The Los Angeles Blades were a professional
inline hockey
Roller inline hockey, or inline hockey is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent's goal to score points. The sport ...
team based in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
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 ...
.
The Blades played in
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 the ...
from 1993–1997 and played their home games at the
Great Western Forum
Kia Forum (formerly The Forum) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Inglewood, California, United States, adjacent to Los Angeles. Located between West Manchester Boulevard, across Pincay Drive and Kareem Court, it is north of SoFi Stadium and ...
.
Two other franchises have used the name Los Angeles Blades: the
Pacific Hockey League : ''For the 1990s semi-professional ice hockey league, see Pacific Hockey League (1994).''
The Pacific Hockey League was a low-level minor professional hockey league that existed for two seasons in 1977–78, and 1978–79. Its member teams from C ...
team in 1978–79 and the
Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...
team from 1961 to 1967.
Franchise history
The Blades were one of 12 original RHI teams and were owned by
Jeanie Buss
Jeanie Marie Buss (born September 26, 1961) is an American sports executive who is the controlling owner and president of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A daughter of Jerry Buss, who owned the Lakers and oth ...
, daughter of then-Los Angeles Lakers owner
Jerry Buss
Gerald Hatten Buss (January 27, 1933 – February 18, 2013) was an American businessman, investor, chemist, and philanthropist. He was the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning 10 l ...
.
They played a summer schedule at the Great Western Forum, which was then the home of the NBA's Lakers and the NHL's Los Angeles Kings. RHI suspended operations after the 1997 season, and when it returned in 1999, with eight teams, the Blades were not among them. RHI folded, for good, after the 1999 season.
Season-by-season record
References
{{reflist
Roller Hockey International teams
Sports clubs established in 1993
Sports clubs disestablished in 1997
1993 establishments in California
1997 disestablishments in California