Hockey in the tropics, eighty-eight winters ago
The Tropical Hockey League was a minor professional league founded in Miami in 1938. It was the first attempt at pro hockey in Florida or anywhere in the American South, and it picked up the nickname the "Grapefruit League."
All four teams played in the same building: the Miami Coliseum on Douglas Road in Coral Gables. Ice went in for 1938 and the building was renamed the Metropolitan Ice Palace.
Opening night was December 10, 1938. The Clippers won 3–2, and the game was billed as the first hockey game ever staged in the South. The night included a mambo band after the second period and ended in a fight. Accounts disagree on the opponent: some say the Pirates, others the Seminoles.
Most of the players were Canadians, recruited largely from Port Colborne, Ontario, and Winnipeg, Manitoba. The coaches had real pedigree. Bullet Joe Simpson, a future Hockey Hall of Famer, ran the Clippers. Mike Goodman, an Olympic gold medalist with the 1920 Winnipeg Falcons, was player-coach of the Seminoles. Stan Jackson, a former Boston Bruin, managed the Pirates.
It didn't last. Crowds were thin, games started late, the competition was uneven and games often turned into brawls, so the promoters lost money. The season ended with an All-Star game. A smaller revival in 1940 folded around September 1941, reportedly after Coral Gables took back the Coliseum.
1938–39 standings
| Team | GP | W | L | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coral Gables SeminolesCHAMPIONS | 14 | 12 | 2 | 85 | 53 | 24 |
| Miami Clippers | 13 | 7 | 6 | 53 | 58 | 14 |
| Miami Beach Pirates | 14 | 5 | 9 | 57 | 69 | 10 |
| Havana Tropicals | 15 | 4 | 11 | 69 | 84 | 8 |
Teams played 13 to 15 games.
The sweaters, the crease and the marquee
Photographs from the 1938–39 season. Tap any print to see it larger. Where a player isn't named on the print, he's left unnamed here.
While digging into the history of the league, I came across these prints on eBay and bought them. They came with no markings on the back and no photographer or archive named. If you know who took them, or you hold rights to them, please email hello@tropicalhockey.com. We'll gladly add credit or take a photo down. — Brooke
One season, then a second try
- 1938The Miami Coliseum in Coral Gables gets an ice surface and becomes the Metropolitan Ice Palace.
- Dec 10, 1938Opening night. Clippers 3, and a fight at the final horn.
- Dec 1938The Duke of West Point opens in theaters (Dec 15). It's on the Lincoln Theatre marquee in the photo above.
- Early 1939The Seminoles finish 12–2, then lose the season-ending All-Star game 6–5.
- 1940–41A three-team revival: Clippers, Pirates and Indians, sponsored by Burdines, Pan American and Florida Power & Light.
- Sept 1941The league appears to fold after losing the Coliseum.
Read more
- Tropical Hockey League, Wikipedia
- Hockey history in Florida did not start with Panthers or Lightning but in Coral Gables, Florida Hockey Now
- Here by the sea and sand: a short history of Florida's (short-lived) Tropical Hockey League, Puckstruck
- Tropical Hockey League, International Hockey Wiki
- 1938–39 Havana Tropicals statistics, Stats Crew
- Coral Gables Seminoles and Havana Tropicals, HockeyDB
- The Duke of West Point (1938), Wikipedia