Cool Roller Hockey Article

[rhhof]

Not sure how Richard didn't jump on this earlier....I was contacted by this gentleman out in New Jersey about the RHI and his love for it back in the 90's and helped him fill in some gaps about the Rockin' Rollers

http://www.examiner.com/x-19730-New-Jersey-Minor-League-Hockey-Examiner~y2009m9d10-New-Jersey-Hockey-101-the-New-Jersey-Rockin-Rollers

Enjoy

[RichardGraham]

Hi Adam,

Actually, I jumped on it in another way -- trying to track down the author to see if he had any stories for the book I'm writing on RHI. I didn't see an e-mail address for him anywhere, not even his pet-related Facebook page. What's up with that? Grr!

[iceburg]

great article.I remember the RHI very well,in 1996 I started working at a inline hockey rink called Bulldog Hockey.thats where the L.I Jawz held their practices.what a great experience it was for me,having 3 boys and myself playing hockey was just a dream job at the time.some of the players like Tony Szabo,Hugo Belanger of course Don Parson,John Vecchiarelli play a couple of games for the Jawz,But the one who stood out the most for me was Glen Metropolit.(metro)A real good guy,very serious about his hockey and now you can see why.He told me he was going to play in the NHL some day,that this roller hockey was just a conditioning for him.and of course coach Phil DeGaetano. thats was some good times back then,real good hockey playing at the Nassau coliseum where the N.Y Islanders play.the rink is now called The Sports Arena.And I still work their.

[rhhof]

Here's the author's e-mail...great guy

[email protected]

[skooled]

Thats a greta little article.... the names mentioned in their were blasts from the past, and brought back memories......

[RichardGraham]

Hi iceburg,

Thanks for your post!

I've sent you a private message.

[RichardGraham]

Hi Adam,

Thanks! I'll send him a message.

[RichardGraham]

Hi skooled,

Here are some of the people I recently interviewed for my book:

Steve Wilson, Dave Cairns, Joe Cook, Rick Plester, Victor Gervais, Christian Skoryna, Jamie Kompon and Scott Rupp.

I'm getting fantastic stories. Cutting off the interview process is the hardest part!

[skooled]

yeh, i'd love to hear some fro tony szabo... everytime I hear of RHI i think of him.and maybe from peopl that played for the one season wonders, like toronto planets and teams lke that.if you need pics of any jerseys, media guides, ticket stubs, pogs, posters etc from the league, let me know as my collection is growing daily... I even have a championship ring, albeit one of the fan ones for the jackals winning year in '96 (almost had a bullfrogs player one, but someone beat me to it)

[RichardGraham]

Hi skooled,

Every time I interview someone, a few other "must have" interviews come to mind. Unfortunately, I have to focus on the writing of the book and cut back drastically on the interview process or the book will never be finished.

Tony Szabo, eh? :cool:

Oh, and remind me of your memorabilia a few months from now. I'll be interested in talking to you about that as I get closer to the goal line.

[iceburg]

Tony Szabo,there ya go.I liked Tony ,He was easy to like ,he loved the game.I remember I was cleaning the rink one time and he comes over to me and says,hey ya gonna put some coke a cola on the floor?at first I thought he was messing with me,ya know like whats this guy up to here.he told me before the sport court flooring and soft wheels were around they used to mix water and heavy on the coke to get that grippy sticky feel on the floor for the wheels.I thought this guys out of mind my boss would kill me.come to find out he wasnt kidding back in the day they did just that for wheel grip.

[RichardGraham]

Hi iceburg,

Yes, that reminds me one of the stories I'm trying to confirm -- did the Anaheim Bullfrogs use Coca-Cola syrup on their concrete floor on opening night at the Pond in 1993 or not? I've heard some people tell me yes, others tell me no, but nothing definitive so far. It's interesting how iffy memories can be. :(

[TULaw]

What would have been the purpose of using coke syrup on the floor?

[iceburg]

when the coke a cola dried up on the floor it was very stickey giving the skaters better grip for their wheels.

[quick_dry]

the coke syrup is an old indoor volleyball trick IIRC.

[rhhof]

I remember hearing that too...but you know Tony and how much syrup he used to drink...lol, jk, I miss the guy - but most places used roll-on eventually before they went to sport court - I need to make a call on that...I remember what the goalies used to go through though!!

I also remember talking with Bobby Hull jr back in the day and he was saying that they would be rotating and changing wheels at half time and how the equipment guys used to get pissed!!

[skooled]

I could only imagine how the puck would have reacted on the coke floors....

[iceburg]

the coke floors,what a mess,I cant imagine having to clean that floor after a game.look how much the equipment has changed,I remember some of the guys used to flame up their blades give them a nice curve and paint their stick blades,no tape.If im not mistaken they used to use red spray paint.didnt the RHI use the red IDS picks?

[TULaw]

The equipment has definelty changed a lot, yeah I remember a lot of the players painted their sticks red and didnt use tape. I have to say though I always thought the uniforms back in the RHI day to be superior to todays. I cant stand the motocross jerseys and baggy hockey pants common in the game today, I prefered the hockey pants of the RHI days. and the RHI used the JOFA speed puck not the IDS.

[RichardGraham]

Hi skooled,

Yep, there was definitely a trade-off. Some parts of the floor would have too much syrup and the puck would stick!

[skooled]

yeh, they definately used the jofa puck. I have quite a few game used ones here in my collection. they were a good puck for the day, and i believe they got quite a deal on them

[iceburg]

yes thats right,the red pucks with the blue pegs,i still have a few of them,didnt the teams have their team logo in the middle of the puck.I still have the brochue for theLong Island Jawz season ticket sales.the 2 HOT FOR ICE. I have a nice blown up pictue of the team in their first game at the Nassua coliseum.the teams are lined up for the National Anthem with the RHI logo on the sport court floor.and the retired Islander numbers hanging from the rafters.of course the Islanders didnt want the jawz logo in the middle of the face off circle because of politics,Islanders rights to the coliseum,something like that.

[skooled]

yes the RHI logo was on one side of the puck, and the teams logo on the other