Bullfrogs Bid for Third Straight Title Tonight

The Bullfrogs play the St. Louis Vipers in the Roller Hockey International championship game tonight. That’s good news to owners of the league’s eight teams, because RHI more or less ran out of money Aug. 1 and a large crowd of Bullfrog fans could generate badly needed revenue.

The 6 p.m. start at the Arrowhead Pond features the Bullfrogs, bidding for their third consecutive in-line hockey championship, against the Vipers, making their first title-game appearance.

The Bullfrogs are led by right winger Hugo Belanger, named the league’s most valuable player on Saturday, and Tom Menicci, chosen the league’s best defenseman.

Interviews with owners, their representatives and league officials, who held closed-door meetings in the county last week, painted a picture of another financial crossroads for the struggling 7-year-old league, which didn’t play last summer because of money problems.

This year’s crunch came when RHI’s main financier and chairman of the board, Raj Pamnani, balked at continuing to bankroll player salaries and playoff bonuses, said to be about $300,000 per team.