The Tallahassee Tiger Sharks were a minor professional ice hockey team that played in the ECHL from 1994–2001. Under this period they served as a minor league affiliate to New York Islanders (1994–95), Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens.
While in Tallahassee, they played their games at the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center. Several local attempts have been made by local residents to revive or bring a new ice hockey team to Tallahassee; none have proved to be successful.
Previous franchise identities included:
- Virginia Lancers (1988–1990)
- Roanoke Valley Rebels (1990–1992)
- Roanoke Valley Rampage (1992–1993)
- Huntsville Blast (1993–1994)
The franchise became the Macon Whoopee for the 2001-2002 season. Afterwards it became the Lexington Men O' War and since 2005 has been the Utah Grizzlies.
The Tiger Sharks' first colors were black and gray. White was used as an accent color, but is also considered to be an official color. At the start of the 1998-99 ECHL season, the colors then changed to red, white, and black.
Famed hockey coach Terry Christensen coached the Tiger Sharks for five of the team's first six seasons and was also the team's owner. Jeff Brubaker, a former NHL enforcer who won the ECHL's Riley Cup as the coach of the Greensboro Monarchs, coached the team during the 1998-99 season while Christensen left the organization to join the Miami Matadors. Gerry Fleming, a former enforcer who spent ten years with the Fredericton Canadiens as both a player and as an assistant coach, coached the Tiger Sharks in their final season.
Read more about Tallahassee Tiger Sharks: Notable Former Tiger Sharks, Mascot
Famous quotes containing the words tiger and/or sharks:
“When there is no tiger on the mountain, the monkey becomes king.”
—Chinese proverb.
“Nobody had ever instructed him that a slave-ship, with a procession of expectant sharks in its wake, is a missionary institution, by which closely-packed heathen are brought over to enjoy the light of the Gospel.”
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896)