Professional Inline Hockey Association Pro Division

Professional Inline Hockey Association Pro Division
Current season, competition or edition: 2013–14 PIHA Pro season

Sport	Inline hockey
Founded	2002 (12 Years), Middletown, Pennsylvania, United States
Inaugural season	2002
CEO	Denis Jelcic
No. of teams	15^[1]
Countries	United States
Headquarters	Middletown, Pennsylvania, United States
Continent	North America
Most recent champion(s)	Long Island Snipers (2nd title)
Most titles	Hershey Typhoon (3)
Official website	ThePIHA.com

The Professional Inline Hockey Association Pro Division (PIHA Pro) is the highest division of the Professional Inline Hockey Association (PIHA), a league which operates an inline hockey league, of 15 franchised member clubs, all of which are located in the United States. The Founders Cup is awarded annually to the division playoff champion at the end of each season.

Game

Main article: Inline hockey

Each Professional Inline Hockey Association Pro Division game is played between two teams and is 24 minutes long. The game is composed of two 12-minute periods with an intermission of two minutes between periods. At the end of the 24-minute regulation time, the team with the most goals wins the game. If a game is tied after regulation time, overtime ensues. During the regular season, overtime is a five-minute, three-player on three-player sudden-death period, in which the first team to score a goal wins the game. If no team is able to score in the first overtime period, there is a second overtime of a three-minute, two-player on two-player sudden-death period. Previous to the 2008–09 season, if a game was still tied at the end of the first two overtime periods, the game would enter a two-minute, one-player on one-player, sudden-death period.

Beginning in the 2009 season, if the game is still tied at the end of both overtime periods, the game enters a shootout. One player for each team in turn take a penalty shot. The team which scores, while the other team does not, wins the game. If the game is still tied after the first shootout round, the shootout continues in the same manner. Whichever team ultimately wins the shootout is awarded a goal in the game score and thus awarded two points in the standings. The losing team in overtime or shootout is awarded only one. Shootout goals and saves are not tracked in hockey statistics; shootout statistics are tracked separately.

Shootouts do not occur during the playoffs. In the playoffs, sudden-death 12-minute four-on-four periods are played until one team scores.

Inline hockey rink

Main article: Inline hockey rink

Professional Inline Hockey Association games are played on a rectangular inline hockey rink with rounded corners surrounded by walls and Plexiglas. It measures 80 by 180 feet (24.38 by 54.86 meters). The minimum size is 65 by 165 feet (19.81 by 50.29 meters). The center line divides the floor in half into attacking and defensive zones. Near the end of both ends of the rink, there is a thin red goal line spanning the width of the floor, which is used to judge goals.

Rules

Main articles: Professional Inline Hockey Association rules

While the Professional Inline Hockey Association follows the general rules of inline hockey, it differs slightly from those used in international games organized by the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS) such as the World Championships. Infractions of the rules can lead to either the stoppage of play, or a penalty call for more serious infractions.

The main difference between PIHA and FIRS is how they differ in penalty rules:

Penalty differences between
FIRS and PIHA
Penalty type	FIRS	PIHA
Minor penalty	2:00 minutes	1:30 minutes
Double-minor penalty	4:00 minutes	3:00 minutes
Major penalty	5:00 minutes	4:00 minutes

Season structure

The Professional Inline Hockey Association Pro Division season is divided into an exhibition season, a regular season (from the first weekend in September through the first weekend of January) and a postseason (the PIHA Pro playoffs). During the exhibition season, teams may play other teams from the PIHA. They may also compete against other clubs from other leagues. During the regular season, clubs play each other in a predefined schedule. The PIHA Pro playoffs, which go from January to the end of February, is an elimination tournament where two teams play against each other to win a series in order to advance to the next round. The final remaining team is crowned the Founders Cup champion.

In the regular season, with the current 15-team PIHA geographically split up into two conferences (one 10-team conference, and one 5-team conference), each team plays 24 games. The PIHA's regular season standings are based on a point system instead of winning percentages. Points are awarded for each game, where two points are awarded for a win, one point for losing in overtime or a shootout, and zero points for a loss in regulation.

In the Eastern Conference, the regular season conference champion, along with the next five teams in the conference with the next highest number of points, for a total of six teams, qualify for the playoffs. The highest-seeded team and the 2nd highest-seeded team receive a bye to the second round. The 3rd highest-seeded team plays the lowest-seeded team, and the 4th highest-seeded team plays the 2nd lowest-seeded team. In the Western Conference, the regular season conference champion, along with the next three teams with the next highest number of points, for a total of four teams, qualify for the playoffs. The conference winner plays the lowest-seeded team, and the next two teams with the next best records are seeded 2nd and 3rd.^[2] The PIHA Pro playoffs is an elimination tournament, where the teams are grouped in pairs to play best-of series, the winners moving on to the next round. The first round of the playoffs, or conference quarter-finals, is a best-of-three series. In the second round, or conference semi-finals, is also a best-of-three series. In the third round, the conference finals, the two remaining teams in each conference play each other in a best-of-five series, with the conference champions proceeding to the PIHA Finals to play in a best-of-seven series. In all rounds the series is played at neutral location to be determined by the league office.

Teams

The Professional Inline Hockey Association Pro Division originated in 2002 with eight American teams, and through a sequence of team expansions, reductions, and relocations, the PIHA currently consists of 15 teams, all of which are based in the United States. The Pennsylvania Typhoon are the most successful franchise with three Founders Cup championships (all as the Tour/York Typhoon). The next most successful active franchise is the Colorado Springs Thunder with two Founders Cup championships. The Philadelphia Growl, also with two championships, are the most successful defunct franchise. The longest streak of winning the Founders Cup in consecutive years is three, held by the Tour Typhoon from 2002–2004; the Philadelphia Growl (2005–2006) and the Colorado Springs Thunder (2009–2010) have two-year championship streaks.

The current league organization divides the teams into two conferences: the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. Each conference has two divisions, and each division has three or four teams. The current organization has roots in the 2012–13 season when a league expansion added two divisions to bring the total number of divisions to four; the current team alignment began with the 2012–12 season when the league expanded with several teams.

List of teams

Division	Team	City/Area	Arena	Founded	Joined
Eastern Conference
Appalachian	Harrisburg Lunatics	Lemoyne, PA	Susquehanna Sports Center	2002
	Pennsylvania Typhoon	Lemoyne, PA	Susquehanna Sports Center	2002
	Pottstown Team Blue	Pottstown, PA	422 Sportsplex	2008	2010
	Scottdale Inferno	Mount Pleasant, PA	Hot Shots Indoor Sports Arena	2005	2011
Atlantic	Long Island Snipers	Moriches, NY	Rapid Fire Arena	2007	2012
	New Jersey Grizzlies	Wallington, NJ	Inline Skating Club of America	2006
	Philadelphia Brawlers	Travel team		2008	2012
	Suffolk Sting	Moriches, NY	Rapid Fire Arena	2008
Western Conference
Rocky Mountain	Colorado Springs Thunder	Colorado Springs, CO	CETSports Inline Hockey Arena	2006
	Fort Collins Catz	Fort Collins, CO	Qdoba Events Center	2006
	Mile High Miners	Lakewood, CO	Rocky Mountain Roller	2010
	Parker Prowlers	Parker, CO	Parker Fieldhouse	2006
Gateway	Midwest Tornados	Ballwin, MO	Midwest Sport Hockey	2007	2012
	Southside Snipers	St. Louis, MO	All American Sports Mall	2007	2012
	Wright City Wheelers	Wright City, MO	The Wheel	2007	2012

Trophies and awards

**Total Founders Cup championships**
Defunct teams not included.
Team	Titles
Pennsylvania Typhoon	3
Colorado Springs Thunder	2
Southside Snipers	1
Suffolk Sting	1
Further information: List of Founders Cup champions

Main article: Professional Inline Hockey Association awards

The Professional Inline Hockey Association presents a number of trophies each year. The most prestigious team award is the Founders Cup, which is awarded to the league champion at the end of the Founders Cup playoffs. The team that has the most points in the regular season is awarded the Best Overall Record trophy. There is also a trophy awarded to the players based on their statistics during the regular season; the Joe Cook Award is awarded to the league scoring champion (goals and assists).

The other player trophies are awarded by the board of directors. The most prestigious individual award is the Scott Rupp Award, which is awarded annually to the Most Valuable Player, who is judged to be the most valuable to his team during the regular season.

In addition to the regular season awards, the Walt Frazier Award is awarded annually to the most valuable player during the PIHA's Founders Cup playoffs. Furthermore, the top coach in the league wins the Coach of the Year award.

Players, builders, and notable patrons who have had notable careers are eligible to be voted into the Professional Inline Hockey Association Hall of Fame.

References

↑ "Pros Standings - ThePIHA.com". Professional Inline Hockey Association. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
↑ "Playoff formats" (PDF). thepiha.com. 2014. Retrieved January 25, 2014.