Oakland Skates

The Oakland Skates were a professional roller hockey team and were a member team in Roller Hockey International (RHI) from 1993 through 1996. In 1993 the Skates were a finalist for the RHI league championship, named the Murphy Cup, for one of the league founders, Dennis Murphy, losing to the Anaheim Bullfrogs. After two mediocre seasons in 1994 and 1995 the Skates returned to the playoffs in 1996 losing to the Vancouver Voodoo. The Skates played their home games in Oakland, California at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena from 1993 until 1995, until having to move to the Henry J. Kaiser Arena in 1996 due to the remodeling of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum arena (now called Oracle Arena) for the Golden State Warriors. Skates majority owner Murray Simkin was unwilling to keep the Skates in their temporary home (which opened in 1914) for another season, waiting for the arena remodeling to finish and went on league "hiatus" status after the 1996 season. The team never returned to play.