1996 RHI season

Template:Infobox sports season The 1996 RHI season was the 4th season of Roller Hockey International. It began in May 1996, with the regular season ending on August 12, 1996. The Murphy Cup playoffs ended on September 2, with the Orlando Jackals defeating the Anaheim Bullfrogs to win their first Murphy Cup. The Anaheim Bullfrogs hosted the 3rd RHI All-Star Game at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California on July 8, 1996.

League business

Franchise changes

Arena changes

The Montreal Roadrunners, Ottawa Loggers, and Vancouver Voodoo all moved into their cities' new arenas; Molson Centre in Montreal, Corel Centre in Ottawa, and General Motors Place in Vancouver. The Oakland Skates also moved to the Kaiser Convention Center. The New Jersey Rockin Rollers' and Philadelphia Bulldogs' arenas were renamed to the Continental Airlines Arena and CoreStates Spectrum respectively.

New uniforms

The Orlando Rollergators were renamed the Orlando Jackals and debuted a new logo and uniforms. The Sacramento River Rats and Vancouver Voodoo both debuted slightly altered uniforms.

Contraction

The Chicago Cheetahs folded after two seasons in the league. The Detroit Motor City Mustangs and Minnesota Blue Ox folded after only one season in the league. The Buffalo Stampede folded after their second season, and their roster was picked up by the Empire State Cobras, formerly the Phoenix Cobras.

Relocation

The Phoenix Cobras relocated to Glens Falls, New York to become the Empire State Cobras, but the Phoenix Cobras players did not transfer with the franchise. The players went into a supplemental draft, and the Cobras picked up the folded Buffalo Stampede's roster.

Expansion

The league added three franchises, including the Denver Daredevils, Long Island Jawz, and the Minnesota Arctic Blast, who were on hiatus for the 1995 season.

Realignment

In the Atlantic Division, the Montreal Roadrunners and Ottawa Loggers were moved to the Central Division. The three existing franchises, the New Jersey Rockin Rollers, Orlando Jackals (formerly the Orlando Rollergators), and Philadelphia Bulldogs were joined by the Empire State Cobras, formerly the Phoenix Cobras, and the expansion Long Island Jawz, to bring the total back to five teams.

In the Central Division, the Buffalo Stampede, Chicago Cheetahs, Detroit Motor City Mustangs, and Minnesota Blue Ox all folded before the 1996 season. The only remaining franchise, the St. Louis Vipers, were joined by the Montreal Roadrunners and Ottawa Loggers from the Atlantic, and the newly reformed Minnesota Arctic Blast, lowering the division's teams to four.

The Northwest Division was the only division to remain the same from the 1995 season.

In the Pacific Division, the Empire State Cobras, formerly the Phoenix Cobras, were moved to the Atlantic Division. The remaining four teams, the Anaheim Bullfrogs, Los Angeles Blades, Oklahoma Coyotes, and San Diego Barracudas were joined by the expansion Denver Daredevils to bring the total number of teams back to five.

Season schedule

RHI again increased its regular season schedule from 24 to 28 games per team.

Regular season

Divisional standings

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
y–Empire State Cobras	28	16	7	5	202	168	37
x–Orlando Jackals	28	17	9	2	231	201	36
e–Long Island Jawz	28	16	9	3	246	211	35
e–Philadelphia Bulldogs	28	16	9	3	202	199	35
e–New Jersey Rockin Rollers	28	7	17	4	167	227	18

Central Division	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
z–Minnesota Arctic Blast	28	22	6	0	246	200	44
x–St. Louis Vipers	28	15	12	1	207	209	31
e–Montreal Roadrunners	28	14	11	3	177	174	31
e–Ottawa Loggers	28	3	22	3	174	263	9

Western Conference

Northwest Division	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
y–Vancouver Voodoo	28	18	7	3	217	162	39
x–Oakland Skates	28	15	11	2	187	181	32
e–San Jose Rhinos	28	15	12	1	189	180	31
e–Sacramento River Rats	28	10	17	1	185	229	21

Pacific Division	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
b–Anaheim Bullfrogs	28	22	4	2	215	159	46
x–Los Angeles Blades	28	16	11	1	160	155	33
e–Oklahoma Coyotes	28	13	12	3	174	174	29
e–San Diego Barracudas	28	9	18	1	183	233	19
e–Denver Daredevils	28	8	17	3	173	210	19

Note: x – clinched playoff spot, y – clinched division title, z – clinched regular season conference title, b – clinched best overall record, e – eliminated from playoff contention

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	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
Template:Country data CAN Hugo Belanger	Long Island Jawz	25	48	53	101	+29	6
Template:Country data CAN Doug Ast	Vancouver Voodoo	28	50	41	91	+25	32
Template:Country data CAN Gerry St. Cyr	Sacramento River Rats	28	48	41	89	+9	37
Template:Country data USA Cory Laylin	Minnesota Arctic Blast	28	42	47	89	+15	16
Template:Country data CAN Mark Woolf	San Jose Rhinos	27	32	53	85	+24	25
Template:Country data USA Vincent Giannone	Empire State Cobras	25	21	63	84	+12	62
Template:Country data CAN Victor Gervais	Anaheim Bullfrogs	25	29	55	84	+21	58
Template:Country data CAN Daniel Shank	Orlando Jackals	28	31	50	81	+15	52
Template:Country data CAN Christian Skoryna	St. Louis Vipers	28	36	44	80	+8	38
Template:Country data USA John Young	Minnesota Arctic Blast	28	24	55	79	+10	32

Leading goaltenders

Player	Team	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
Template:Country data CAN Jeff Ferguson	Los Angeles Blades	16	606:56	10	3	0	61	0	.877	4.82
Template:Country data CAN Eric Raymond	Anaheim Bullfrogs	9	418:41	7	2	0	44	0	.848	5.04
Template:Country data CAN Scott Humphrey	Vancouver Voodoo	17	691:30	10	3	2	78	0	.871	5.41
Template:Country data CAN Bill Horn	Orlando Jackals	11	480:51	8	2	0	56	0	.843	5.59
Template:Country data CAN Nick Vitucci	Empire State Cobras	15	717:07	10	2	3	85	0	.846	5.69
Template:Country data CAN David Goverde	Empire State Cobras	13	622:05	6	5	2	74	0	.866	5.71
Template:Country data CAN Pat Mazzoli	Long Island Jawz	8	374:52	4	1	2	45	0	.835	5.76
Template:Country data USA Rob Laurie	Anaheim Bullfrogs	21	922:18	15	2	2	112	0	.839	5.83
Template:Country data CAN Bob Bell	Vancouver Voodoo	13	600:42	8	3	1	73	0	.832	5.83
Template:Country data CAN Grant Sjerven	San Jose Rhinos	10	382:59	4	3	1	47	0	.834	5.89

Playoffs

Template:Main

Playoff seeds

After the regular season, 8 teams qualified for the playoffs. The Anaheim Bullfrogs were the Western Conference regular season champions and had the best overall record with 46 points. The Minnesota Arctic Blast had the best record in the Eastern Conference with 44 points.

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

1. Empire State Cobras – Atlantic Division champions, 37 points
2. Orlando Jackals – 36 points

Central Division

1. Minnesota Arctic Blast – Central Division and Eastern Conference regular season champions, 44 points
2. St. Louis Vipers – 31 points*

*St. Louis finished with exactly the same number of points as the Montreal Roadrunners, but garnered more wins (the Vipers with 15, the Roadrunners with 14), to earn the 2nd spot.

Western Conference

Northwest Division

1. Vancouver Voodoo – Northwest Division champions, 39 points
2. Oakland Skates – 32 points

Pacific Division

1. Anaheim Bullfrogs – Pacific Division and Western Conference regular season champions; Best Overall Record winners, 46 points
2. Los Angeles Blades – 33 points

Playoff bracket

In each round, the higher-seeded team is awarded home floor advantage. In the Murphy Cup Finals, home floor is determined based on regular season points. Each best-of-three series follows a 1–2 format: the lower-seeded team will play at home for game 1, and the higher-seeded team will be at home for game 2 and 3 (if necessary).

Division Finals

Conference Finals

Murphy Cup Finals

A1

Empire State Cobras

1

A2

Orlando Jackals

2

A2

Orlando Jackals

2

Eastern Conference

C2

St. Louis Vipers

0

C1

Minnesota Arctic Blast

1

C2

St. Louis Vipers

2

A2

Orlando Jackals

2

P1

Anaheim Bullfrogs

1

N1

Vancouver Voodoo

2

N2

Oakland Skates

1

N1

Vancouver Voodoo

1

Western Conference

P1

Anaheim Bullfrogs

2

P1

Anaheim Bullfrogs

2

P2

Los Angeles Blades

0

RHI awards

1996 RHI awards

Award	Recipient(s)
Murphy Cup	Orlando Jackals
Eastern Conference Champions	Orlando Jackals
Western Conference Champions	Anaheim Bullfrogs
Coach of the Year	Murray Eaves (Empire State Cobras)
Defenseman of the Year	Cory Laylin (Minnesota Arctic Blast)
Executive of the Year
Goalie of the Year	Rob Laurie (Anaheim Bullfrogs)
Leading Scorer	Hugo Belanger (Long Island Jawz)
Most Valuable Player	Hugo Belanger (Long Island Jawz)
Playoff MVP	Bill Horn (Orlando Jackals)

See also

• Season structure of RHI
• 1996 Murphy Cup playoffs
• 1996 RHI Draft
• 1995 RHI season
• 1996 RHI transactions
• 3nd Roller Hockey International All-Star Game
• Roller Hockey International All-Star Game
• 1996 in sports

de:Roller Hockey International 1996