The St. Louis Vipers are a professional roller hockey team based in St. Louis, Missouri.

History

The original team was a part of the now-defunct Roller Hockey International League. They played their home games in the former

St. Louis Arena St. Louis Arena (known as the Checkerdome from 1977 to 1983) was an indoor arena in St. Louis, Missouri. The country's second-largest indoor entertainment venue when it opened in 1929, it was home to the St. Louis Blues and other sports franchis ...

, but moved to the Kiel Center in 1995. The ownership of the club was led by former NHL star Bernie Federko, who also served as the head coach. Over their six-year existence in the 90s, the St. Louis Vipers had a total home attendance of 332,412 in 71 home games, an average of 4,682 per game. The largest home crowd in Vipers history was the final regular season home game in 1997 with an announced attendance of over 14,000 against the New Jersey Rockin' Rollers. They were the Murphy Cup champions in 1999, the final year of the RHI's existence. The last official sporting event played at the

was on August 16, 1994 versus the Tampa Bay Tritons in front of 11,146, the second largest Vipers home crowd. The St. Louis Vipers hosted the 1995 RHI All-Star Game on July 15, 1995 in front of 9,166 at Kiel Center. The East beat the West with a score of 14-12. Ed Anderson of the East was the game's MVP.

Vipers 2.0

A press conference was held on June 4, 2019 at Family Arena in St. Charles, MO announcing the return of the St. Louis Vipers. 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 ...

announced the team along with the Vipers head coach,

Perry Turnbull Perry John Turnbull (born March 9, 1959) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 608 career games for the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens and Winnipeg Jets. Turnbull's son is Travis Turnbull Travis John Turnbull ( ...

. Turnbull played in 608 NHL games and had 351 career points. He also coached the St. Louis Vipers of the RHI from 1993-99 seasons. The league canceled their 2020 season due to COVID but had a 2021 plan in place. As of May 2021, the NRHL has made no public comments since early 2020 regarding any attempted comeback and any information on the league has not been answered on any of their social media outlets regarding a season or any refunds to any season tickets holders stuck who paid up front.

Yearly records

Team records

References

External links

St. Louis Vipers website
Defunct sports teams in Missouri Roller Hockey International teams Vipers Sports clubs established in 1993 Sports clubs disestablished in 1999 1993 establishments in Missouri 1999 disestablishments in Missouri {{StLouis-sport-stub