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Knoxville Ice Bears

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Knoxville Ice Bears
CityKnoxville, Tennessee
LeagueSouthern Professional Hockey League
Founded2002 (In the ACHL)
Home arenaKnoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum
ColorsBlack, Purple, Orange
     
General managerMike Murray
Head coachMike Craigen
MediaKnoxville News-Sentinel
WBIR-TV
WATE-TV
WVLT-TV
Franchise history
2002–presentKnoxville Ice Bears
Championships
Regular season titles4 (2004-05, 2005-06, 2007-08, 2008-09)
Playoff championships4 (2005-06, 2007-8, 2008-09, 2014-15)
Center Ice

The Knoxville Ice Bears are a professional ice hockey team. The team competes in the Southern Professional Hockey League. They play their home games at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Ice Bears are coached by Mike Craigen, currently in his 5th season as head coach. The Ice Bears have made the playoffs in all 14 years of their existence. In 2006, the Ice Bears defeated the Florida Seals to take their first President's Cup. The Ice Bears won back to back President's Cup Championships in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons. On April 18, 2015, the Ice Bears defeated the Mississippi RiverKings 4-2 to sweep the 2015 SPHL Finals and win their 4th President's Cup.

History

The Knoxville Ice Bears were founded in 2002 as a charter member of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League. After finishing as runner-up to the Orlando Seals in the 2002–2003 season, the Ice Bears moved to the new South Eastern Hockey League. Again, they finished as a runner-up in the playoffs to the Huntsville Channel Cats for 2003–2004. The team again moved hockey leagues and joined the new Southern Professional Hockey League. In the SPHL's first season, the Ice Bears won the regular season championship Commissioner's Cup, but lost in the second round (after a first round bye) to the eventual champions of 2004–2005, the Columbus Cottonmouths.

Finally, in 2005–2006, the Ice Bears secured the Commissioner's Cup and the President's Cup by beating the Florida Seals in Game 4 of a best-of-5 series. In 2006–2007, the team was eliminated in the league semifinals with two straight losses to the Fayetteville FireAntz. In 2007–2008, the Ice Bears once again secured the Commissioner's Cup, now renamed the William B. Coffey Trophy. In the 2008 President's Cup playoffs, the Ice Bears won again. Rookie goalie Kirk Irving took home playoff MVP honors. The President Cup title was the Ice Bears second in three years.

In 2008–2009, the Ice Bears again won the William B. Coffey Trophy. The Ice Bears also won their second straight President's Cup.

On May 29, 2009, it was announced that head coach Scott Hillman had resigned to be the first coach of the Central Hockey League's expansion team in Independence, Missouri.[1][2] Marc Rodgers took over in June 2009 after Hillman's departure.

On March 27, 2010, a line brawl erupted between The Ice Bears and arch rival Fayetteville. There was a total of 19 players ejected. In the 3rd with the Ice Bears winning 5-3, little players were remaining. The Ice Bears took a 9-4 lead. The Game was declared a forfeit at 10:45 of the 3rd period as Fayetteville had 2 skaters remaining after several Fayetteville players intentionally drew penalties so their team wouldn't have enough players to play. There was a total of 26 games in all suspensions.

In the 2009–10 season, the Ice Bears finished 4th out of 7 teams. They went to the play-offs to face the Fire Antz in a Best 2 of 3 series in the 1st round. Unfortunately the Ice Bears great back-to-back regular season. but their League championship run came to an end on Friday April 9, 2010 as they were defeated 3-1 in game 2 by the eventual Havoc champions.

After the 2009–10 season, Ice Bears' star and SPHL all-time leading scorer Kevin Swider retired. On July 12, 2010 Swider was named Ice Bears' Director of Hockey Operations and Youth Hockey School Director. Swider won every Scoring title from 2004-2010, all 6 years of the SPHL's existence to that point. Swider came out of retirement in the summer of 2011.

On June 29, 2010, head coach Marc Rodgers and the Ice Bears parted ways. It was not clear if Rodgers was fired or resigned.

On August 2, 2010, the Ice Bears introduced Mike Craigen as the new head coach. Craigen, a Buckhorn, Ontario, Canada native was a former Ice Bears player from 2004-2008. He was a part of Knoxville's 2006 and 2008 President's Cup Championship teams.

The 2010–11 season saw the Ice Bears finish 6th out of 8 teams, and their season was considered a decent success.

On October 9, 2012, the team announced that they had partnered with the NHL Nashville Predators to host a preseason game against their rivals Huntsville, at Bridgestone Arena, the Predators home ice, on October 20. The event was free to all Ice Bears season ticket holders.

On April 18, 2015, the Ice Bears won their 4th Presidents Cup, ending a six-year drought. Ice Bears' goalie Bryan Hince took home the SPHL Playoffs MVP Award after winning his last five starts in the playoffs and allowing less than 2 goals per game.

Arena History

General Manager history

Coaching history

Captain history

Championships

Year League Trophy
2005–2006 SPHL President's Cup
2007–2008 SPHL President's Cup
2008–2009 SPHL President's Cup
2014–2015 SPHL President's Cup

The Knoxville Ice Bears have won 4 William B. Coffey Trophies as the Regular season champions and 4 President's Cup Championships as the playoff champions.

Notable Former Ice Bears

References

  1. ^ Hillman resigns as coach of Ice Bears for job in CHL
  2. ^ Knoxville Ice Bears head coach resigns
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