© Aubrey Corkum

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, as part of NHL.com’s celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, he profiles Juan Carlos Otero, founder of the Amerigol LATAM Cup.

Juan Carlos Otero’s passion for hockey runs so deep, when the Florida Panthers relocated from the old Miami Arena to what’s now Amerant Bank Arena in 1998, he moved in order to shorten his drive to games.

“I’m the only one in my family who lives in Broward County and the only reason I’m there is because of the Panthers,” Otero said. “When I love something, I go all-in.”

Otero has taken that “all-in” approach with the Amerigol LATAM Cup, a tournament he started in 2018 to showcase the talent and passion of hockey in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.

The tournament has grown beyond its original mission that began with five Latin American teams and 92 players competing at the Florida Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs.

More than 1,100 players on 52 teams — representing Latin American countries and territories, the Middle East and African nations — competed in six divisions in the LATAM Cup at the Ice Den and Baptist Health IcePlex, the Panthers’ practice facility in Fort Lauderdale, in August.

© Aubrey Corkum

And Otero expects the 2025 tournament to be even bigger, with more teams from other parts of the world.

“Peru is going to participate next year, and Lichtenstein reached out and they want to come and play in the tournament,” he said. “We have Guatemala participating next year, and Ecuador. We have a First Nations team that’s going to participate, Pakistan is looking to add more teams and Greece is going to add another team.

“We strongly believe that hockey is for everyone. Our mission was Latin America but, really, at the end of the day it’s countries that are non-traditional countries. We’d be hypocrites not allowing the other countries to play.”

The tournament has become a destination for programs looking to attract government or private support in efforts to grow hockey in their respective countries, mainly by building ice rinks that would allow them to compete in International Ice Hockey Federation events and put them on the path of one day competing in the Winter Olympics.

“I think that Juan is really truly making hockey accessible for the global stage and making hockey accessible for people who want to be on the global stage regardless of skill level,” said Sam Uisprapassorn, a coach for Colombia’s men’s and women’s national teams.

“Having the tournament in South Florida really was like the catalyst to give hockey in Latin America a lot of exposure, and then it kind of snowballed into having the rest of the world kind of knocking down the door — a Jamaican team, an Israeli team, Armenian teams, the Egyptians. I think Juan Carlos has built something where the sky’s the limit.”

Otero, director of operations/technical manager for Americhem Pharmaceutical Corporation, covered a lot of the LATAM Cup’s expenses himself in the tournament’s early years.

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The LATAM Cup’s success and growth has been supported by the Florida Panthers and the NHL and NHL Players’ Association through its Industry Growth Fund.

The Fund (IGF), a committee overseen by representatives from the NHL and NHLPA, was established in 2013 to support local hockey programs and reduce barriers to participation.

Rob Knesaurek, NHL Senior Vice President, Industry Growth, said Otero is “a true ambassador of the game.”

“Juan Carlos’ unwavering passion and commitment to making hockey accessible in markets not traditionally associated with the sport is nothing short of admirable,” Knesaurek said. “His forward-thinking, ‘why not’ approach, coupled with his deep-rooted Colombian heritage and love for hockey, have become integral to his lasting legacy.”

Chris Campoli, NHLPA Divisional Player Representative, said Otero brings a passion to hockey that’s “unmatched.”

“Critical to our growth strategy at the NHLPA is identify community leaders that we can partner with to truly make an impact at the grassroots level,” Campoli said. “Juan Carlos has set the standard with his leadership and development of the LATAM Cup … We look forward to continuing our support of the LATAM Cup through the Industry Growth Fund.”

Otero said he’s looking forward to taking the tournament beyond South Florida next year. The Vegas Golden Knights’ LosVGK will host the 2025 Spring LATAM Classic at America First Center in Henderson, Nevada, in March.

The invitational tournament will feature men’s and women’s national teams representing Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and other countries.

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The Dallas Stars hosted the Spring Classic in March 2022 with five men’s teams representing Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

“We want to use the Spring Classic as a resource for NHL teams that want to reach out to their minority, Latin communities and have the tournament there,” Otero said.

Otero said he never imagined he would become this involved in hockey when a co-worker from New York took him to his first Panthers game in 1994-95.

“I was hooked and started going to more Panthers games,” he said. “I became a season-ticket holder the following season, the year that we went for the Stanley Cup Final. I was there when they played their first game in the new arena in October 1998 against the (Tampa Bay) Lightning and I moved into the new house the next month.”

His interest in Latin American hockey spawned from business trips to places like Colombia and Brazil, where he would see kids playing roller hockey.

“It kind of hurt and bothered me seeing these kids and feeling like they don’t have an opportunity to play the sport,” he said. “I just felt like these kids deserved an opportunity to play a game that they love and to play it here for someone to see their talent.”

The LATAM Cup has become a family affair for Otero, his wife, Susan, daughter, Alyssa, and son Christopher, who is a rookie forward for the Metro Jets of the United States Premier Hockey League this season.

They’ve all worked the tournament, spending hours in the IceDen selling tickets, team and tournament merchandise or helping with logistics.

“I’m all-in and so are they,” Otero said with a laugh.