The Jacksonville Rockets were a professional minor league

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

team based in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. They played in the

Eastern Hockey League The Eastern Hockey League was a minor professional United States ice hockey league. Eastern Amateur Hockey League (1933–1953) The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL). The league was founded by Tommy Lockhart ...

from 1964–1972, when they folded. They were the first professional hockey team to be based in Florida. They played most of their home games at the

Jacksonville Coliseum The Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum (originally and still commonly known as the Jacksonville Coliseum) was a multi-purpose arena located in Jacksonville, Florida. Built in 1960 and known as "northern Florida's most historic concert venue ...

; from 1966–68 they were known as the Florida Rockets, playing some of their home games in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

History

The Rockets joined the

(EHL) in 1964, becoming

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

's first professional

team; they were also the first professional team in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

since the folding of the

Tropical Hockey League The Tropical Hockey League (THL) was a short-lived ice hockey minor league in Miami, Florida. The initial league had four teams, all based in Miami, and lasted for only one season, 1938–39, before folding; it was briefly resurrected in 1940 bef ...

in 1939. The league decided to expand into Florida and other Southern states after the unexpected success of the

Charlotte Checkers The Charlotte Checkers are a minor-league professional ice hockey team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the American Hockey League (AHL), and are the top minor league affi ...

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. Organizers chose Jacksonville as the

was one of the few arenas in Florida equipped for ice hockey. For most of their existence, the Rockets were coached by

Bob Sabourin Robert Patrick Sabourin (March 17, 1933 – July 9, 2020) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach, and general manager. A left winger, he played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL), for the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1 ...

, who initially joined the team as a player and subsequently became the head coach and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

. The Rockets faced an uphill battle in attracting fans, as at the time hockey had made few inroads in the southern United States. A contemporary article in the '' Jacksonville Journal'' commented that when the Rockets began play, locals "didn't know a hockey puck from a bedwarmer or a hockey stick from a shepherd's staff." Sabourin and the team launched a number of ventures to promote the sport, organizing youth leagues and skating lessons at the Coliseum. Beginning in the 1965–1966 season they played some of their home games at the

Bayfront Arena Bayfront Center was an indoor arena located in St. Petersburg, Florida that hosted many concerts, sporting and other events. Depending on the configuration, it could hold up to 8,600 people. The arena was opened in 1965 and demolished in 2004. I ...

. In 1966 the Rockets hoped to add

West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

as a home city as well, and they changed their name to the Florida Rockets to reflect their new "all-Florida" status. However, the West Palm Beach games were cancelled due to construction delays, and the team resumed their original name in 1968. The Rockets fielded mostly losing teams and drew modest crowds for most of their run. They drew sellout and near-sellout crowds in Jacksonville in 1967, when they were in contention for the EHL championship. Otherwise, they averaged around 2,500 spectators per game. The Rockets finally folded in 1972 due to economic pressures. They were followed by the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

Jacksonville Barons Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

, who relocated from Cleveland, Ohio in 1973. The Barons folded at the end of the 1973–1974 season, and Jacksonville did not have a hockey team for nearly two decades. Bob Sabourin remained in Jacksonville, promoting concerts,

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

and other events. He eventually opened his own skating rink and owned another minor league hockey team, the

Jacksonville Bullets The Jacksonville Bullets were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They played in the Sunshine Hockey League, later renamed the Southern Hockey League, from 1992–1996. They played their games at Jacksonv ...

References

{{reflist Defunct ice hockey teams in the United States Ice hockey teams in Florida Eastern Hockey League teams Ice hockey teams in Jacksonville, Florida 1964 establishments in Florida 1972 disestablishments in Florida Ice hockey clubs established in 1964 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 1972