The evolution of roller hockey
Before Bobby Ryan was known as the dynamic power forward for the Anaheim Ducks capable of pulling off mystifying dekes, he was considered an equally dangerous inline hockey player — one that turned heads across the United States.
Inline hockey, often referred to as roller hockey, is a growing sport that is very popular in certain areas of the United States, particularly California.
Both the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the International Roller Sports Federation (FIRS) hold championship tournaments throughout the world in countries like Slovakia, Germany, France and the United States.
Although inline hockey is awfully similar to ice hockey, there are differences, which make it much more than hockey without the ice. Case in point, inline hockey is played four-on-four and there is no checking, icing, or offsides. Rather than using a normal rubber puck there is a plastic puck with gliding legs, which makes the puck slide much easier.
As you can imagine, these rules place a huge emphasis on offense.
Chris Wills, a member of Canada’s IIHF World Championship inline team in 2008 and 2009, said in an interview with The Good Point recently that without a redline or offsides players have “the ability to float the entire court and stretch the defense out allowing for quick breaks.”
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Another huge difference from ice hockey is a goalie’s technique for stopping shots — it’s not a simple task to move from side to side on inline skates as it is on ice skates. According to Wills, the ability to move across the crease is the biggest difference between a stud and a dud in the net.
“You can’t shuffle as a goalie on ice would, or butterfly slide for cross-crease one-timers,” he said.
Another interesting trait of inline hockey is its high-scoring games.
It isn’t totally uncommon for games to reach 20 goals, such as this year’s bronze medal game at the IIHF World Championships, when Canada defeated Sweden 13-7. The United States won the 2011 gold medal by a 3-2 margin over the Czech Republic, a tally count which indicates not every roller match is a barnburner.
One member of this year’s silver medal Czech team is former NHLer Karel Rachunek, who is now playing hockey in the KHL for Yaroslavl Lokomotiv.
Rachunek, who amassed 148 points in 397 regular season NHL games, uses inline hockey to stay in shape during the ice hockey off-season and doesn’t feel burnt out playing inline hockeyafter a taxing ice hockey season because of the lack of body contact.
Moreover, inline isn’t played by just former NHLers. Ales Hemsky was a member of the Czech national team at the 2008 IIHF Men’s World Inline Hockey Championship and Henrik Lundqvist led Sweden to their first gold medal at the tournament in 2002.
Younger players also use Inline hockey during the summer to stay in shape and develop their game. Two 2011 NHL Entry Draft stars – Mark McNeill, first-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks, and Rocco Grimaldi, second-round pick of the Florida Panthers – played inline hockey growing up.
Whether it is better for a young player to play inline hockey or ice hockey during the summer is a pretty big debate at the moment according to Wills who said inline “is definitely good for working on hands and passing”, but added a thought about ice hockey’s more advantageous nature in skating and shooting development.
The BC Inline Hockey Association agrees with Wills’ notions, suggesting that playing inline is a great way to develop creativity and confidence with the puck because of the wide open play and lack of body contact.
During last summer’s World Hockey Summit, Brian Burke stated that inline hockey was a wonderful development tool, which is currently being under utilized.
With a growing list of NHLers playing inline hockey as well as the seal of approval from one of the game’s most vocal general mangers, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine more players like McNeill and Grimaldi hearing their names on Draft Day.
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