The Florida Cup is back for its third season in Fort Myers, Fla. This always exciting event comes to the Fort Myers Skatium on the weekend of Oct. 19-20, 2024, and will feature the Premier and Elite teams from the Florida Eels, Florida Jr. Blades, Palm Beach Typhoon and Tampa Bay Juniors organizations. 
“This Florida Cup is designed with a purpose to create a playoff atmosphere in the early part of the season for the local Florida teams: The Florida Eels, the Florida Jr. Blades, the Tampa Bay Juniors and the Palm Beach Typhoon. These games are very well attended as families love to come and watch the excitement of these four teams,” said Eels General Manager Frank Scarpaci. “The spirit of these games is what throttles the competition. The games do count in the standings as part of their 44 regular season games.
“These games are well-scouted on FloHockey as part of the regular recruiting process. The last two seasons, we had over a dozen NCAA college hockey coaches and even more AAU and ACHA coaches tune in to these games on FloHockey,” Scarpaci added. “Many of the Eels’ college commitments were first scouted from these events. Indeed, many of the college coaches echoed that this was where the seeds were planted. From here, they followed the players in USPHL Showcase Series events and individual games.”
The USPHL Premier Conference produced more than 320 college commitments last year, including 15 alumni who have moved on to the NCAA Division I level in 2024-25 or in a future season. The USPHL Elite featured 64 players making ACHA and AAU commitments in 2023-24, plus another 18 alumni who committed to NCAA Division II and III schools.
Tournament Format
The Florida Cup seedings are based on the conclusion of the prior year’s regular season final standings. The highest-seeded team will face off against the lowest seed. The second seed will square off against the third seed. Last season, both Florida Eels teams were the winners of both the Elite and Premier Florida Cups.
In this year’s first contests, the Eels will face off against the Palm Beach Typhoon in Game 1 of the Premier and Elite tournaments at 12 p.m. and 9 a.m.., respectively. The Tampa Juniors will face off against the Jr. Blades in the Premier and Elite Divisions at 6 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively. On Sunday, the winners of each set of Saturday games will then compete for the Florida Cups. Sunday schedules will be set once the Saturday winners are set, with the same ice slots available.
The two losing teams will square off in consolation games. The in-season tournament is a big hit with college scouts, parents and fans and certainly the players themselves.
“When we asked some of our alumni which part of their seasons with the Eels stood out the most, we expected them to all say Nationals. Many, however, said it was the Florida Cup because of the excitement inside the building with just four teams per conference battling it out.”
