It turns out no one can agree about the rules in roller hockey and the length of the games depend on who has appointed themselves “king” of that league… Hopefully the below acts as a useful guide.
So, how long are roller hockey games? Roller hockey games are different lengths depending on the league. In USA Rollersports they are 2 x 20 minutes, British rules are 2 x 18 minute halves, some leagues are 3 x 15 minutes, and some 4 x 12 minutes. Most games are between 20-50 minutes long.
But there are different rules and regulations that will affect the true length of the game, especially if the game isn’t won by one team or the other in this period…
How Long Are The Games In The Different Roller Hockey Leagues?
There are many different leagues that have different rules. The games are basically the same and differ on a bunch of minor rules and whether you’ve got a ball or a puck. There’s a bunch of governing bodies that seem to be more or less professional, some are no longer around like the International Federation of Rollersports (ended in 2017) but others continue. It’s not the world’s biggest professional sport and there seems to be a lot of inconsistency between the leagues with regards timings.
Recreational hockey leagues make modifications to the rules to suit the local requirements such as the size of rink the length of periods and penalties.
So, the ultimate answer is: it depends on which league you’re part of and basically what they’ve decided… whoever “they” are.
But most seem to be in 2 halves, of between 10-20 minutes per half which might be on the low end for your less professional leagues or for younger players. Some are 3 periods ending up as the same sort of overall time of just shy of 40 minutes. Some are 4 periods, ending up being a bit under the 50 minute mark in total.
Is There A Standard, Official Time For A Roller Hockey Game?
The answer at the moment is a resounding “No”, and it depends on which sanctioning body that particular league is happy to operate under, and their own feelings on the matter.
Interestingly you did used to have the International Federation of Roller Sports which as a federation would pride itself on setting the standards and rules, which did used to be seen by many as governing the sport, but that became extinct in 2017.
Times of Games in Different Roller Hockey Leagues Around The World
Major League Roller Hockey (MLRH), is played in the United States and Europe. It consists of East and West Coast divisions, and the season is played from October to March with finals being held in either Europe or the USA.
This is the only full check inline league in the world and it has a $10,000 championship purse. It has similar rules as the NHL, with some exceptions and only having two 17 min periods and in the “Super” League, 4 x 12 minute quarters. MLRH has offside and icing rules as well as allowing players to have a single fight per game.
For USA Rollersports: regulation games are played in 2 periods of 20 minutes each with a 5-minute half-time break, after which the teams change ends. Each team is allowed a 1 minute time out per half. If a tie is allowed (depending on whether the game is a knock-out etc) the game ends. If the game is tied, a 3 minute rest is allowed and teams play a 10 minute sudden death play-off with first to score being the overall winner. If they’re still tied after this it goes to a penalty shootout.
For American Inline Hockey League: two periods of fifteen minutes.
Rules of Collegiate Roller Hockey (USA): a game consists of 3 periods of 12 minutes. If a team is leading by 7 points by the first stop, the clock keeps running other than time out of referee requests. Features games are 3 times 15 minutes with extended intermissions between periods.
For the British Inline Puck Hockey Association (BIPHA): a game is 2 x 20 minutes for Seniors and under 21, 2 x 15 minutes for U18 and U16, and 2 x 12 minutes for U14 and U12, and 2 x 10 minutes for U10. The rest is 5 minutes between each period before the teams swap ends. However, regions can elect to play 3 periods instead of 2, but only those playing 2 will be in the national tournaments.
BIPHA Tournament has different timings: For Masters, Seniors, and down all the way to U14, games are 2 x 15 minutes. For younger than that (U12, U10, U8) it’s 2 x 12 minutes. One minute rest with teams changing ends as above. However, they may change the game times if there’s a lot of games to cover, say in a National competition. They have a one time out per period too, of a minute.
The British Regional Inline Hockey Association: BRIHA, not to be confused with BIPHA, has different timings. BRIHA is basically with a ball rather than a puck, and their games are 2 halves of 18 minutes. The time is to be stopped in the last minute when the score is within 2 goals, and 5 minutes overtime if it’s tied, then onto penalties. For matches completed at the end of overtime or during the penalty shots, the final score will be presented as the score at the time at which the match was completed (that is, including extra time or penalty shots).
The International Ice Hockey Federation: This has quite a big rule book, and according to them a game consists of four periods of 12 minutes (12:00) plus overtime and a penalty-shot shootout if required
For the French Ligue Elite: total time is 50 minutes with two 25-minute halves, with a break of ten minutes.
National RollerHockey Association of England: 25 minutes per half.
How Many Roller Hockey Leagues Are There And How Do I Find Out How Long The Games Are?
This is simple, basically there are a TON of leagues. This list is probably not all of them, and it’s not up to date, but it’s a good start. Check out this list of rollerhockey leagues here as a starting point.
Leagues are all over the world and differ in their rules within countries.
To find out the length of games in a particular league:
Quite simply, Google the league with “rules” added onto the end and you’re likely to come up with a big rule book either directly in the search results or in the “resources” type section on their website.
Then you can open or download the PDF of the rules.
Handy tip:
Hold down CTRL and press F (or CMD F on a Mac), and type “minute”. This is the search function and you can scroll through the use of the word minute until you find the sentence detailing how long the game lasts.
I just tried this with “Great Lakes Inline Hockey League”, didn’t find any information on their website, and then found that according to their Wikipedia page they’re no longer in operation…
Of course, if you’re joining a league you could just ask them yourself…
My search has not revealed any two-hour games being played yet, so it’ll probably be quite similar to those above.
Can Games Be Much Longer?
Well, a game can accumulate a bunch of penalties that would slow down the game, then they could go to extra time, and finally they could be on penalties until one team wins.
This could take a while extra but it’s unlikely to mean the game lasts two hours.
International ice hockey federation: https://www.iihf.com/
Related Questions
How many players in roller hockey?
There are five players including the goalkeeper from each team on the rink at a time, while teams normally consist of 16 players. Inline hockey is a very fast-paced and free-flowing game. It is considered a contact sport but body checking is prohibited.
Where can I watch games?
Search your local league and watch, or stream online
