Havana Tropicals
Order vintage Havana Tropicals tees and hoodies. Despite the name, the Tropicals played the 1938-39 Tropical Hockey League season at the Metropolitan Ice Palace in Miami, part of the earliest known pro hockey in Florida, with a roster made up entirely of Canadian imports. Celebrate one of hockey's most unlikely leagues by browsing all of our Tropicals gear, then read the team history below. We're a small business dedicated to reviving the logos and memories of hockey teams that are gone but not forgotten.
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Havana Tropicals History
The Havana Tropicals were one of four teams in the Tropical Hockey League. The THL played one official season in 1938-39 at the Metropolitan Ice Palace in Miami, Florida. Yes, the first known pro hockey game in Florida occurred almost 90 years ago.The THL was made up of four clubs (Tropicals, Miami Beach Pirates, Coral Gables Seminoles, and the Miami Clippers). The players on the teams, however, were all Canadian imports, therefore the Tropicals had no Cubans or Floridians among their ranks. The Tropicals finished 4-11 in their lone season, while Coral Gables won the league title by going 12-2. According to newspaper reports, the league may have continued for another year or two, but it's uncertain, and if it did, it didn't get much notice.
The THL was genuinely ahead of its time, since the state would not host pro hockey again until the Jacksonville Rockets of the EHL arrived in 1964. Miami would not have another professional team until the Panthers arrived in town in 1993, more than a half-century after the THL.
