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:
#The fewer number of games played.
#The greater number of games won.
#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.
#The greater differential between goals for and against for the entire regular season.
#The fewer number of goals against.
===Statistical leaders===
====Scoring leaders====
Player 	Team 	 	 	 	 	 	
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 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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==
Category:Roller Hockey International