The Knoxville Ice Bears are a professional ice hockey team. The team competes in the SPHL. They play their home games at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Ice Bears have made the playoffs in every season 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.
In 2005–06, the Ice Bears secured the Commissioner's Cup and the President's Cup by beating the Florida Seals in game four of a best-of-five series. In 2006–07, the team was eliminated in the league semifinals with two straight losses to the Fayetteville FireAntz. In 2007–08, 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 2008–09, the Ice Bears again won the William B. Coffey Trophy. The Ice Bears also won their second straight President's Cup.
On March 27, 2010, a line brawl erupted between the Ice Bears and rival Fayetteville FireAntz. A total of 19 players were ejected. In the third period with the Ice Bears winning 5–3, few players remained. The Ice Bears then took a 9–4 lead. The game was declared a forfeit at 10:45 of the third period, as the FireAntz had two skaters remaining after several FireAntz players intentionally drew penalties so their team would not have enough players remaining to play the rest of the game.[3] There were a total of 26 games in suspensions handed out between all the ejected players.
In the 2009–10 season, the Ice Bears finished fourth out of seven teams. They went to the playoffs to face the FireAntz in a best-of-three series in the first round. The Ice Bears' back-to-back regular season and league championship run came to an end on April 9, 2010, when they were defeated 3–1 in game two by the eventual playoff champions, the Huntsville Havoc.
After the 2009–10 season, Ice Bears' star and SPHL all-time leading scorer Kevin Swider retired.[4] 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 to 2010, all six years of the SPHL's existence to that point. Swider came out of retirement in the summer of 2011. The SPHL renamed the league leader in scoring trophy after Swider in 2015.[5] In 2017, Swider was inducted into the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame for his repeated scoring titles in the SPHL.[6]
On June 29, 2010, head coach Marc Rodgers and the Ice Bears parted ways. It was not clear if Rodgers was fired or resigned.[7]
On August 2, 2010, the Ice Bears introduced Mike Craigen as the new head coach.[8] Craigen, a Buckhorn, Ontario, Canada native was a former Ice Bears player from 2004 to 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 sixth out of eight teams.
On October 9, 2012, the team announced that they had partnered with the NHL'sNashville Predators to host a preseason game against 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 fourth 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 two goals per game.[9]
On May 15, 2017, the team opted to not renew coach Mike Craigen's contract.[10] The Ice Bears then announced Jeff Carr as their new head coach in June.[11]
The Knoxville Ice Bears have won five William B. Coffey Trophies as the regular season champions and four President's Cup championships as the playoff champions.
The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which operated the league from 2000 to 2013, at which point it was purchased by the individual franchise owners. As of the end of its final season in 2014, three of the 30 National Hockey League teams had affiliations with the CHL: the Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, and Tampa Bay Lightning.
The SPHL is a professional ice hockey independent minor league based in Huntersville, North Carolina, with teams located primarily in the southeastern United States as well as Illinois and Indiana in the midwestern United States.
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The Fayetteville Marksmen are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Fayetteville, North Carolina. They currently play in the SPHL and play their home games in the Crown Coliseum.
The Huntsville Havoc are a professional ice hockey team in the SPHL. They play their home games at the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville, Alabama.
John Garrison Marks is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He most recently worked as the head coach of the Fargo Force of the United States Hockey League.
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The Mississippi Surge were a professional hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League that began play in the 2009–10 season and folded on May 2, 2014. Playing for five seasons, the Surge was based in Biloxi and home games were played at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, also known as "The Power Plant".
The 2007–08 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the fourth season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The regular season began October 25, 2007, and ended April 13, 2008, after a 52-game regular season and a six-team playoff. The Knoxville Ice Bears won their second SPHL championship.
The 2006–07 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the third season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The regular season began October 27, 2006, and ended April 18, 2007, after a 56-game regular season and a six-team playoff. The Fayetteville FireAntz won their first SPHL championship.
The 2005–06 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the second season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The regular season began October 21, 2005, and ended April 12, 2006, after a 56-game regular season and a six-team playoff. The Knoxville Ice Bears won their first SPHL championship.
The 2004–05 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the first season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The regular season began October 29, 2004, and ended April 1, 2005, after a 56-game regular season and a six-team playoff. The Columbus Cottonmouths won the first SPHL championship.
The 2011–12 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the eighth season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The season began October 20, 2011, and ended April 14, 2012, after a 56-game regular season and an eight-team playoff. The Columbus Cottonmouths captured their second SPHL championship.
The 2012–13 Southern Professional Hockey League season was the ninth season of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). The regular season began October 26, 2012 and ended April 14, 2013, after a 56-game regular season and an 8-team playoff. The Fayetteville FireAntz captured their first SPHL regular season title. The Pensacola Ice Flyers defeated the Huntsville Havoc in the President's Cup final 2 games to 1 to win the team's first President's Cup.
The 2009–10 Missouri Mavericks season is the inaugural season of the Central Hockey League (CHL) franchise in Independence, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri.
The 2014–15 SPHL season was the 11th season of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). The Knoxville Ice Bears defeated the Mississippi RiverKings in the President's Cup final 2 games to none to win their 4th SPHL title.
The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs are a professional ice hockey team and a member of the SPHL. Based in Roanoke, Virginia, the Rail Yard Dawgs play their home games at Berglund Center.
The 2021–22 SPHL season was the 18th season of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). The playoffs concluded on May 3, 2022 with the Peoria Rivermen defeating the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs in 4 games in the President's Cup Finals, claiming their first President's Cup.
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