St. Petersburg, Florida, knows hockey. The Tampa Bay Lightning have been in their backyard since 1992 and even played within its city limits from 1993 to 1996. But that’s not when the city, colloquially known as St. Pete, got its first taste of professional hockey. The Lightning proved the region was viable, but they do not hold the honor of being the region’s first hockey team. That honor belongs to the Suncoast Suns in the early 1970s.
While the team’s time in St. Petersburg was short-lived, some still look back fondly at that brief moment.
Creation of the Suns and Brief History
The Suns are not the first pro team to play games in St. Petersburg either. The Jacksonville Rockets (also known as the Florida Rockets) played select home games in St. Petersburg in the late-1960s.
However, the Suns were the first team to call St. Petersburg their home city. Even then, St. Pete was not the team’s first choice for their home. That was Raleigh, North Carolina, now an NHL city in its own right. When an acceptable arena couldn’t be found, the ownership group turned to the Bayfront Center in downtown St. Petersburg.
The Bayfront Center showed it was suitable for sports when it hosted ‘The Floridians’ of the American Basketball Association (ABA) just before the Suns came to town. Its capacity of 5,800 was respectable for its era.
According to the Tampa Tribune, the name Suncoast Suns was chosen by a panel in July 1971 – “Suncoast” because it represented the region, not just St. Petersburg (‘Suncoast Suns for hockey club,’ Tampa Times, July 26, 1971). It sounds weird, at least nowadays, that they chose “Suncoast” over “Tampa Bay.” However, “Tampa Bay” as a sports regional moniker wasn’t a concept yet. That started with the Buccaneers of the NFL a few years later, in 1976. So, Suncoast it was.
In media coverage of the incoming hockey team, they had to hammer the fact that it was specifically ice hockey. You know, that Canadian sport. Here is a sentence from the Tampa Tribune that was printed in a bolder font than the rest of the article to make sure it stood out:
‘Bayfront has ice and one more time, this is to be an ice hockey team, not roller skates, not field hockey, ice, as in Canadiens, Black Hawks and puck,’ (from ‘The Icemen Cometh, Tampa Tribune, June 3, 1971).
Here we go.
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The Suns played their first game on Oct. 14, 1971, against the Greensboro Generals. They lost 3-2 in front of a home crowd of 2,496. Their first win came three days later, on Oct. 17, against the Jacksonville Rockets by a score of 6-2. The Suns finished 27-34-12, with 66 points. They placed last among Southern Division teams that finished the season – Jacksonville folded after 28 games.
This mediocre-at-best finish was still good enough to make the playoffs in their inaugural season. They faced the Charlotte Checkers in the first round, going up 2-1 in the series. However, they dropped the next three to lose in six.
The Suns played most of their games in St. Petersburg, with a handful played in West Palm Beach and Jacksonville during their inaugural season. Not all attendance figures have survived, but at least 65,000 fans who came out that first season are accounted for. Their single-season high for attendance still documented was 3,875 in a 3-2 win against Roanoke Valley for the final regular-season home game.
Suns Burn Out
The Suns would improve to 30-37-9 and 69 points in 1972-73. This was their best and last full season. The Eastern Hockey League folded, and the Suns joined the remaining southern teams in the Southern Hockey League (SHL) for the 1973-74 season. Their transition to the new league was brutal, going 9-22-0 in 31 games.
Then, the financial troubles started. Attendance dwindled with fewer than 1,000 fans at the final eight home games, thanks, in large part, to the poor performance and loss of fan-favorite players before the season.
According to Tampa Sports History, some investors pulled their funding to focus on luring a World Hockey Association (WHA) franchise. This left the remaining owners in a bind. Heading into their scheduled two-game series against Roanoke in mid-December 1973, a deal to transfer ownership fell through, leaving management with one last hail mary attempt to secure financing – a bailout.
On Dec. 18, 1973, the Suns held a press conference to make their pitch. They needed $30,000 ($211,856.76 adjusted to inflation) by the next day to literally buy themselves more time to get another investor. “Raising $30,000 will allow us to sustain our operation an additional 30 days,” Suns general manager Paul Caron said. “This 30 days will allow us the necessary time to locate long-range investors.”
The campaign was dubbed S.O.S. or Save Our Suns. Fans pledged money by phone to keep the team afloat. By the end of the campaign, the Suns raised only $18,000, including $2.50 from a 7-year-old girl. They got just over halfway to their goal. The Suns ceased operations on Dec. 19, 1973, playing just half of their final season.
The SHL, also struggling, couldn’t take on the franchise to keep it running. League president Norman Curtis pointed to the fans’ lack of interest. However, SHL executive secretary T. David Lamm said the support was there with the fundraiser as evidence. Professional hockey’s first try at making its mark in the region lasted just two and a half seasons.
The late Tampa Tribune columnist Tom McEwen wrote of the Suns following their demise: “The hockey playing Suns were a little before their time in our place,” McEwen said. “In time, they’ll be regarded and recorded as the pioneer hockey team in an area that when that chronicle is written will again have its own, prosperous, major league hockey team.”
Suns Legacy
So, McEwen was partially right.
Tampa Bay would get its big-league hockey team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, less than 20 years later. and they would be prosperous after years of trying to find their footing on the ice and in the seats. The Suns, meanwhile, are mostly forgotten. But they did manage to leave a lasting impact on a few.
When the Bayfront Center was demolished in 2004, the then-named St. Petersburg Times (now Tampa Bay Times) ran a story featuring memories of the venue from locals. One local gave the Suns a shoutout: “Trying to learn to ice skate on the arena floor was a lost cause for me, but who will forget the Suncoast Suns hockey team that called the Bayfront home? Ice hockey in Florida _ unusual at the time!” H. Roy Adams, a long-time resident of St. Petersburg, said (from ‘Bayfront arena was full of memories,’ Tampa Bay Times, Dec. 5, 2004).
There is even a website dedicated to the team. It’s gathered extensive information on the franchise, including input from former players, a trainer and fans.
So, hockey eventually worked with an NHL franchise in the area. But the sport’s success isn’t limited to the NHL club. Minor league hockey now flourishes across Florida as well. The Jacksonville Icemen, Orlando Solar Bears and Florida Everblades are all top-eight in ECHL attendance and the Everblades have won championships. In the modern day, the Suns might have been able to do the same.
As hockey continues to grow on the Sun Coast of Florida, perhaps the Suns will gain new and more widespread recognition. It was an ambitious attempt for its era to test if a winter sport could work in a region where ice was meant to keep your soda cold, not play a sport on. They burnt out, but it showed the community would soon be ready to be the thunder.
