Roller inline hockey, or inline hockey is a variant of
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using
inline skates
Inline skates are a type of roller skate used for inline skating. Unlike quad skates, which have two front and two rear wheels, inline skates typically have two to five wheels arranged in a single line. Some, especially those for recreation, ha ...
to move and
ice hockey stick
An ice hockey stick is a piece of equipment used in ice hockey to shoot, pass, and carry the puck across the ice. Ice hockey sticks are approximately 150–200 cm long, composed of a long, slender shaft with a flat extension at one end c ...
s to shoot a hard, plastic
puck into their opponent's
goal
A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.
A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ai ...
to score points. The sport is a very fast-paced and free-flowing game and is considered a
contact sport
Contact sports are sports that emphasize or require physical contact between players. Some sports, such as mixed martial arts, are scored on impacting an opponent, while others, including rugby football, gridiron football and Australian rules fo ...
, but
body checking is prohibited. There are five players including the goalkeeper from each team on the rink at a time, while teams normally consist of 16 players.
There are professional leagues, one of which is the
National Roller Hockey League
The National Roller Hockey League (NRHL) is an inline hockey league based in the United States. The league was established in 2014, and played two seasons from 2015–2016 before going on hiatus for three years, and then announcing a return in 20 ...
(NRHL). While it is not a contact sport, there are exceptions, i.e. the NRHL involves fighting.
Unlike
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
, there are no blue lines or defensive zones in roller hockey. This means that, according to most rule codes, there are no
offsides or
icings that can occur during game play. This along with fewer players on the rink allows for faster gameplay. There are traditionally two 20-minute periods or four 10-minute periods with a stopped clock.
In the United States, the highest governing body for the sport is
USA Roller Sports
USA Roller Sports (USARS), formerly the United States Amateur Confederation of Roller Skating, is the national governing body of competitive roller sports (inline skating and roller skating) in the United States. It is recognized by the Internatio ...
(USARS). USARS is credited with the development of the present-day rules and regulations that is used throughout multiple tournament series. They organize tournaments across the United States but they are not the only tournament provider. Some of the other independent tournament providers include
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...
,
North American Roller Championships, and the Torhs 2 Hot 4 Ice tournament series.
Internationally, inline hockey is represented by two different unions, the
World Skate
World Skate is the only governing body in the world for all sports performed on skating wheels. The organisation is the successor of the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS) founded on the 21 of April 1924.
Due to the 2022 Russi ...
and the
International Ice Hockey Federation
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 ...
(IIHF). Each organizes its own annual
world championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
.
Due to the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, World Skate banned Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from its competitions, and will not stage any events in Russia or Belarus in 2022.
[
]
History
Some of the earliest video evidence of the sport is newsreel footage">
History
Some of the earliest video evidence of the sport is newsreel footage from the ''Giornale Luce'' taken in Vienna, Austria in 1938. The video shows players using
inline skates
Inline skates are a type of roller skate used for inline skating. Unlike quad skates, which have two front and two rear wheels, inline skates typically have two to five wheels arranged in a single line. Some, especially those for recreation, ha ...
with five metal wheels and a front wheel brake. Each team has four skaters plus a netminder. They are using
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
sticks, with taped blades, and the goals closely resemble ice hockey goals of the wire-mesh type common in Europe around that time. The game is being played with a ball on a rectangular outdoor court, which appears to be asphalt.
The exact same footage was used in a newsreel produced by
British Pathé in 1938.
History in North America
In the United States, the
USA Roller Sports
USA Roller Sports (USARS), formerly the United States Amateur Confederation of Roller Skating, is the national governing body of competitive roller sports (inline skating and roller skating) in the United States. It is recognized by the Internatio ...
(USARS) predecessor organization was the Roller Skating Rink Operators Association (RSROA). In 1940, the RSROA published a set of
roller hockey rules drawn from a booklet by the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(NHL) which was designed to grow interest in playing
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
on
roller skates. However, because of the intervention of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the organization of roller hockey
tournament
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
s did not receive significant development until after this war in the late 1940s. At first skating club interest was confined to the northern tier of the United States, including the bordering
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
cities. Puck roller hockey's spread in popularity during that period was helped along by the attention of local commercial television, which was getting its start and in desperate need for events to fill air time. The increased interest in the sport led in 1959 to the selection of a National Puck Hockey Committee to formulate special rules for the performance of puck hockey in the variety of rink sizes available to roller skates. The American Roller Hockey Association (ARHA) was formed with Joe Spillman, a roller rink operator from
San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
, image_map =
, mapsize = 220px
, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, s ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
as its first Commissioner. Under Spillman's direction, the sport of hockey on roller skates grew rapidly throughout the United States.
During the 1960 RSROA National Roller Skating Championships held in
Little Rock
( The "Little Rock")
, government_type = Council-manager
, leader_title = Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_party = D
, leader_title2 = Council
, leader_name2 ...
,
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
, exhibition games for ball and puck roller hockey were held. Following these Nationals, the first full competitive season officially began in North America for roller hockey. This, of course, had puck roller hockey entirely performed on quad skates, for at that time there were no
inline skates
Inline skates are a type of roller skate used for inline skating. Unlike quad skates, which have two front and two rear wheels, inline skates typically have two to five wheels arranged in a single line. Some, especially those for recreation, ha ...
available. State and regional competitions determined the teams that would move on to the North American Championships.
In 1962, at
Pershing Auditorium in
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
,
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
, both ball and puck hockey were part of the North American Championships. The Arcadia Wildcats from
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, defeated the
Van Wert Chiefs 3–1, becoming the first puck hockey national champions on quad skates.
Inline skates
Inline skates are a type of roller skate used for inline skating. Unlike quad skates, which have two front and two rear wheels, inline skates typically have two to five wheels arranged in a single line. Some, especially those for recreation, ha ...
were not commercially available during that era.
On 1 September 1965, during their semi-annual board meeting, the RSROA installed puck hockey as an equal and separate division of roller hockey, which included ball hockey, a format most popular in Europe and South America. It was decided that both ball and puck hockey would compete under the same rules and award separate gold medal winners. Budd Van Roekel, RSROA president, was quoted in the January 1965 issue of ''Skate Magazine'',
The 1966 North American Championships marked the return of puck hockey after a four-year hiatus. The final game was a nail biter and the crowd appreciated the fast pace and excitement of puck hockey. The final game was between the Canadians of
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
and the Wildcats of Detroit, Michigan, the defending champions from 1962. The score seesawed between the two teams and was finally decided in favor of the Canadians with a final score of 5 to 3. The win gave the Canadian team their only gold medal for the whole North American Championships. One Canadian team player was quoted in the 1966 Fall issue of ''Skate Magazine'', "We simply had to win the (puck) hockey championships, otherwise our fathers wouldn't allow us to return home." Another milestone occurred for puck roller hockey in 1977, when the North American Puck Hockey Championship was held in a venue away from ball hockey for the first time. The 1977 puck championships were staged in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
to large crowds and a great amount of publicity, as fourteen newspapers and television stations covered the event. The year 1977 was also a milestone for women with this championship marking the debut of a women's hockey national championship.
Transition from quads to inline
The very first inline roller hockey team to earn a USA National Championship title did so at a USA Roller Sports (USARS) National Championship held in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
in July 1993. At the previous 1992 USARS National Championships, also staged in San Diego, the San Diego Hosers won the Senior Gold Division title wearing their customary quad roller skates. As of that time, the Hosers manager/coach Paul Chapey felt that while
inline skates
Inline skates are a type of roller skate used for inline skating. Unlike quad skates, which have two front and two rear wheels, inline skates typically have two to five wheels arranged in a single line. Some, especially those for recreation, ha ...
were obviously faster, the advantage was to quad skates because of their assumed greater maneuverability. Some teams and individual players at the 1992 Nationals had been equipped with inline skates, but perhaps had not yet mastered their new vehicles. During the ensuing year, Paul Chapey became an inline convert and the San Diego Hosers came back to the USAC/RS Nationals in 1993 entirely on inline skates and recaptured their national title. This significant event took place at least a year before all the other major roller inline hockey organizations were even in existence, including
National Inline Hockey Association (NIHA),
USA Hockey InLine
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
North American Roller Hockey Championships
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
(NARCh) and
American Inline Roller Hockey Series
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
(AIRHS).
USA Roller Sports, under the auspices of
Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports
The Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS; en, International Federation of Roller Sports) was the world governing body for roller sports, including skateboarding, rink hockey, inline hockey, inline speed skating, inline alpine, down ...
(FIRS), established and hosted the first
World Inline Roller Hockey Championships for men at the
Odeum Arena in
Villa Park
Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway station ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
(a suburb of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
) in 1995. USA Roller Sports established the first Inline Hockey World Championships for Juniors, again in Chicago in 1996, following the USA National Championships. The first World Inline Hockey Championships for Women occurred under sponsorship of USA Roller Sports in
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
,
New York in 2002. Since the introduction of these events, FIRS National Federations around the world have annually perpetuated inline world championships. USA (Ice) Hockey and
International Ice Hockey Federation
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 ...
(IIHF) began their men's
InLine Hockey World Championship in 1996, after the first such world championship by FIRS and has yet to organize a women's inline hockey world tournament or one for juniors.
In March 2002, the
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...
(USOC) Membership and Credentials Committee officially reaffirmed that USA Roller Sports as the governing body for inline hockey in the United States, which continues to this day. This determination was based on a conclusion by the USOC that internationally the sport of inline hockey is recognized as a discipline of roller sports. Then, as now, USA Roller Sports is a member in good standing of Federation International de Roller Sports ("FIRS"), the international federation for roller sports as recognized by the International Olympic Committee, and FIRS is also recognized by the
Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) as the controlling international federation for inline hockey, a sport of the
Pan American Games
The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...
.
History in Europe
![Skf-speedy-inline-skates](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Skf-speedy-inline-skates.jpg)
For training purposes especially for hockey players, inline skates were produced in small quantities by several companies which were in fact modified ice skates, one of them was the "Speedy" by
SKF
AB SKF (Swedish: ''Svenska Kullagerfabriken''; 'Swedish Ball Bearing Factory') is a Swedish bearing and seal manufacturing company founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1907. The company manufactures and supplies bearings, seals, lubrication and l ...
which was available also with hockey-wheels. This changed when mass-produced inline skates from the USA were available in the early 1990s. In the mid-1990s first leagues started.
Inline roller hockey was introduced to the
World Games
The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...
for the first time in 2005, an
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(IOC) sanctioned event under the jurisdiction of the
International World Games Association
The International World Games Association, abbreviated as IWGA, is an international association, recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that organises every four years, beginning in 1981, the multi-sport event called The World Ga ...
(IWGA), an affiliate of the
General Association of International Sports Federations
Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) is the umbrella organisation for all (Olympic and non-Olympic) international sports federations as well as organisers of multi-sports games and sport-related international association ...
(GAISF). The
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
won the gold medal, with
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
taking the Silver and
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
the bronze medal. Inline roller hockey replaced
rink hockey
Roller hockey (in British English), rink hockey (in American English) or quad hockey is a team sport played on roller skates. It is the only quad skate team sport in existence where two teams face-off against one another at the same time. Two t ...
(ball and cane) on the World Games program for
Duisburg
Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in No ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
at the 2005 quadrennial World Games. Rink roller hockey had been part of the World Games since its first organization in 1979 at
Santa Clara,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, as have the other disciplines of
roller sports
Roller sports are sports that use human powered vehicles which use rolling either by gravity or various pushing techniques. Typically ball bearings and polyurethane wheels are used for momentum and traction respectively, and attached to devices or ...
.
During the General Assembly of the IWGA, which took place in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
on 14 May 2003, the IWGA unanimously agreed that inline roller hockey was the responsibility of FIRS and that this variant form of roller hockey would be included on the program of the 2005 World Games in place of the previous format. This same scenario had previously played out before the Pan American Sports Organization in 1999, when inline hockey made its first appearance at the Pan American Games in Canada, and repeated again four years later in the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
. PASO extends continued recognition of the inline hockey under the jurisdiction of FIRS. (sub to PAPA H)
Due to the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, World Skate banned Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from its competitions, and will not stage any events in Russia or Belarus in 2022.
Professional inline hockey
National Roller Hockey League
The National Roller Hockey League (NRHL) is an inline hockey league based in the United States. The league was established in 2014, and played two seasons from 2015–2016 before going on hiatus for three years, and then announcing a return in 20 ...
is a professional league, founded in 2014. The NRHL began its inaugural season 20 February 2015. The NRHL games consist of 3 15-minute periods, with 10 minute intermissions. It differs from professional ice hockey with rules including no
offsides, and no icing. The NRHL permits fighting, with a 5-minute major penalty assessed to the combatants. The players in the NRHL pay nothing to play, with compensation opportunities available in the inaugural season. Players were paid a per game basis in the second season of the NRHL, based on a win or loss. The players were paid double for a win than a loss.
The Detroit Bordercats won the inaugural Commissioner's Cup. The Bordercats repeated as Commissioner's Cup champions for the second season.
The NRHL is expanding its role as a professional league in the summer of 2020. The NRHL will have franchises located throughout the United States and/or Canada in arenas with a minimum stadium seating capacity of 3,000. The season will operate from May through August.
MLRH (Major League Roller Hockey), is played in the United States and Europe. It consists of East and West Coast divisions, and the season is played from October to March with finals being held in either Europe or the USA. This is the only full check inline league in the world and it has a $10,000 championship purse. It has similar rules as the NHL, with some exceptions and only having two 17 min periods and in the "Super" League, 4 x 12 minute quarters. MLRH has offside and icing rules as well as allowing players to have a single fight per game.
The French ''Ligue Elite'' is a professional league in Europe.
Chief differences from ice hockey
![Inline-Hockey_Puck](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Inline-Hockey_Puck.jpg)
Although inline hockey appears to simply be ice hockey on inline skates, this singular difference reflects throughout the rest of the game, resulting in important differences between the two sports.
Inline hockey is typically played at room temperature on a surface that, rather than being made from (frozen) water, is kept dry to protect the bearings in the skate wheels. Several surface materials are used, including plastic tiles (sometimes known as sport-court flooring), wood, and sealed concrete; in general, surfaces try to balance the ability of wheels to grip against the ability of the puck to slide freely. None of these surfaces, however, is as smooth as ice; as a result, the puck is made of a much lighter plastic material, and rests on small nylon or poly-plastic nubs to reduce friction with the rink surface.
Besides these equipment differences, inline hockey uses less physical contact in comparison to ice hockey. Most leagues punish fighting harshly, and body
checking is usually ruled a penalty. Inline hockey leagues generally require players to wear full face masks, but otherwise, players tend to wear lighter clothes and less protective padding.
Important differences in game rules also exist. Each inline hockey team fields only four skaters and one goaltender (5 players) rather than ice hockey's five skaters and one goaltender (six players). Many leagues do not stop play for
icing.
Offside rules are generally looser as well; originally, a few leagues would call offside only on the center line, presently, every rule book omits the rule entirely.
Equipment
![Inline hockey SVK 14](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Inline_hockey_SVK_14.jpg)
Inline hockey is a contact sport. Although body checks are usually not allowed, injuries can still be a common occurrence. Protective equipment is highly recommended and is enforced in all competitive situations. This usually includes a helmet (cage worn if certain age), elbow pads, protective gloves, athletic cup, shin pads, and skates at the very least. In addition, goaltenders use different gear, (optionally) a neck guard, chest/arm protector, blocker, catch glove, and leg pads.
Skates
Good skates are stiffer and lighter and also have better bearings. Inline hockey-skates are similar to icehockey-skates, the main difference between ice and inline is the chassis and the wheels. Hockey equipment manufacturers such as Bauer and CCM offer parallel models of ice skates, but there are also inline hockey brands, including Mission, Tour and Labeda.
Most inline hockey skates had have a chassis with 4 identical wheels on each boot in 72, 76 or 80 mm diameter, or the "Hi-Lo" configuration of two low wheels in front and two higher rear, this was patented on 12 July 1996 by Jon G Wong in the US and marketed by Mission. There is also a chassis with a "Tri-Di" option, which allows three wheel sizes to be mounted on a chassis, in the configuration 80-76-76-72 mm. Inline Hockey wheels are much softer than road wheels, and therefore have more abrasion. The softest are used for soft surfaces like gym floors or interlocking plastic tiles, harder are used for surfaces such as asphalt.
The rink
The area where Inline hockey is played in known as a "rink". It consists of a playing surface that is surrounded
by a boundary (commonly referred to as "dasher boards"), that is designed to separate the players from the spectators as well as to keep the puck in play. The playing surface is made of sport tile, wood, asphalt or cement and marked with special lines that help the referees officiate the game according to the official rules.
The recommended size of the rink can vary between 40m and 60m in length and 20m and 30m in width. In Germany the old standard was 40m x 20m which changed to 50m x 25m but also the ice hockey standard of 61m x 30.5m (200×100 ft) is used.
Goal cages
One of the most fundamental differences between the IIHF and World Skate-sanctioned versions of inline hockey lies within the dimensions of the net. The IIHF simply retains the use of ice hockey nets. However the World Skate rulebook substitutes the traditional ice hockey cage for a lower and narrower model patterned after the one used in
rink hockey
Roller hockey (in British English), rink hockey (in American English) or quad hockey is a team sport played on roller skates. It is the only quad skate team sport in existence where two teams face-off against one another at the same time. Two t ...
, the World Skates' flagship sport, however most World Skate leagues in the United States and Canada opt for the more popular and common ice hockey nets.
Game
![Juego entre Letonia y República Checa - World Games 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Juego_entre_Letonia_y_Rep%C3%BAblica_Checa_-_World_Games_2013.JPG)
While the general characteristics of the game are the same wherever it is played, the exact rules depend on the particular code of play being used. The most important code is that of the
Comité International Roller In-Line Hockey (CIRILH), an organization and discipline of the
Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports
The Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS; en, International Federation of Roller Sports) was the world governing body for roller sports, including skateboarding, rink hockey, inline hockey, inline speed skating, inline alpine, down ...
Inline hockey is played on an ''
inline hockey rink
An ice hockey rink is an ice rink that is specifically designed for ice hockey, a competitive team sport. Alternatively it is used for other sports such as broomball, ringette, rinkball, and rink bandy. It is a rectangle with rounded corners and ...
''. During normal play, there are five players per side on the floor at any time, one of them being the
goaltender
In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...
, each of whom is on ''inline hockey skates''. The objective of the game is to score ''
goals
A goal is an objective that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve.
Goal may also refer to:
Sport
* Goal (sports), a method of scoring in many sports, or the physical structure or area where scoring occurs
** Goals, the goal frame in ...
'' by shooting a hard
plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
disc, the ''puck'', into the opponent's goal net, which is placed at the opposite end of the rink. The players may control the puck using a long
stick with a blade that is commonly curved at one end.
Players may also redirect the puck with any part of their bodies, subject to certain restrictions. Players may not hold the puck in their hand and are prohibited from using their hands to pass the puck to their teammates, unless they are in the defensive zone. Players are also prohibited from kicking the puck into the opponent's goal, though unintentional redirections off the skate are permitted. Players may not intentionally bat the puck into the net with their hands.
The four players other than the goaltender are typically divided into two forwards and two defencemen. The ''
forward
Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward.
Forward may also refer to:
People
* Forward (surname)
Sports
* Forward (association football)
* Forward (basketball), including:
** Point forward
** Power forward (basketball)
** Sm ...
'' positions consist of a ''
center
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
'' and a ''
winger''. The ''
defencemen
Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...
'' usually stay together as a pair generally divided between left and right. A substitution of an entire unit at once is called a ''line change''. Teams typically employ alternate sets of forward lines and defensive pairings when ''
shorthanded
Short-handed is a term used in ice hockey and several related sports, including water polo, and refers to having fewer skaters (players) on the ice during play, as a result of a penalty. The player removed from play serves the penalty in the pe ...
'' or on a ''
power play
Power play or powerplay or their plurals may refer to:
Sports
* Power play (sporting term), a sporting term used in various games
* Powerplay (cricket), a rule concerning fielding restrictions in one-day international cricket
* Power play (cur ...
''. Substitutions are permitted at any time during the course of the game, although during a stoppage of play the home team is permitted the final change. When players are substituted during play, it is called changing ''on the fly''.
The boards surrounding the floor help keep the puck in play and they can also be used as tools to play the puck. Players are not permitted to "
bodycheck
Checking in ice hockey is any of a number of defensive techniques aimed at disrupting an opponent with possession of the puck or separating him from the puck entirely. Most types are not subject to penalty (ice hockey), penalty.
Types
Body che ...
" opponents into the boards as a means of stopping progress. The referees and the outsides of the goal are "in play" and do not cause a stoppage of the game when the puck or players are influenced (by either bouncing or colliding) into them. Play can be stopped if the goal is knocked out of position. Play often proceeds for minutes without interruption. When play is stopped, it is restarted with a ''
faceoff
A face-off is the method used to begin and restart play after goals in some sports using sticks, primarily ice hockey, bandy, floorball, broomball, rinkball, and lacrosse.
During a face-off, two teams line up in opposition to each other, and ...
''. Two players "face" each other and an official drops the puck to the floor, where the two players attempt to gain control of the puck. Markings on the floor indicate the locations for the "
faceoff
A face-off is the method used to begin and restart play after goals in some sports using sticks, primarily ice hockey, bandy, floorball, broomball, rinkball, and lacrosse.
During a face-off, two teams line up in opposition to each other, and ...
" and guide the positioning of players.
There is one major rule of play in inline hockey that limit the movement of the puck: the puck going out of play. The puck goes "out of play" whenever it goes past the perimeter of the rink (Onto the player benches, over the "glass," or onto the protective netting above the glass) and a stoppage of play is called by the officials using whistles. It also does not matter if the puck comes back onto the playing surface from those areas as the puck is considered dead once it leaves the perimeter of the rink.
Under FIRS rules, each team may carry a maximum of 14 players and two goaltenders on their roster. The players are usually divided into three lines of two forwards, two pairs of defenceman, and two extra skaters.
Penalties
For most penalties, the offending player is sent to the "
penalty box
The penalty box or sin bin (sometimes called the bad box, or simply bin or box) is the area in ice hockey, rugby union, rugby league, roller derby and some other sports where a player sits to serve the time of a given penalty, for an offence not ...
" and his team has to play with one less skater for a short amount of time. ''Minor'' penalties last for two minutes, ''major'' penalties last for five minutes, and a ''double minor'' penalty is two ''consecutive'' penalties of two minutes duration. A single ''Minor'' penalty may be extended by a further two minutes for drawing blood from the victimized player. The team that has taken the penalty is said to be playing ''
shorthanded
Short-handed is a term used in ice hockey and several related sports, including water polo, and refers to having fewer skaters (players) on the ice during play, as a result of a penalty. The player removed from play serves the penalty in the pe ...
'' while the other team is on a
power play
Power play or powerplay or their plurals may refer to:
Sports
* Power play (sporting term), a sporting term used in various games
* Powerplay (cricket), a rule concerning fielding restrictions in one-day international cricket
* Power play (cur ...
.
A two-minute ''minor penalty'' is often called for lesser infractions such as
tripping,
elbowing
An elbow strike (commonly referred to as simply an elbow) is a strike with the point of the elbow, the part of the forearm nearest to the elbow, or the part of the upper arm nearest to the elbow. Elbows can be thrown sideways similarly to a hook, ...
,
roughing Roughing is an offense and penalty in ice hockey when two players are in a minor altercation. The incident would have to be minor for either player to be categorized as such an offense, for instance:
* A player striking another opponent
* A goali ...
,
high-sticking High-sticking is the name of two infractions in the sport of ice hockey. It is also the name of a minor penalty called in the sport of ringette. This article deals chiefly with situations involving the sport of ice hockey.
High-sticking may occur ...
,
delay of the game,
too many players on the rink,
boarding, illegal equipment, holding, interference,
hooking
In computer programming, the term hooking covers a range of techniques used to alter or augment the behaviour of an operating system, of applications, or of other software components by intercepting function calls or messages or events passed ...
,
slashing, butt-ending (striking an opponent with the knob of the stick—a very rare penalty) Or
cross-checking
Cross-checking is an infraction in the sports of ice hockey and ringette where a player checks an opponent by using the shaft of their ice hockey stick or ringette stick with both hands. This article deals chiefly with ice hockey.
In the rules o ...
. A minor is also assessed for
diving
Diving most often refers to:
* Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water
* Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes
Diving or Dive may also refer to:
Sports
* Dive (American football), a ...
, where a player embellishes a hook or trip. More egregious fouls may be penalized by a four-minute ''double-minor'' penalty, particularly those which cause injury to the victimized player. These penalties end either when the time runs out or the other team scores on the power play. In the case of a goal scored during the first two minutes of a double-minor, the penalty clock is set down to two minutes upon a score effectively expiring the first minor penalty. Five-minute ''major penalties'' are called for especially violent instances of most minor infractions that result in intentional injury to an opponent, or when a "minor" penalty results in visible injury (such as bleeding), as well as for fighting. Major penalties are always served in full; they do not terminate on a goal scored by the other team.
Some varieties of penalties do not always require the offending team to play a man short. Concurrent five-minute major penalties in the FIRS usually result from fighting. In the case of two players being assessed five-minute fighting majors, they both serve five minutes without their team incurring a loss of player (both teams still have a full complement of players on the floor). This differs with two players from opposing sides getting minor penalties, at the same time or at any intersecting moment, resulting from more common infractions. In that case, both teams will have only three skating players (not counting the goaltender) until one or both penalties expire (if one expires before the other, the opposing team gets a power play for the remainder); this applies regardless of current pending penalties, though in the FIRS, a team always has at least two skaters on the rink. Ten-minute ''misconduct'' penalties are served in full by the penalized player, but his team may immediately substitute another player on the floor ''unless'' a minor or major penalty is assessed in conjunction with the misconduct (a ''two-and-ten'' or ''five-and-ten''). In that case, the team designates another player to serve the minor or major; both players go to the penalty box, but only the designee may not be replaced, and he is released upon the expiration of the two or five minutes, at which point the ten-minute misconduct begins. In addition, ''game misconducts'' are assessed for deliberate intent to inflict severe injury on an opponent (at the officials' discretion), or for a major penalty for a stick infraction or repeated major penalties. The offending player is ejected from the game and must immediately leave the playing surface (he does not sit in the penalty box); meanwhile, if a minor or major is assessed in addition, a designated player must serve out that segment of the penalty in the box (similar to the above-mentioned "two-and-ten"). In some rare cases, a player may receive up to nineteen minutes in penalties for one string of plays. This could involve receiving a four-minute double minor penalty, getting in a fight with an opposing player who retaliates, and then receiving a game misconduct after the fight. In this case, the player is ejected and two teammates must serve the double-minor and major penalties.
A player who is tripped, or illegally obstructed in some way, by an opponent on a ''
breakaway'' – when there are no defenders except the goaltender between him and the opponent's goal – is awarded a ''
penalty shot
A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...
'', an attempt to score without opposition from any defenders except the goaltender. A penalty shot is also awarded for a defender other than the goaltender covering the puck in the goal crease, a goaltender intentionally displacing his own goal posts during a breakaway to avoid a goal, a defender intentionally displacing his own goal posts when there is less than two minutes to play in regulation time or at any point during overtime, or a player or coach intentionally throwing a stick or other object at the puck or the puck carrier and the throwing action disrupts a shot or pass play.
Officials also stop play for puck movement violations, such as using one's hands to pass the puck in the offensive end, but no players are penalized for these offenses. The sole exceptions are deliberately falling on or gathering the puck to the body, carrying the puck in the hand, and shooting the puck out of play in one's defensive zone (all penalized two minutes for delay of game).
Officials
A typical game of inline hockey has two ''
official
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...
s'' on the floor, charged with enforcing the rules of the game. There are typically two ''referees'' who call goals and penalties. Due to not having
offside and
icing violations, there usually are no ''linesmen'' used. On-ice officials are assisted by off-ice officials who act as time keepers, and official scorers.
Officials are selected by the league for which they work. Amateur hockey leagues use guidelines established by national organizing bodies as a basis for choosing their officiating staffs. In North America, the national organizing bodies
USA Roller Sports
USA Roller Sports (USARS), formerly the United States Amateur Confederation of Roller Skating, is the national governing body of competitive roller sports (inline skating and roller skating) in the United States. It is recognized by the Internatio ...
and Canada Inline approve officials according to their experience level as well as their ability to pass rules knowledge and skating ability tests.
Tactics
Offensive tactics
Offensive tactics include improving a team's position on the floor by advancing the puck towards the opponent's goal. FIRS rules have no
offside or
two-line pass
In ice hockey, a play is offside if a player on the attacking team does not control the puck and is in the offensive zone when a different attacking player causes the puck to enter the offensive zone, until either the puck or all attacking pla ...
es. A player may pass the puck to a player on any spot on the floor. Offensive tactics, are designed ultimately to score a goal by taking a shot. When a player purposely directs the puck towards the opponent's goal, he or she is said to "shoot" the puck.
A ''deflection'' is a shot which redirects a shot or a pass towards the goal from another player, by allowing the puck to strike the stick and carom towards the goal. A ''one-timer'' is a shot which is struck directly off a pass, without receiving the pass and shooting in two separate actions. ''Headmanning the puck'', also known as ''cherry-picking, the stretch pass or'' ''breaking out'', is the tactic of rapidly passing to the player farthest down the floor.
![InlineHockeyFaceoff Brazil](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/InlineHockeyFaceoff_Brazil.jpg)
A team that is losing by one or two goals in the last few minutes of play will often elect to ''pull the goalie''; that is, remove the goaltender and replace him or her with an ''
extra attacker
An extra attacker in ice hockey and ringette is a forward or, less commonly, a defenceman who has been substituted in place of the goaltender. The purpose of this substitution is to gain an offensive advantage to score a goal. The removal of the ...
'' on the floor in the hope of gaining enough advantage to score a goal. However, it is an act of desperation, as it sometimes leads to the opposing team extending their lead by scoring a goal in the empty net.
A ''delayed penalty call'' occurs when a penalty offense is committed by the team that does not have possession of the puck. In this circumstance the team with possession of the puck is allowed to complete the play; that is, play continues until a goal is scored, a player on the opposing team gains control of the puck, or the team in possession commits an infraction or penalty of their own. Because the team on which the penalty was called cannot control the puck without stopping play, it is impossible for them to score a goal, however, it is possible for the controlling team to mishandle the puck into their own net. In these cases the team in possession of the puck can pull the goalie for an extra attacker without fear of being scored on. If a delayed penalty is signaled and the team in possession scores, the penalty is still assessed to the offending player, but not served.
One of the most important strategies for a team is their ''forecheck''. Forechecking is the act of attacking the opposition in their defensive zone. Forechecking is an important part of roller hockey, because certain leagues and rules allow teams that have possession of the puck to sit behind their net and wait until they are pressured before having to advance the puck. Each team will use their own unique forecheck system but the main ones are: 1–1–2, 1–2–1, and 1–3. The 1–1–2 is the most basic forecheck system where one forward will go in deep and pressure the opposition's defencemen, the second forward stays in the ''slot'', and the two defencemen high. The 1–3 is the most defensive forecheck system where one forward will apply pressure to the puck carrier in the opponent's zone and the other three players stand basically in a line in their defensive zone in hopes the opposition will skate into one of them.
Roller hockey is unique in that its rules resemble more of a basketball/soccer/lacrosse strategy in many ways versus a traditional ice hockey approach.
There are many other little tactics used in the game of hockey. ''Pinching'' is the term used when a defenceman pressures the opposition's winger in the offensive zone when they are breaking out, attempting to stop their attack and keep the puck in the offensive zone. A ''saucer pass'' is a pass used when an opposition's stick or body is in the passing lane. It is the act of raising the puck over the obstruction and having it land on a teammates' stick.
Deke
A "deke," short for "decoy," is a
feint
Feint is a French term that entered English via the discipline of swordsmanship and fencing. Feints are maneuvers designed to distract or mislead, done by giving the impression that a certain maneuver will take place, while in fact another, or e ...
with the body and/or stick to fool a defender or the goalie. Due to the increased room and lack of body checking, many inline hockey players have picked up the skill of "dangling," which is more fancy deking and requires more stick handling skills. Some of the more impressive "dekes" or "dangles" include the toe-drag, the
Pavel Datsyuk, the back hand toe-drag, and the spin-o-rama.
Fights
Fighting is prohibited in the rules. It does happen rarely, however. Players used to an ice hockey mentality fight to demoralize the opposing players while exciting their own, as well as settling personal scores. A fight will also break if one of the team's skilled players gets hit hard or someone gets hit by what the team perceives as a dirty hit. Amateur recreation level players who play strictly inline hockey never consider fisticuffs a legitimate behavior. The amateur game penalizes fisticuffs more harshly, as a player who receives a fighting major is also assessed at least a 10-minute misconduct penalty or a game misconduct penalty and
suspension
Suspension or suspended may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Suspension (topology), in mathematics
* Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics
* Suspension of a ring, in mathematics
* Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspende ...
. Most local recreation leagues also suspend or ban players who engage in fights.
Periods and overtime
A professional game consists of two ''halves'' of twenty minutes each, the clock running only when the puck is in play. The teams change ends for the second half, and again at the start of each overtime played (playoffs only; same ends as the second half otherwise). Some leagues such as the American Inline Hockey League (AIHL), recreational leagues and children's leagues often play shorter games, generally with two shorter periods or three running clock periods of play.
Various procedures are used if a game is tied. Some leagues and tournaments do not use an ''
overtime
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:
*by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...
'', unless a "winner" must be determined, such as in tournament ''pool play'' and league ''regular season''. Others will us either one, or a combination of; ''sudden death
overtime
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:
*by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...
periods'', or ''
penalty shootout
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
s''. Usually up to two 5-minute
sudden death overtimes are played; if still tied, penalty shootouts.
Playing surface
Indoor inline hockey is played on any suitable non-slip surface. While converted roller rinks may use wooden floors, dedicated inline hockey facilities use Sport Court or similar surface, which allows maximum traction to inline hockey wheels whilst providing a smooth, unbroken gliding surface for the puck. The playing area should be surrounded by full boards similar to ice hockey with glass or fencing to a height of around 2m. Often, especially in European countries, the game is played in indoor sports halls, on wooden floors. Therefore, there will be no standardized boards but instead the perimeter of the playing surface will be brick walls. In such cases, the corners of the hall are rounded off with added curved boards.
Variants
Inline sledge hockey
Based on Ice Sledge Hockey, Inline Sledge Hockey is played to the same rules as Inline Puck Hockey (essentially ice hockey played off ice using inline skates) and has been made possible by the design and manufacture of inline sledges by RGK, Europe's premier sports wheelchair maker.
There is no classification points system dictating who can be involved in play within Inline Sledge Hockey unlike other team sports such as Wheelchair Basketball and Wheelchair Rugby. Inline Sledge Hockey is being developed to allow everyone, regardless of whether they have a disability or not, to complete up to World Championship level based solely on talent and ability. This makes Inline Sledge Hockey truly inclusive.
The first game of Inline Sledge Hockey was played at Bisley, England on 19 December 2009 between the Hull Stingrays and the Grimsby Redwings.
Matt Lloyd (Paralympian) is credited with inventing Inline Sledge Hockey and Great Britain is seen as the international leader in the game's development.
Street hockey
Street hockey
Street hockey (also known as shinny, dek hockey, ball hockey, road hockey) is a collection of team sport variants played outdoors either on foot or with wheeled skates, using a either a ball or puck designed for play on flat, dry surfaces. The ...
is a form of inline hockey played as pick-up hockey on streets
or parking lots. Street hockey tends to have very relaxed rules, as any pickup street game or sport would have.
Blind inline hockey
Blind inline hockey is also played by athletes who are totally blind or visually impaired. Sighted players can also play, as all players must play while wearing opaque goggles, making all play sightless and "evening the playing field." The blind game is best played on a regulation inline surface with two orienting, tactile zone lines, each 60 feet from the goal line. Either 5v5 or 4v4 skaters, each plus goalies, are both good games.
The puck and goals each have a sounding device that enable the players to hear the puck and orient themselves to direction on the playing surface. The players constantly communicate to their teammates regarding their actions and positions on the floor enabling teamwork and playmaking. A sighted referee directs stoppages and restarts. All usual hockey rules apply to blind play.
Sanctioning bodies
There are two lines of sanctioning bodies for inline hockey: those that are related to the roller sports community and those related to the ice hockey community. The
International Ice Hockey Federation
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 ...
organizes
IIHF Inline Hockey World Championships but the sport is recognized as being governed by the
International Roller Sports Federation
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
which organizes
FIRS Inline Hockey World Championships
The Inline Hockey World Championship is an annual inline hockey tournament organized by World Skate. Prior to the creation of World Skate in September 2017, the championship was administrated by the Comité International Roller In-Line Hockey ...
.
USA Roller Sports is sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee to oversee roller sports. See the related links below for national bodies and further information.
;Worldwide
IIHF InlineFédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS)
;Argentina
Confederacion Argentina de Patin (CAP)Asociación Argentina de Hockey sobre Hielo y en Línea (AAHHL);Australia
Skate Australia
;Belgium
Belgian Inline Hockey Federation
;Brazil
Brazil Hockey and Skating Confederation
;Canada
Roller Hockey Canada (formerly National Inline Hockey Association – Canada)(affiliated with
IIHF
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...
)
Canada Inline(affiliated with
FIRS
Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The genus is most closely related to ...
)
;Czech Republic
Czech Asociacion Inline Hockey
;Chile
Chile Inline Hockey Federation
;Ecuador
Ecuador Hockey League
;France
French Inline Hockey Federation
;Germany
German Federation of Roller Sports
;Hong Kong/China
Hong Kong/China inline Hockey Association
;Ireland
Irish Ice Hockey AssociationInline Hockey Ireland
;Israel
Israeli Inline Hockey League (PIHL)
;Italy
Italian Inline Hockey League (LNH)Italian Inline Hockey League TVItalian Hockey and Skating Federation (FIHP)
;New Zealand
New Zealand Inline Hockey Association
;Norway
Norwegian Ice Hockey Federation
;Peru
Peruvian Inline Hockey Association
;Portugal
Federação de Patinagem de Portugal
;Russian Federation
Федерация Инлайн Хоккея России
;Slovenia
Slovenian Inline Hockey Association
;Spain
Federacion Española de patinaje
;Sweden
Swedish Winter League
;Switzerland
Inline-Hockey SwitzerlandSwiss Inline-Hockey Cup
;The Netherlands
Inline Skaterhockey Netherlands
;United Kingdom
*
Inline hockey in the United Kingdom
Inline hockey and skater hockey are team sports, similar to ice hockey. In the UK, there are two associations that govern inline hockey. The British Inline Puck Hockey Association (BIPHA) govern the sport with rules using a Puck. The British inl ...
;United States
NRHL – National Roller Hockey LeagueMLRH – Major League Roller HockeyMRHL – Midwest Roller Hockey League
International competitions
There are several international competitions with national teams.
World
*
World Roller Games
The World Skate Games (formerly World Roller Games) are an international biennial multi-sport event, comprising all the world roller sport disciplines as regulated by the World Skate international federation. The games involve 11 World Championshi ...
*
FIRS Inline Hockey World Championships
The Inline Hockey World Championship is an annual inline hockey tournament organized by World Skate. Prior to the creation of World Skate in September 2017, the championship was administrated by the Comité International Roller In-Line Hockey ...
*
IIHF InLine Hockey World Championship (defunct)
Domestic competitions
United States
*
National Roller Hockey League
The National Roller Hockey League (NRHL) is an inline hockey league based in the United States. The league was established in 2014, and played two seasons from 2015–2016 before going on hiatus for three years, and then announcing a return in 20 ...
(inactive)
*
Roller Hockey International
Roller Hockey International was a professional inline hockey league that operated in North America from 1993 to 1999. It was the first major professional league for inline hockey.
History
League president Dennis Murphy had been involved in th ...
(defunct)
See also
*
Street hockey
Street hockey (also known as shinny, dek hockey, ball hockey, road hockey) is a collection of team sport variants played outdoors either on foot or with wheeled skates, using a either a ball or puck designed for play on flat, dry surfaces. The ...
*
Skater hockey
*
Indoor field hockey
Indoor hockey is an indoor variant of field hockey. It is similar to the outdoor game in that two teams compete to move a hard ball into the goal of the opposing side using hockey sticks. Indoor hockey is played on a smaller area and between sm ...
References
External links
National Roller Hockey League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inline Hockey
Team sports
Stick sports
Indoor sports
Variations of hockey
Inline skating
*