coming from the college league up to PIHA have higher standards when it comes to media exposure, and hopefully some will have contacts that can help them out, to get SOME media exposure, be it a newspaper article or on the news or something. I still think that PIHA especially is moving in the right direction.

Stampede#11

06-12-2007, 02:05 PM

I think to get paid for (virtually) any sport the main thing is putting the fans in the seats to generate the revenue, that and a TV deal. The reality of the later for inline hockey is virtually none, unless the fans are there to watch it in the first place. What excites fans (not family, friends etc) is good hockey, contact and the odd fight ... just listen to Don Cherry!!!! As he pointed out on the advertising for the Sabre's & Sen's East final, what did the poster have on it? Emery and Peters scrapping it out.

By no means am I suggesting that roller hockey promote violence ofrfighting, as we all have to go to work on a Monday morning and don't want to turn up with a black eye if possibile. What I am saying is that for a roller hockey league to generate the fan interest I think there has to be an element of contact. Personally, I will NEVER get paid to play, so I need to consider that playing little contact and little fighting is better for me so I don't get laid off for turning up to see one of my customers on a Monday with my face caved in.

When D, Roge, Gouls,Jay (from the Rats) came to Sheffield (UK) to play with the Rockers Vs Prague in MLRH 2005, what are the two things all the guys still talk about to this day? ....
1) D unloading at a goalie and virtually knocking him out with the slapshot
2) Roge "laying the people's elbow " on a kid who tried coming into the locker room to carry on something that started on the rink
3) Marcus sending one of the Czech boys to the local accident and emergency unit with a mean old uppercut.
.... and all Kebabs that were consumed
Is it good sportsman ship, maybe not ... but is it what everyone talks about and why 6 guys paid their hard earned money to go play at rec level and watch MLRH 2006 in Prague, yes it was.

I acknowledge it is a total catch 22 - a lot of guys are not going to want to play full check inline hockey at the Pro level due to the injury risk, unless they get some $$ for taking that risk. But will the sport ever get enough fans without that to generate a revenue stream and income? Maybe not.

Or everyone could just move to Canada ... I hear they like hockey up there and want to pay to see it?

NLane

06-12-2007, 02:55 PM

The TV ratings for the Cup finals were in the basement. Sponsors aren't going to pay next year when they see this year's ratings. If we can't keep the interest up for ANY hockey no one will be getting paid to play!

GROWL

06-12-2007, 03:03 PM

Well not to bring up a sour subject, but some of these 'oh so great things' apparently occured in Colorado at the Finals and the fans rejected it totally. There is no fighting in Football, Baseball, and Basketball, yet they all widely more popular then Hockey. I'm not trying to knock on our sport, i'm just saying that if you put on a good product, fans will come. Make an event of it and people will come and return again.

I'm finding a pattern. The teams that do little to nothing in terms of game day production, are the teams that think that they need to fight to entertain the crowd. I for one want to sell the game to kids and teaching them that fighting so I can sell some tickets is irresponsible in my opinion. To be a pro organization, you need to have more then just a team that you believe can compete. I'd much rather see pro inline hockey suffer for talent for a few years, but have teams and players that 'get it'. We need management that wants to promote the game and not just show up and play, not to mention play an overly aggressive game.

Do some work off the rink and we can all get closer to our goal. The Gateway Division was clearly the best at promoting themselves. We need to strive to be more like them and maybe we all can get 500 to a game every once in a while.

AFan99

06-12-2007, 03:17 PM

I disagree Flynn, there is fighting in every other professional sport. It is the penalties that are different. I also think many cheap shot incidents that happened in the Northeast maybe would not have happened had fighting been allowed. That is part of what is wrong in the NHL. Too many cheap shots, years ago that never happend. If someone would cheap shot a Bruins player in the 70's Johnathan or Wensink would come out and lay a beating on that person. So very few teams took liberties on Bruins players.

I do agree that we need to limit the fighting. The penalties should be harsh but not indefinate. I think most of the guys in the league respect each other enough that fights would be limited anyways.

It is tough to get people to play full contact without being compensated, but we need to come to some middle ground. I felt that trying to implement the standards of play this season hurt inline hockey. Inline hockey is about puck movement and picks, just like basketball. Imagine if you went to a basketball game and you could not pick and one team played short most of the game. Fans would not watch. That is a whole dicussion on it's own.

Just my .02 cents.

Paul Rogers
Boston Swamp Rats

growl89

06-12-2007, 03:48 PM

while there are forms of fighting in other major sports, hockey is the only sport where it is a true sqaure off, one on one fight (except in MLRH where you can just drag someone down from behind). Football players slap each others helmets, it's quite funny, baseball players need every person on thier team to come running to their rescue, and basketball players only punch fans. Does fighting have a place in roller hockey? Not really, cheap shots should not happen regardless. Look at MLRH, they let fighting go, there are tons of cheap shots, all of the time taken in that league. It's why teams and players left that league.

What is the purpose of fighting in roller hockey?

To get the fans into it? well there are no fans watching to see it at most rinks.

to promote skill? not many people even fight the right way anyways, (squaring up, waiting for other person to want to fight) so where's the skill?

Don't get me wrong, i love fighting in hockey, ice hockey though, i was a fighter in juniors and nothing was more fun then getting into a scrap.

Being a teacher, I can't see going into school and having all the kids ask what happened if i were to catch a good shot in the face. If there is no compensation, how can this be justified? There has to be other teachers in the league, what are your thoughts. Business men, same question. If i were to work construction everyday, i would have no problem with taking a few on the chin in a hockey game.

AFan99

06-12-2007, 04:07 PM

I understand your points Billy, as I cannot be going to work with any black eyes either. I think the skill level and respect players have for each other in PIHA limits the issue of cheapshots. They will happen and in the end we are playing for money however big or small. Sometimes self policing is better than not allowing guys to take it into their own hands.

Again I would rather not see fights at all, but with that I feel comes the ability to take liberties on a team.

Thanks
Paul

TheSnake22

06-12-2007, 09:38 PM

fighting is certainly not a part of every professional sport. that's about the most false statement i've read in a while. i could maybe give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you meant hockey but it didn't read like that.

fighting is not a part of basketball, if you fight, you get kicked out and definitely suspended. if you fight in football, you get kicked out, and sometimes suspended. same for baseball, if you can even call that "fighting," looks more like a slap-fest to me. Car racing - no fighting. Golf - no fighting. Soccer - no fighting except in the stands, just lots of diving and writhing in pain.

What is wrong with marketing out league based on the skill of the players? isn't that where the entertainment is supposed to come from? i understand that people like fighting, UFC is growing by the day... but to me, fighting in inline looks like an attempt to make the game try to look more like ice hockey instead of trying to make it appear. inline is a different game with different rules and different strategies. i think a great marketing angle would be something like "inline: ice hockey except better" and focus on what makes our game different and unique, not try to implement rules like offsides or fighting to fit into the mold of what we think people want to see.

SandeHockey17

06-12-2007, 10:36 PM

What's up guys, forgive me if I repeat anything that's been said, since I honestly didn't feel like reading everything in this post. But . . . most of you are forgetting . .PIHA is where you ALL want to be. Plans for this league include the BEST players eventually getting moved into a more elite league, playing during the summer, and (yes you guessed it) GETTING PAID. If you know what I'm talking about then you know the right people, if you don't than just wait for it to happen. But needless to say . . . if you ever want to see money come at you from roller hockey, than either bust your ass to get the money now, or hop into PIHA and excel and you may find yourself getting a little bit of loot pretty soon. PIHA is the building blocks for something greater to develop.

growl89

06-13-2007, 12:11 AM

you need to watch more car racing, there have definitely been some fights!!

TheSnake22

06-13-2007, 12:23 AM

lol well i'd probably get pissed too when someone hit me with their rocket going 200 mph and they only let me make left turns...

i've seen some guys yell at each other and maybe take a run at a guy after a crash or after a race in the pits, but i dont seem to recall anyone squaring up and dropping the racing gloves...

MBurke

06-13-2007, 12:46 AM

Fighting hasn't cut down the number of cheap shots in hockey in twenty years, and there were plenty of fights in the late 80s and early 90s:

1) In professional ice hockey, fighting became an exercise of two designated "goons" squaring off against one another, not about protecting the smaller players anymore. I enjoy a Domi/Twist fight as much as the next guy, but it has nothing to do with the marketability of hockey to the 'casual fan', who is who we're aiming to hook.

2) Fighting in roller hockey is dumb. For one, it's a non-check league. Second, a significant percentage of the players wear cages, and the majority wear some sort of facial protection like a half-shield. Watching two schmucks slap-box each other with gloves on is entertaining, but in an embarrassing way.

3) Roller hockey players, and for that matter, all amateur hockey players, do not know how to fight. One of three typical scenarios happens:

- Players grab each other and roll around (clearly not entertaining)

- Someone sucker-punches someone else OR decides that tackling them from behind is a better route, which isn't a fight but assault

- Big guy who knows how to fight decides to beat up little guy who can't defend himself. This is a scenario that rarely if ever would happen in professional ice hockey because coaches match lines appropriately and players have grown up learning how to pick up on impending altercations.

Before the "don't knock it till you've tried it" crowd comes on here, this is coming from someone who has played both MLRH and PIHA.

I also think that the 'old' NHL had far fewer games and SportsCenter wasn't on every night to report on the crazier events. Can you think of a baseball fight that you remember hearing about from before the 80s? I can't, but in researching I found an awful lot....

Stampede#11

06-13-2007, 03:28 AM

In my opinion and from where I play, I agree fighting has no place in roller hockey for the reasons I stated and that for everyone involved this game it is about playing for fun and the risk of injury and consequences for employment are too high.
My comment was regarding putting a marketable product on the rink that sells tickets to enable players to be paid/compensated for playing ... and a portoin of what sells hockey is the fights that happen.

As I from from the UK please tell me something ... why is Basketball so popular to watch in the US???? In just bores the p%$$ out of me to watch it! Playin it is great, but watching it? I'd rather boil my own head.
But it sells in the US and is marketable .... so maybe market inline hockey as a hybrid of the passion of ice hockey but with the skill of Basketball, like Paul said in his comments, as that how inline is played. That message may be enough to get someone to their first game... and as we all know after that they will hopefully be hooked.

Ice hockey in the UK, when at it's most successful, was marketed as a "family sport". This was positioned "as bring the whole family for £20 ($40)". To go and see the Football (Soccer to you folks) would have cost my dad £100 to take us all to see a game. The ticket prices of UK Ice Hockey have gone up and up ... and to no suprise the fans have gone down and down, as it is no longer affordable for an ordinary family of 4 to go to games every week. In our town the team could draw 8-9,000 per game, they are lucky to get 4,000 now ten years later. So 5,000 fans have vanished? No they just can't afford to go to a game. I think that is something Inline Hockey could play on as well and I notice from some of the PIHA websites the families at games seem to be really encouraged. Things like kids birthday's, get 20 kids (and 20 Parents) and that's 40. Get a few of those parties and you soon have a 150 people plus the usual supporters.

mcchockey9

06-14-2007, 09:14 AM

What I think is funny, is that everyone has associated fighting with getting paid. I agree that fighting in a non-check league is ridiculous to allow. In a full-contact league it is something that is bound to happen with all of the physical contact. I'm not sure how many times I've gotten shots to the face in non-contact leagues and drop-ins from something other than a fist. You can just as easily get a black eye from a stick, elbow, or puck as you can from a fist. I played in the MLRH this year, and yes there were fights, and probably more when we played a team, than when any other team did. If there was a professional league, you will have pro players. This meaning, that you won't have just goons who fight scorers. You will have true hockey. If anyone has played true pro hockey or juniors, they know what I mean. I asked about 5 guys to go this year, but they didn't want to, therefore you skate away. I think that it's bull to jump a guy. Fighting will put in fans in the seats, but I agree, it's not a must to get them in. MLRH has a great rule on fighting, and it cuts down on alot. PIHA works for a lot of players, and if it didn't, then it wouldn't still be running. Everyone has a valid point, and everyone has a great answer, but the reality is, inline hockey has been bruised by PBH in the begining of the decade, and it's a huge will hill to climb to get rid of this 'black eye' for inline hockey.