The Tropical Hockey League was an ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 league based in Miami, Florida

Miami, Florida

Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

. The first attempt to establish professional hockey in Florida or any other Southern

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

 state, the league lasted only one season, 1938-39, before folding. The Tropical Hockey League consisted of four teams, the Coral Gables

Coral Gables, Florida

Coral Gables is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, southwest of Downtown Miami, in the United States. The city is home to the University of Miami....

 Seminoles, the Miami

Miami, Florida

Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

 Clippers, Miami Beach

Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...

 Pirates, and the Havana Tropicals, all of which played at the Metropolitan Ice Palace in Miami. The league played a 15-game season before folding; it had no impact on popularizing hockey in the Southern United States.

There would be no further attempt to establish professional hockey in the Southern United States until 1956, when the Eastern Hockey League

Eastern Hockey League

-Eastern Amateur Hockey League :The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League . The league was founded by Thomas Lockhart, who served as its commissioner from 1933 to 1972...

 placed the Charlotte Clippers

Charlotte Checkers (1956–1977)

The Charlotte Checkers were an American ice hockey team in Charlotte, North Carolina, playing in the Eastern Hockey League and Southern Hockey League.-Franchise history:...

, later the Charlotte Checkers, in Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...

. Florida did not get another team hockey team until the Jacksonville Rockets

Jacksonville Rockets

The Jacksonville Rockets were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They played in the Eastern Hockey League from 1964–1972, when they folded. They were the first professional hockey team to be based in Jacksonville or anywhere in Florida...

 joined the EHL in 1964. From 1992–1995 there was another minor hockey league based in Florida, the Sunshine Hockey League

Sunshine Hockey League

The Sunshine Hockey League was a low-minors professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 to 1995. The league was based in Florida and consisted of five teams in its inaugural 1992-93 season....

.