In Puerto Rico, passionate sports fans can play on many baseball, basketball and soccer teams from junior to professional levels.
Not a single ice hockey rink or team is on the island.
That's just one barrier a group of Tampa Bay area hockey players face as they aim to represent the island in the highest form of international competition, the Olympics.
Scott Vargas, president and captain of the Puerto Rican Ice Hockey Association (PRIHA) said his team that practices and plays on the mainland has made strides, despite playing for just a few years.
Recently, they played in its highest level of international competition yet, The Challenger Series. It's a three-weekend mini-league between the national teams of Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Lebanon and Greece.
"My dad was born in Puerto Rico," said Lexander Santiago, a defenseman on the team. "My mom and her parents were born in Puerto Rico. It means a lot to support where I come from, it's something bigger than myself."
Kevin Rosello, who has played competitively in Tampa for over a decade, says it's more than a team, it's a family.
"This is just an extension of how our culture is," Rosello said. "It's like a family gathering, a reunion every time."
Running the team is a family affair. Scott Vargas runs the team with his two brothers, Kyle and Brett, and his father, Luis.
"It was always something that we would almost joke about," Scott Vargas said. "We'd say, 'Hey, it would be really cool if Puerto Rico had a team.' We knew Puerto Rico represents itself in the Olympics, kind of has that national identity, but (we) never necessarily thought that we would be the ones to do it."
The team started in 2019 with a group of 11 players. The Vargas family reached out to people from all over the U.S. and Puerto Rico who showed interest in getting a national team started. PRIHA has over 200 registered members, as of 2022. He said today, 500 players have signed up.
These members play in tournaments and exhibition games all across North America.
The Challenger Series was played over the course of three weekends over three months. The national teams faced off in New York in August, Chicago in June and Toronto in July.
Jamaica won the championship last week, led by brothers Givani and Gemel Smith, Jamaican-Canadians who play in the National Hockey League.
"It's been a memorable experience, certainly a difficult one," Scott Vargas said. "It's not easy to create a league. But it's been fun. And I think anyone that's been able to come out to an event and watch the hockey has been pleased with the level of entertainment."
Men are not the only hockey players who are trying to raise the sport's profile in the U.S. territory. Puerto Rico has a women's team that competes across the U.S. mainland.
Milena Monell lives in Tampa and plays for the Puerto Rican women's national team. For her, the vision is also about growing the sport for women like her.
"As soon as I joined the (local) girls team, Florida Alliance, that's when I was like, 'Oh, wow, this is crazy. I need to keep doing this,'" Monell said, "so I can show younger people that you can play hockey, even if you're a girl, even if you're from Puerto Rico, it does not matter."
And as representation grows, Kyle Vargas, Scott's youngest brother, believes the sky's the limit.
"We're looking at the first generation of Puerto Rican ice hockey players at the national level," Kyle said. "What is it going to be three generations from now? Maybe the next Wayne Gretzky or Connor McDavid could be of Puerto Rican descent."
As these Tampa Bay area players spread Puerto Rican pride on the ice, playing the game on the island will have to wait - and be played on concrete, sticking to floor and roller hockey.
"It's definitely not traditional," said Scott, "but what would you expect from a non-traditional country like Puerto Rico, a tropical island."
