No NHL? Still Pro Hockey in Florida for Snowbirds

Many from Canada like to take time out from their winter vacation in sunny, hot Florida to spend three hours or so in a cold building with an icy floor in the middle of it. For several reasons, it’s the thing to catch a Florida Panthers or Tampa Bay Lightning home game while on vacation. The tickets are much cheaper than at the Molson Centre in Montreal or the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The tickets are much more readily available than at any hockey venue in Canada. Seeing Canada’s game in the U.S. gives Canadian hockey fans a chance to show off their superior knowledge of the game (which is often incorrect knowledge)!

Of course, with the current NHL Lockout situation, that doesn’t like it will end before the 2012-13 season is lost, seeing an NHL game is off the books in Florida for the time being. However, for the serious hockey fan, there are still options to see professional hockey while in the Sunshine State. Unfortunately for us personally, it doesn’t help. We’ll be spending some time in Fort Lauderdale in February on both sides of Caribbean cruise and will be no where near the hockey action.

Their are currently three teams in the state that can be classified as professional. The Pensacola Ice Flyers play in the SPHL (Southern Professional Hockey League), while the Orlando Solar Bears and Florida Everblades are members of the ECHL.

The Pensacola Ice Flyers are in their fourth year of existence in the SPHL. Pensacola is on the panhandle in northwestern Florida and would be fairly close to those vacationing at Panama City Beach or Walton Beach. The SPHL is a step lower than the ECHL and Central Hockey League but most players have played major junior in Canada or College hockey in the U.S.

The Ice Flyers went to the finals last season, after finishing fourth in the nine team league during the regular season. Pensacola was swept in the championship to the Columbus (Georgia) Cottonmouths.

The team plays out of the Pensacola Bay Center (The Hangar) which seats 8,150 for hockey. This past season, the Ice Flyers averaged 3,098 per game in attendance. Tickets range from $15 to $29. The team plays 28 regular season home games.

The ECHL’s Florida Everblades play out of Estero, Florida which is basically Fort Myers. The team is easily accessible to visitors to the Fort Myers / Naples region. The Everblades are the reigning ECHL champion, capturing the Kelly Cup with a four games to one victory over the Las Vegas Wranglers in the 2011-12 final.

The Florida Everblades are an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. The are also a direct affiliate of the American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch and Charlotte Checkers. The team entered the ECHL for the 1998-99 season.

Florida plays out of the 7,082 seat Germain Arena. Tickets are quite reasonable, starting as low as $11 and topping out at $36. Each team in the ECHL plays 72 regular season games, meaning that the Everblades play 36 home games. The team averaged 5,004 fans in the stands per game last season.

The Orlando Solar Bears are in their first ever ECHL season. The name was resurrected from a past franchise that played in the IHL in the late 1990’s. The Solar Bears play out of the 17,353 seat Amway Centre and ticket prices are very reasonable, ranging from $8 to $34.

Orlando is affiliated with the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League and the Houston Aeros of the AHL. Fans of the Ontario Hockey League will particularly enjoy watching this team with seven former OHL players on the roster as of the publishing of this article. The coaching staff will be quite familiar to not only OHL fans but NHL fans. Drake Berehowsky is the team’s head coach while former 50 goal scorer Ray Sheppard is his assistant.

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