The Sunshine Hockey League (SuHL) was a single A professional ice hockey league based in Florida, United States. The league existed from 1992 to 1995.
History[]
The 1992-93 season was SuHL's inaugural season. It was initially expected that four teams take part in the league's first season (the Daytona Beach Sun Devils, the Jacksonville Bullets, the Lakeland Ice Warriors and the West Palm Beach Blaze. A fifth team, the St. Petersburg Renegades, joined the league after the season was already under way. The first champion of the league was West Palm Beach, who defeated Jacksonville in the finals to win the Sunshine Cup.
1993-94 saw the number of participating teams drop back to four, with St. Petersburg folding. The main reason for this was the direct competition with the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning, located near St. Petersburg. The Lightning offered a higher level of play than the Renegades and eventually won the battle for fan support; a mere 889 people were showing up on average for Renegades home games.
A fifth team joined the league for the 1994-95 season, with the Fresno Falcons joining the league. The Californian team left the dying Pacific Southwest Hockey League and joined the league as a partial schedule opponent; they played 16 games in the league (i.e. four time against each team), whereas the other teams played about 50 games in the season.
In 1995, the league expanded outside of the Sunshine State and was renamed Southern Hockey League.
Teams[]
| Team | Location | Arena | Tenure | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daytona Beach Sun Devils | Daytona Beach, Florida | Ocean Center | 1992-1995 | join Southern Hockey League (1995-1996) |
| Jacksonville Bullets | Jacksonville, Florida | Jacksonville Coliseum | 1992-1995 | city gets East Coast Hockey League team; Jacksonville Lizard Kings |
| Lakeland Ice Warriors | Lakeland, Florida | Lakeland Center | 1992-1995 | join Southern Hockey League (1995-1996) as Lakeland Prowlers |
| St. Petersburg Renegades | St. Petersburg, Florida | Bayfront Arena | 1992-1993 | folded after 20 games |
| West Palm Beach Blaze | West Palm Beach, Florida | West Palm Beach Auditorium | 1992-1995 | join Southern Hockey League (1995-1996) as West Palm Beach Barracudas |
| Fresno Falcons (1970 - 1995) | Fresno, California | Selland Arena | 1994-1995 |
Sunshine Cup championships[]
- 1993:West Palm Beach Blaze (Jacksonville Bullets)
- 1994:West Palm Beach Blaze ()
- 1995:West Palm Beach Blaze ()
List of seasons[]
See also[]
| This article is part of the North American Minor Professional leagues portal |
 North American Minor Professional leagues 
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