the team started as the detroit olympics in 1927 playing home games at the detroit olympia. the olympics played two seasons in the canadian professional hockey league (canpro) and seven seasons in the international hockey league (ihl) after the ihl split from canpro in 1929. the ihl would merge with the canadian-american hockey league (can-am) in 1936 to form the international-american hockey league. in october 1936, john harris, a pittsburgh theater chain owner, purchased the olympics and relocated the team to become the pittsburgh hornets.