Forum Is First of Six Stops for Pro Roller Hockey Tour

Can the recreational popularity of in-line skating be translated into ticket buyers for a professional roller hockey league?

That question will begin to get its first answer tonight, when Roller Hockey International makes its first stop on a seven-game, six-city barnstorming tour with a 7:30 game at the Forum.

Roller hockey, a demonstration sport at the Barcelona Games, features five-player teams on a cement surface. The game uses many of the same rules as ice hockey, except that fighting and high-sticking are banned and there are four 12-minute quarters instead of three 20-minute periods.

Roller Hockey International is the latest creation of Dennis Murphy, who help found the American Basketball Assn., World Hockey Assn. and World Team Tennis in the 1960s and 1970s.

“Right now the hottest and fastest-rowing sport is roller hockey,” Murphy said. “We think it is going to be the sport of the ‘90s. Most of (the growth) has been recreational, but there are literally thousands of leagues taking place.”

Murphy said that between 4,500 and 6,000 fans are expected tonight.

“It’s a beginning,” said Murphy, whose two most previous ventures, the International Football League and Global Hockey League, folded before playing a game. “(Forum owner) Jerry Buss has indicated to me that if we got 3,500, he’d be very happy.

“We have lots of confidence in the project and that fans will support it. We have to sell the fans themselves to come out to the rinks and see the sport and the fabulous skating these performers can do.”

Roller Hockey International has already drawn some backing from television. KCBS Channel 2 will show tonight’s game on Sunday and the Aug. 29 game from Las Vegas live, Murphy said.

The players from tonight’s game were culled from six tryout camps in the United States and Canada. The players are divided into U.S. and Canadian teams. Among the players on the U.S. squad is forward Mike Donnelley of Torrance.

“We’ll have to develop our own stars as time goes by,” Murphy said. “We’re not going to fool anybody and say we’re the big time. We’re going to build on a solid basis and in five to six years, we’ll be a good sport that will give people an alternative in the summer.”

In 1993, Murphy plans a formal league playing from June to August. The league would field at least 12 and as many as 16 teams, with players competing for more than $2 million in prize money.