The list of failed professional sports teams in Columbus is long: Columbus Invaders soccer, Ohio Glory football, and Columbus Horizon basketball have all packed up and left town after brief attempts at capturing central Ohio’s fancy.Despite the failures of his predecessors, Columbus Hawks owner and president, Fred Drew, is confident his team will not be on that list anytime soon. He is offering something brand new to professional sports in Ohio: Summertime roller hockey.Drew, a trucking company executive from Mansfield, has added his team to 13 others in Major League Roller Hockey, a second-year league that follows the demise of Roller Hockey International. That league began playing five years ago, but is officially on hiatus because of financial problems and owner squabbles, Drew said.The Hawks, who play their home games at Battelle Hall in the Greater Columbus Convention Center, are coached by former Columbus Chill star Derek Clancy who also serves as general manager.The style of play in the MLRH is similar to ice hockey, but there are some obvious differences. The plastic composite playing surface is the same size as an ice hockey rink, but the pucks are lighter and travel at faster speeds than ice hockey pucks.Unlike ice hockey’s five skaters, roller hockey uses only four skaters and a goalie. There are no blue lines, and icing and centerline offsides calls are a rarity.”Roller hockey is more of a puck control game,” said Port Huron (MI) North Americans radio commentator Matt Vettraino. “You don’t see the ‘dump and chase’ style of play much at all. There is a lot more scoring, too. Usually at least one team gets up into double digits.”Columbus beat Port Huron 11-3 Monday. They defeated Pennsylvania 21-3 earlier in the season. They are currently 6-2-1 for the year. While the team has had success on the floor, attendance has been anything but spectacular.The Hawks drew around 800 fans for their debut on June 17, but attracted only 400 on Sunday night. Monday, there appeared to be around 150 people watching from Battelle’s barren bleachers.”I’m certainly a little disappointed,” Drew said. “There hasn’t really been a fan response, but it will follow. We were late getting our marketing programs started, but we have gotten going with our print and radio ads. “I think we can continue to build toward the end of the season and hopefully pull in 2,000 to 2,500 people. Of course, it helps to have a coach like Derek and a team that’s winning.”Clancy, a two-time East Coast Hockey League MVP and veteran of RHI, was optimistic about the Hawks’ future.”This league is a little step below RHI talent right now,” he said. “We’re dealing with a lot of new organizations. You have to keep in mind this is a new league. It will get stronger. We’re definitely moving in the right direction.”Fans that have turned out have had mixed reactions.”I’d never heard of them before I was offered tickets,” said Dave Riley, a 1998 OSU graduate. “Their promotion has been non-existent. I like it, though. It’s definitely a different style of play.” However, Riley was not sure whether he would come back to watch another game. “Maybe,” he said. “They really need to get more people in here. It would make for a better atmosphere.””I think it could be really great if there were more people here,” agreed Jill Sheterom of Columbus. “I used to go to Chill games when they were brand new and they didn’t have great attendance at first either.”Even if the Hawks don’t become the hottest ticket in town, Drew plans to keep plugging away and is confident his team and MLRH won’t go the way of the RHI.”We’re building from scratch, trying to sell year-round hockey,” he said. “It’s going to be tough, going to take some time. RHI got greedy early, and now they’re not around. Instead of a millionaire’s league, ours is a small businessman’s league, a bus league. We’re not going to try too much too soon, and that’s only going to help us.”