It is 2007, and Jason Beneventi sits in his bedroom in suburban Chicago pondering his future without hockey. He can’t. Hockey is all he’s known since he was six years old, and the thought of having to stop playing hasn’t set in yet.
Beneventi plans on attending Lewis University in the fall and they don’t have an ice hockey team. Jason, a star and team captain at Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Ill. quickly realizes that the extent of his hockey career will probably be relegated to sniping middle-aged goaltenders in a beer league somewhere. That is, of course, until he found roller hockey.
Flash forward four years. Now, Jason Beneventi is a professional roller hockey player for the Chicago Sting in the PIHA. Thankfully for Jason Beneventi, he has stumbled upon a world and a culture that he never had known existed. The concealed world of roller hockey has allowed Beneventi to carry on his hockey dreams in a way he never thought possible.
“Before playing roller hockey, I always kind of looked down upon it being an ice player,” Beneventi said. “Looking back on it now it’s probably the most fun I have ever had playing hockey. It’s been great making so many connections and playing against other professionals.”
Founder Charles Yoder and his two sons, C.J. and Jami, organized the Professional Inline Hockey Association (PIHA) in 2002 in Middletown, Pa. It started with eight teams, but has since expanded to 16 active franchises.
C.J. Yoder, PIHA league president and member of Team USA Inline, said that PIHA is working very hard with its team owners to establish longevity in the United States.
“As a league we are definitely learning each and every year and will continue to do so,” C.J. Yoder said. “We are making a big effort this season to be more attentive to our owners. These guys do a tremendous amount of work so the league can grow and as a league we need to be aware of that.
“The owners are the ones that deal with the players and all of the day-to-day operations and they should be counted on and trusted with decisions to better PIHA.”
Beneventi agrees that while the league is bigger than he expected, a lack of exposure makes it difficult to attract a wider fan base.
“I never knew there were roller hockey tournaments and professional leagues like [PIHA] when I was younger,” Beneventi said. “Roller hockey as a sport is a lot bigger than most sports fans realize.”
Beneventi was enamored with ice hockey since the age of six. After playing in house leagues, he joined his first travel team, the Orland Park Vikings, when he was 10 years old.
Beneventi played for the Vikings all the way until his sophomore year of high school at Carl Sandburg where he quickly became a force and favorite of the coaching staff.
In just his first year playing for Carl Sandburg, Beneventi earned the respect of his teammates for his disciplined play and uncanny skill. He was named Most Valuable Player and subsequently named team captain for his senior season.
Former high school and roller hockey teammate, Mike Parello, said there was never a doubt in his mind that Beneventi would succeed in becoming a pro when the opportunity arose.
“[Beneventi] was the first to tell me about the tryout with the Sting,” Parello said. “I knew I personally couldn’t make a pro team, but I knew he would give 110 percent. There was no doubt in my mind that with his work ethic he would not be denied."
Still, Beneventi never envisioned himself playing roller hockey, especially as a professional. If it were up to him, four years ago he would have landed on a Division 1 ice hockey team and he’d probably have just finished tearing up the Frozen Four.
But with his career and education as his top priority, Beneventi decided to pursue a career in sports journalism from Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill. The school was close enough to commute and had everything he looked for in a university. Except hockey.
But, after only playing roller hockey for four years, Beneventi still carried the same quiet confidence that helped him earn the respect of his high school teammates. It was that confidence that made him truly believe that he had the skills to turn pro.
“When you play with some of these professionals it’s almost surreal,” Beneventi said. “They travel around the world to play hockey, and you almost become a spectator because you’re amazed at the skills they have. At the same time, you know you have the same skills that they do and it’s such a great opportunity.”
Parello always had confidence in Beneventi and said that he always knew his skills were right up there with the best.
“[Beneventi] is such a great two-way player,” Parello said. “He has a great shot, and his toe-drag is honestly one of the best I’ve ever seen. He can really skate, too. I mean he backchecks and forechecks like his hair is on fire.”
Let’s be clear, too. Beneventi does play with some of the top talent in all of roller hockey. Sting teammates include Pat Lee, who has been a fixture for the USA Hockey Inline National Team since 2004 and has represented the United States at several IIHF World Championships.
Beneventi also plays with the likes of Peter Messina, the Sting team captain, who is widely considered to be one of the top roller hockey players in the world.
“One of my teammates, Peter Messina, will be going to Roccaraso, Italy to play in the FIRS World Championships,” Beneventi said. “It’s pretty crazy to think about that. He’s that good, where he gets to go to Italy to play in these tournaments.”
This is a prime example of the international presence that roller hockey possesses.
Sabatino Aracu, president of the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS), has begun a campaign to advocate the inclusion of roller hockey and other roller sports in the Olympics. In a release on the FIRS website, Aracu believes the time is now to take this step.
“I proudly claim the right of Roller Sports to join the Olympic cycle: we have the numbers, we have the potentiality, we have the sporting spirit and the athletic value,” he said. “If the Olympic movement wants really to regain a better relationship with the young people, it must involve fresh, young and dynamic disciplines as the Roller Sports.”
While Aracu may be right that roller hockey has potential to become even bigger than it already is, a distinction must be made between roller and ice hockey. The two games simply aren’t the same. Adding a household name would also be a huge bonus for roller hockey, a sport where even the biggest stars are only known to those within the roller hockey circle.
It’s interesting to note that some NHL stars also grew up playing roller hockey. Anaheim Ducks forward Bobby Ryan, St. Louis Blues forward T.J. Oshie, and Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar all have an extensive roller hockey background.
Ryan, who grew up playing in the North American Roller Hockey Championships (NARCh) across the United States, finished the 2010-11 NHL season with 34 goals and 37 assists in 82 games. Ryan has topped 30 goals in each of his first three full seasons in the NHL and was also a part of the United States Olympic ice hockey team that took the silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.
After asking Ryan what he thought separated roller hockey from ice hockey, he said the biggest differences lie in the “pace, open ice, and creativity.”
Beneventi echoed those same sentiments, stressing that roller hockey and ice hockey, while fundamentally similar, are still two very different games.
“Roller hockey is a lot of puck movement,” he said. “There’s more time and space being 4-on-4. You have more of an opportunity to showcase your skills and creativity, but at the same time it’s a much slower pace.
“You see a lot of things in roller hockey that you wouldn’t normally see in ice hockey.”
Team names like the Lunatics, Flying Monkeys, Rollin’ Robins, and the Mudcats, along with ridiculously excessive jerseys that look like they were designed by Pablo Picasso are a few things you definitely don’t see in ice hockey.
Beneventi and Ryan are right though. Aside from uniform aesthetics and wild team names, the two games are also much different strategically.
Another obvious difference between ice hockey and roller hockey is that roller hockey doesn’t come close in terms of a fan base and loyal following. Beneventi believes a lot of this has to do with exposure and the way the sport markets itself.
“I think PIHA and the other professional leagues in the U.S. need to do more with marketing and merchandise,” Beneventi said. “They have announcers that broadcast games, too, but it’s horrible quality. I’d like to see them improve that, too.”
PIHA streams live games on justin.tv, a website where users broadcast a wide variety of user-generated live video content, called "broadcasts." The broadcasts, however, are fuzzy and choppy. Not to mention, very few people even know the streams exist.
Major League Roller Hockey (MLRH), another professional league, also broadcasts games on rollerhockeytv.net, but the same critiques apply.
While roller hockey has come a long way since the days of Roller Hockey International (RHI) in the ‘90s, it has been treading water as far as development in the United States. A lot of this has to do with the loss of RHI’s ESPN television contract in 1996.
So what lies ahead for the world of roller hockey?
A start, according to some professional players, lies in a payment plan. Players realize that nothing can be done as extensive as the NHL, but a little financial compensation would be welcomed.
“We raised money for travel expenses at our home games in Palatine [Illinois],” Beneventi said. “Tickets were five dollars. I think it would be great to have travel expenses paid for in the future in addition to the money that we earn from ticket sales.”
While many of the top players earn sponsorships, the real money is overseas, where many of the top American players have been seeking refuge.
In an article in February by the New York Times, roller hockey superstar Itan Chavira said he earned $35,000 last year playing in Spain. Fans recognize the Reebok-sponsored YouTube sensation for his incredible hands and creative dekes.
According to the article, he said he played about 100 games last year and often had meals and flights paid for. Still, Chavira said it would be a dream come true if leagues in the United States had benefits such as those overseas.
“I believe the sport needs to pull together for that to happen,” Yoder said. “Right now there are so many different options for the players and fans that we are spread very thin. It’s great to see the players that have stuck with the sport and are strictly ‘roller hockey players’ do well and have options, but to get the sponsorship dollars that the European organizations thrive on, the sport would have to come together.”
Where roller hockey goes from here, nobody really knows, but Jason Beneventi plans to roll with the punches. For Beneventi, playing roller hockey is less about the money and fame and more about simply playing the game he loves.
“Sure, he has more confidence now, but he is still the same kid,” Parello said.
Beneventi has sacrificed so much blood, sweat, and tears into this sport that the joy of playing, and at a high level, is enough for him.
“When I started playing roller hockey, it was just a way for me to keep playing hockey, stay in shape, and have fun with my friends,” he said. “I never thought that I would ever reach the level that I’m at now. It’s so rewarding.”
After graduating from Lewis University earlier this month with a degree in journalism, don’t think Beneventi is quick to hang up the skates just yet.
“As far as to what the future holds, I’d definitely like to keep playing in the PIHA,” Beneventi said. “I want to keep playing because I’m competitive and I have fun doing it.”
Forget about the money, kid. Do what makes you happy.
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