Pro Beach Hockey (PBH) was a

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

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 spo ...

league. The league was created by David McLane, who had previously created the World Roller Hockey League. It lasted three seasons, 1998, 1999 and 2000. PBH games were played with a ball instead of a puck on an outdoor rink on the beach at Huntington Beach, California. The season lasted slightly less than two months in the early summer. Games were taped during the short season and aired on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

from June to September. The league is infamous for having ramps behind the nets to "increase speed," angled glass sections attached to the top of the dasher board glass to redirect the ball back into play and a 2-point line that was treated much like basketball's 3 point line. The first taped events were shot in May 1998 and televised later on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

in an attempt to reach the younger audience. Cheerleaders and bands performed turning the tapings into an event. The team uniform designs were memorable for their bright, colorful designs that some observers have laughed at. Hockey fans appreciated that PBH kept the sport alive on television during summer months. PBH players were mostly

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 ...

(RHI) players, several of which had previous

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) experience. The players were paid from a bonus pool depending on how each team finished each season. Web Warriors won the first PBH championship, named The James J. Allegro Cup, over Dawg Pac, two games to none. Xpress won the second PBH championship in 1999 over Heavy Metal, two games to one. Web Warriors won the final PBH championship in 2000. Ultimately,

was unhappy with the TV ratings the league was receiving and decided to stop financially sponsoring the league.

Teams

* Salsa * Dawg Pac * Heavy Metal * Gargoyles * Web Warriors * Xpress

References

External links

*
PBH Logos
on Logoserver

Roller Hockey Archive by Shelly Castellano
game photos
by Jennifer Rosevear

from Spohn Ranch

by Richard Martorello Inline hockey leagues in the United States Defunct sports leagues in the United States {{inlinehockey-stub