The Tallahassee Tiger Sharks were a

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in No ...

professional

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 ...

team that played in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the populatio ...

, from 1994 to 2001 as members of the East Coast Hockey League. The Tiger Sharks home rink was the

Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center The Donald L. Tucker Civic Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena located on the Florida State University campus in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. The arena has the biggest capacity of any arena in the Florida Panhandle. The arena opened ...

. While in Tallahassee, the franchise was affiliated with the NHL's

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conferenc ...

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference, and initially played their home g ...

, and

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

. Since the loss of the Tiger Sharks franchise, several attempts have been made by local residents to bring ice hockey back to Tallahassee. Thus far, none of these efforts have been successful.

Franchise history

The franchise started in 1981 as the

Nashville South Stars The Nashville South Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the Central Hockey League (CHL) for the 1981–82 season. They then played in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL) for the 1982–83 season and part of the 1983–84 s ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

, in the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which oper ...

Henry Brabham Henry Brabham IV (April 29, 1929 – March 30, 2020) was a founder of the ECHL, formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League. In 2008, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the ECHL Hall of Fame. The Brabham Cup, first awarded in 1989, i ...

then took over the team in 1983 and relocated it mid-season to

Vinton, Virginia Vinton is a town in Roanoke County, Virginia, United States. The population was 8,059 at the 2020 census. Vinton is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Roanoke Region of Virginia. History By the late 18th century, settlers ...

, to become the Virginia Lancers. Brabham and the Lancers were then one of the founding members of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) in 1988. The franchise remained in Vinton until 1993 when it relocated to

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in ...

, as the

Huntsville Blast The Huntsville Blast were a minor league professional ice hockey team and member of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). The Blast played at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the 1993–94 ECHL season. Previously the franchise pl ...

for one season. In 1994, the Huntsville franchise relocated to Tallahassee and became the Tiger Sharks. The team adopted a new color scheme of black and gray, with white as an official accent color. Terry Christensen was named head coach of the Tiger Sharks, a position he held for five of the team's seven seasons in Tallahassee. The Tiger Sharks qualified for the playoffs in each of its first three seasons. Christensen left the organization to coach the Miami Matadors hockey club in 1998. At the start of the

1998–99 ECHL season The 1998–99 ECHL season was the 11th season of the ECHL. Before the start of the season, the league saw the Louisville RiverFrogs move to Miami, FL and the Raleigh Icecaps move to Augusta, GA as well as welcoming two new franchises in Estero, ...

, the color scheme was changed to red, white, and black.

Jeff Brubaker Jeffrey Joseph Brubaker (born February 24, 1958) is an American former professional ice hockey forward (ice hockey), forward. Brubaker was the first Maryland native to play in the NHL although he grew up and learned to play hockey in Lansing, Mic ...

, a former NHL enforcer who won the ECHL's

Riley Cup The Patrick J. Kelly Cup goes to the playoff champion of the ECHL. The Kelly Cup has been awarded to teams since 1997. Prior to 1997, the playoff winner was awarded the Riley Cup, named after former American Hockey League president Jack Riley. T ...

as the coach of the

Greensboro Monarchs The Greensboro Monarchs were a professional ice hockey team based in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Monarchs joined the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) as an expansion franchise prior to the start of the 1989–90 season and surrendered the f ...

, coached the team during the 1998–99 season. Following the folding of the Miami Matadors after one season, Christensen returned to coach the Tiger Sharks again for the 1999–2000 season. During the 2000–01 season, the Tiger Sharks were coached by

Gerry Fleming Gerald Alexander Fleming (born October 16, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played 11 games in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens. Fleming also played ice hockey for the University of Prince Edward ...

, a former enforcer who spent ten years with the

Fredericton Canadiens The Fredericton Canadiens, or the 'Baby Habs' were a professional ice hockey team in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The Canadiens played their home games at the Aitken Centre. They were a member of the American Hockey League from 1990 to 1999, and we ...

as both a player and as an assistant coach. During the 2000–01 season, the team was in position to qualify for the playoffs after missing in the previous three seasons, but was penalized $50,000 and 15 points in the standings for violating the team salary cap and making improper payments to NHL and AHL teams to get assigned players. After the conclusion of the 2000–01 season, the franchise was relocated to

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of G ...

Playoffs

* 1994–95: Defeated

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic ...

3–1 in first round; defeated

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

3–1 in quarterfinals; lost to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

3–2 in semifinals. * 1995–96: Defeated

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

3–1 in first round; defeated

3–1 in quarterfinals; lost to

Charlotte 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 ...

3–1 in semifinals. * 1996–97: Lost to

Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...

3–0 in first round. * 1997–98: Did not qualify. * 1998–99: Did not qualify. * 1999–00: Did not qualify. * 2000–01: Did not qualify.

Mascot

The Tiger Sharks' mascot was an ice-skating gray tiger shark named Frenzy. Frenzy was immensely popular among Tiger Sharks fans (and Tallahasseans in general).

Notable former Tiger Sharks

Brent Cullaton Brent Cullaton (born November 12, 1974) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player. He is also a three-time Central Hockey League all-star. During his final professional seasons in the CHL, Cullaton also served as the General Manager an ...

* Mitch Fritz *

Ben Guite Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he, ...

Todd Reirden Todd R. Reirden (born June 25, 1971) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the associate coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously held head coaching positions for the Washi ...

Manon Rhéaume Manon Rhéaume (born February 24, 1972) is a Canadian former ice hockey goaltender. An Olympic silver medalist, she achieved a number of historic firsts during her career, including becoming the first woman to play in exhibition game in any of ...

Michael Ryder Michael Glen Wayne Ryder (born March 31, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger. Ryder played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars, and New Jersey Devils. ...

* Alexander Savchenkov * Aleksandr Smirnov *

Darren Schwartz Darren Schwartz (born March 28, 1968) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 490 games in the East Coast Hockey League. He was inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame on January 23, 2013. Career Schwartz's career spanned te ...

* Mark Streit

References

External links

Tallahassee Tiger Sharks at HockeyDB
{{ECHLdefunct Sports in Tallahassee, Florida Defunct ECHL teams Defunct ice hockey teams in the United States Ice hockey clubs established in 1994 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2001 New York Islanders minor league affiliates Florida Panthers minor league affiliates Edmonton Oilers minor league affiliates Montreal Canadiens minor league affiliates Ice hockey teams in Florida 1994 establishments in Florida 2001 disestablishments in Florida