“We do it because we love the game and want to see it keep going,” he said. “Maybe bring it back to where it was.”  In the 1990s, in-line hockey — or roller hockey, as it is more commonly known — seemed to be on the fast track to legitimacy. In-line skates were fueling the popularity of skating among children and adults. The sport was included at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics at a demonstration level. Teams from Roller Hockey International, the first true professional in-line league, played in some of the biggest arenas in North America in games shown on national television.  “From where in-line hockey was in the days of the R.H.I. to where it is now is light years apart,” Mosenson said. “I think the sport has actually progressed in some areas, but there are no big leagues for the best players to be in, and that can be frustrating.”  Richard Graham, the publisher of InlineHockeyCentral.com and author of the coming book “Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks and Bucks: A Rocking History of Roller Hockey International,” said the game in the United States today had a “weak pulse.”  He added: “There are people who aspire to play pro roller hockey. They love the sport, and a lot of them thought that the R.H.I. would still be going on.”  The league was created in 1993 by Dennis Murphy, who founded the American Basketball Association and the World Hockey Association. Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, had a team in the league, the Anaheim Bullfrogs. His daughter Jeanie owned the Los Angeles Blades. ESPN and ESPN2 broadcast regular-season and playoff games, including a “Monday Night R.H.I. Game of the Week.” Teams competed at Great Western Forum, Continental Airlines Arena and Molson Centre.  Adding to its appeal, the league also employed minor league ice hockey players and even a few former N.H.L. players, including Nick Fotiu, Al Secord and Bryan Trottier, during its six-season existence.  Roller Hockey International had its greatest success early. The Bullfrogs averaged 9,000 fans a game. A crowd of 16,150 attended the 1993 All-Star Game in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1994, there were 24 teams in the league and 14,475 fans saw the Buffalo Stampede win the league final at the city’s War Memorial arena.  But when ESPN declined to renew its TV contract with the league in 1996, after three years, things quickly deteriorated. Within a year, the Buffalo Wings, who had absorbed some of the Stampede’s players, were playing before 500 fans. The league canceled the 1998 season, returning in 1999 with only eight teams. It did not make to the millennium.  “Fans couldn’t see the game on television, and it affected the credibility of the league,” Graham said.  Dave McLane, the league’s chief marketing officer at the time, said a calculation that “backfired” resulted in the loss of ESPN.  “There was a movement from management and team owners to shift the league’s television to Fox Sports, and their group of regional networks would pay R.H.I. a larger licensing fee than ESPN and provide greater support for their local teams,” McLane said.  But a Fox deal never came together, and ESPN went elsewhere. Hugo Belanger, the league’s first 100-point scorer, with the Long Island Jawz in 1996, said that the league’s growing too big too fast, the cost of traveling to far-flung cities and, ultimately, the lost 1998 season also conspired to doom it.  “It’s like when the major leagues go on strike: fans will have a tough time coming back afterward; they moved on to other things,” Belanger said.  Today, three leagues — the Amateur Athletic Union-sponsored American Inline Hockey League, the Professional Inline Hockey Association and Major League Roller Hockey — aspire to pick up where Roller Hockey International left off. But with minimal sponsorship and news media exposure, all have their work cut out for them. In the A.I.H.L., players pay $500 and sell raffle tickets and advertisements for the privilege of competing. The P.I.H.A. and the M.L.R.H. are only nominally professional, offering a $10,000 cash prize to their league champions.  Most players hold full-time jobs and some compete in more than one league. Mosenson, who sells insurance, does double duty with the Suffolk Sting of the Professional Inline Hockey Association.  “I feel like in-line hockey is totally a full-time job for me even though I don’t really make a lot of money doing it,” he said.  The American Inline Hockey League, like the Professional Inline Hockey Association, does not allow checking. Teams sometimes play two or three regular-season games in a day to save traveling costs.  Joe Tamburino, 37, a steamfitter and a teammate of Mosenson’s on the 495ers, grew up playing roller hockey outdoors in full-contact leagues in Far Rockaway, Queens.  “When I was 19 years old, I thought I had a chance to stay in roller hockey and have a 10- or 12-year pro career, if the league had stayed in existence,” said Tamburino, who played for R.H.I.’s Florida Hammerheads in 1993. “I still get to play here in the A.I.H.L., and it’s about as good as it gets now.”  Outside of the three main leagues, the top North American players can gain exposure playing in tournaments like the North American Roller Hockey Championships, the Tournament of Roller Hockey Series and State Wars, all offering cash prizes to their pro-division winners. USA Roller Sports sanctions the national team that competes in the International Roller Sports Federation World Games each year, and USA Hockey sends an in-line team to the International Ice Hockey Federation’s in-line world championship.  And despite the struggles of the professional leagues, the game seems to have remained popular at the youth level.  Some current N.H.L. players, including Bobby Ryan of the Anaheim Ducks and T. J. Oshie of the St. Louis Blues, grew up playing hockey on wheels.  Some enthusiasts say that making in-line hockey an Olympic sport would start a revival. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who won a gold medal with Sweden at the 2002 I.I.H.F. in-line world championship, said the sport was demanding. “You can’t just show up and practice in-line hockey for two weeks and be ready for the Olympics,” he said.  “There is always a dialogue, but I don’t see any way in heck there will be in-line hockey into the Olympics before 2016,” said Keith Noll, the president of the A.I.H.L., chairman of A.A.U. Hockey and a member of the hockey committee for USA Roller Sports. “Since they added golf and rugby, there’s little chance for in-line hockey until then.”  So for now, and maybe for a lot longer, options are limited for in-line hockey’s best players. Itan Chavira of Covina, Calif., who because of YouTube and Vimeo is one of few recognizable faces in the sport, said he earned $35,000 last year playing semiprofessionally in Spain, winning the Tournament of Roller Hockey Series championship and working in-line camps around the world. He said he played about 100 games a year and often had meals and flights paid for. It seems a nice life for a 23-year-old, but the money is never guaranteed.  “No one knows how to put a proper league together for roller hockey here in the States, and it’s kind of frustrating,” Chavira said. “It would be a dream come true.”  A version of this article appears in print on February 27, 2011, on Page SP10 of the New York edition with the headline: In-Line Hockey: Still Rolling, but Not on a Roll. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
What once looked to be a bright future for professional in-line hockey has dimmed considerably in the United States.