Mission Axiom’s ‘two-peat’ leads reboot of MLRH A


By Phillip Brents


aron Moss has played for the Mis- sion Hockey factory pro team for the


past eight years, winning one NARCh Pro championship (as Mission Syndicate in 2007), one State Wars United States championship (2010) and two Major League Roller Hockey League (MLRH) titles, the latter three under the Mission Axiom moniker.


“I love it,” said Moss, who’s one of the tallest (6-foot-5 on skates) and most decorated pure inline players at the pro level. “It’s awesome when you get to play against the best teams in the world. When you’re at that level, there are no weak players on any of the teams. You’ve got to bring your A-game if you want to win.”


Winning is something the current


Mission team has been very good at. Mission Axiom carried a cumulative 33-game winning streak into the 2012 MLRH championship finals played on March 10 at The Rinks-Irvine Inline. It completed a perfect 16-0 season in capturing the 2011 MLRH title against the Pama Cyclones and carried a 17-0 record into this


MLRH championship series against the East Division champion Motor City As- sault.


The Detroit squad put the Pacific


Division champions at a quick disad- vantage via a shocking 5-4 overtime victory in Game 1. But Mission Axiom responded with 7-0 and 7-3 triumphs to once again claim the league title - and


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$10,000 in prize money. “We just got back out there and played our game,” said the Moss, whose career highlights include two medals with Team USA at the IIHF InLine Hockey World Championships (bronze in 2003 in Germany and gold in 2006 in Hungary). “Everyone has a job to do on the team and when everyone does their job, we’re pretty hard to beat.”


Sean Riley accepted the championship cup trophy and prize money check from MLRH found- er


and president Bill


Raue during the awards ceremony.


year’s best-of-three


Raf Rodriguez, who scored the series- winning goal in Mission Axiom’s 2011 MLRH championship triumph over the Pama Cyclones, earned honors as the 2012 MLRH Playoff Most Valu- able Player.


three goals.


Tom Tyler led Mission Axiom in regular-season scoring with 15 goals and 31 points, followed by Moss (16 goals, 30 points) and Jamie Cooke (12 goals, 26 points).


Mission Axiom team manager Frankie Negrete called the team’s MLRH “two-peat” a “huge” achievement. “It shows how dominant we are in the sport,” he said. “Our players have been great about providing such a posi- tive message to our fans.”


New Horizons Mission’s starring role in winning the last two MLRH titles has led to an apparent successful reboot of the league after a decade of dormancy at the profes- sional level.


MLRH founder and president Bill Raue presents Sean Riley of Mission Axiom with the league championship trophy and check for $10,000 in prize money at last month’s MLRH finals at The Rinks-Irvine Inline. Photo/Mission Hockey


A member of Team USA at both the 2010 (gold medal) and 2011 (silver med- al) IIHF inline world championships, Rodriguez said there was no secret to scoring dramatic goals other than “being in the right place at the right time.” Mission Axiom swept the Arizona


Arsenal, 2-games-to-0, in the teams’ best-of-three semifinals series to jump- start this year’s playoffs. Chris Connole, a member of Team


USA’s gold-medal-winning 2009 FIRS and World Games squad, led Mission in the two-game sweep of Arizona with two goals and three assists while Moss had


MLRH was organized in 1998 af- ter Roller Hockey International (RHI) suspended operations. In fact, two RHI franchises - the Anaheim Bullfrogs and Buffalo Wings - participated in MLRH’s inaugural season. With the return (and subsequent de- mise) of RHI in 1999, MLRH went into a prolonged hibernation at the profes- sional level until its revival in 2009. Raue conceded it’s been “a long and


winding road” to get where the league stands today.


Many players in MLRH have former college and pro ice hockey experience. However, the league is also stocked with pure inline talent. For more information on MLRH, vis- it MLRH.com.


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