1997 RHI season

The 1997 RHI season was the 5th season of Roller Hockey International. It began in May 1997, with the regular season ending in August 1997. The Murphy Cup playoffs ended in September, with the Anaheim Bullfrogs defeating the New Jersey Rockin Rollers to win their second Murphy Cup.

League business

Franchise changes

New uniforms

The Los Angeles Blades, New Jersey Rockin Rollers, Sacramento River Rats, and St. Louis Vipers all debuted new uniforms.

Contraction

Three original teams, the Oakland Skates, San Diego Barracudas, and Vancouver Voodoo, all folded after four seasons in the league. The Minnesota Arctic Blast folded after three seasons in the league, one of which was spent on hiatus. The Philadelphia BulldogsThe Denver Daredevils and Long Island Jawz both folded after only one season in the league. Also, the Oklahoma Coyotes were placed on hiatus for the 1997 season.

Relocation

The Empire State Cobras relocated to Buffalo, New York to become the Buffalo Wings.

Expansion

For the first time since the 1994 expansion, the league did not add any expansion teams.

Realignment

With the contraction of the Denver Daredevils, Long Island Jawz, Minnesota Arctic Blast, Oakland Skates, Oklahoma Coyotes, Philadelphia Bulldogs, San Diego Barracudas, and Vancouver Voodoo, the league was left with ten teams. The four division alignment was dropped and the league was aligned into just two conferences, still named the Eastern and Western.

Of the remaining teams, six remained in the Eastern Conference, the Buffalo Wings, Montreal Roadrunners, New Jersey Rockin Rollers, Orlando Jackals, Ottawa Loggers, and St. Louis Vipers, and four remained in the Western Conference, the Anaheim Bullfrogs, Los Angeles Blades, Sacramento River Rats, and San Jose Rhinos. To even each conference at five teams, the St. Louis Vipers were moved to the Western Conference.

Season schedule

For the first time, the league decreased its regular season schedule from 28 back to 24 games per team.

Regular season

After only one game into its schedule, Roller Hockey International took over control of the Ottawa Loggers. The team was renamed to the Ottawa Wheels and used the same uniforms previously used by the contracted San Diego Barracudas.

Eastern Conference	GP	W	L	SOL	GF	GA	PIM	Pts
Orlando Jackals (1)	24	20	4	0	229	145	513	40
New Jersey Rockin Rollers (2)	24	16	8	0	195	174	625	32
Montreal Roadrunners (7)	24	9	10	5	161	164	679	23
Ottawa Wheels (8)	24	10	12	2	162	181	304	22
Buffalo Wings	24	6	18	0	127	208	530	12

Western Conference	GP	W	L	SOL	GF	GA	PIM	Pts
San Jose Rhinos (3)	24	15	7	2	175	148	553	32
Anaheim Bullfrogs (4)	24	15	9	0	173	156	435	30
Los Angeles Blades (5)	24	11	8	5	166	155	405	27
St. Louis Vipers (6)	24	12	10	2	174	169	339	26
Sacramento River Rats	24	6	16	2	123	185	438	14

Tiebreaking procedures

If two or more clubs are tied in points during the regular season, the ranking of the clubs is determined in the following order:

1. The fewer number of games played.
2. The greater number of games won.
3. The greater number of points earned in games between the tied clubs. If two clubs are tied, and have not played an equal number of home games against each other, points earned in the first game played in the city that had the extra game shall not be included. If more than two clubs are tied, the higher percentage of available points earned in games among those clubs, and not including any "odd" games, shall be used to determine the standing.
4. The greater differential between goals for and against for the entire regular season.
5. The fewer number of goals against.

Statistical leaders

Scoring leaders

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Billy Lund	Orlando Jackals	24	32	46	78	+28	13
Radek Hamr	San Jose Rhinos	24	19	56	75	+30	3
Frank Cirone	St. Louis Vipers	24	34	39	73	+2	9
Kyle Reeves	Orlando Jackals	24	41	29	70	+33	46
Christian Skoryna	St. Louis Vipers	23	27	43	70	+17	39
Daniel Shank	Orlando Jackals	17	19	47	66	+15	23
Mark Woolf	San Jose Rhinos	24	35	29	64	+14	20
Robin Bouchard	Ottawa Wheels	24	28	35	63	–10	35
Victor Gervais	Anaheim Bullfrogs	17	17	45	62	–6	26
Doug Ast	Los Angeles Blades	21	32	27	59	+14	7

Leading goaltenders

Player	Team	GP	TOI	W	L	OTL	GA	SO	Sv%	GAA
Sergei Naumov	Orlando Jackals	10	383	6	2	0	36	0	.854	4.50
Corrado Micalef	San Jose Rhinos	16	591	8	4	1	72	0	.850	5.84
Bill Pye	Los Angeles Blades	11	400	5	2	2	50	0	.818	6.00
Joe Bonvie	San Jose Rhinos	12	55	7	3	1	71	0	.833	6.14
Ken Shepard	St. Louis Vipers	15	542	5	5	2	70	0	.834	6.20
David Goverde	Anaheim Bullfrogs	13	505	6	4	0	66	0	.839	6.26
Jeff Ferguson	Los Angeles Blades	18	740	6	6	3	97	0	.827	6.29
Mark Richards	New Jersey Rockin Rollers	16	658	10	4	0	91	0	.823	6.63
Frankie Ouellette	Orlando Jackals	15	655	13	1	0	93	0	.775	6.81
Alain Morissette	Montreal Roadrunners	19	807	7	8	2	115	0	.809	6.83

Playoffs

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
	8	Ottawa Wheels	3, 3
	1	Orlando Jackals	13, 11
						1	Orlando Jackals	2, 7, 0
						2	New Jersey Rockin Rollers	8, 6, 1
	7	Montreal Roadrunners	4, 5
	2	New Jersey Rockin Rollers	7, 5
											2	New Jersey Rockin Rollers	4, 5
											4	Anaheim Bullfrogs	12, 9
	6	St. Louis Vipers	9, 6, 0
	3	San Jose Rhinos	4, 8, 2
						3	San Jose Rhinos	1, 6, 0
						4	Anaheim Bullfrogs	9, 5, 2
	5	Los Angeles Blades	2, 5, 0
	4	Anaheim Bullfrogs	7, 2, 1