On Thursday, Puerto Rico beat Chile for its first win in its first game. Three days later, they were crowned champions at the Amerigol Latam Cup in Florida.
Puerto Rico won the final 2-0, beating a strong Colombian team thanks to a shutout by Juliana Rogers. It’s a big moment for the team, who won silver in the second division of the men’s tournament back in 2019.
Puerto Rico’s men’s team will play for gold against Colombia in the top division at 3:15 PM ET at the Florida Panthers’ IceDen.
Hockey in PR does have an interesting history. During the closing stages of the 2006 NHL pre-season, San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, played host to a game between the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers. It was the first NHL game played in the Caribbean and what should have been the start of a beautiful partnership between the NHL and the American territory. The game came a year after the grand opening of the 18,500-seat Jose Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, something that was set to kick off hockey in the area after years of organization.
It flopped. It didn’t help that the game was during the slowest tourism season in September, but poor promotion of the event led to poor attendance which is estimated to have been around 5,000 patrons. The Panthers wanted to make it something big, but it didn’t work out.
Now, Puerto Rico has won a hockey championship.
