Knoxville Ice Bears

The Knoxville Ice Bears are a professional ice hockey team. The team competes in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). They play their home games at James White Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States.
==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 2002–03 season, the Ice Bears moved to the new South East Hockey League. Again, they finished as a runner-up in the playoffs to the Huntsville Channel Cats for 2003–04. In 2004, The team again changed 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 of the playoffs (after a first round bye) to the eventual champions, the Columbus Cottonmouths.
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 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.Hillman resigns as coach of Ice Bears for job in CHLKnoxville Ice Bears head coach resigns Marc Rodgers took over in June 2009 after Hillman's departure.
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 to play. 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. 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.
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 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's Nashville 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.
===Year by Year Results===
Season 	GP	W 	L 	OL	Pts	GF 	GA 	Finish 	Playoffs
2002–03	59	36	21	2 	74 	- 	- 	2nd of 6 ACHL 	W, SF 3-0 (Parrots)L, F 0-3 (Seals)
2003–04	56	26	30	- 	52 	201	195	3rd of 4 SEHL 	W, SF 2-0 (Fire Antz)L, F 0-3 (Channel Cats)
2004–05	56	34	22	- 	68 	235	185	1st of 8, SPHL 	QF bye L, SF 0-2 (Cottonmouths)
2005–06	56	36	14	6 	78 	262	192	1st of 7, SPHL 	W, QF 3-1 (Cyclones)SF byeW, F 3-1 (Seals)President's Cup Champions
2006-07	56	33	19	4 	70 	219	185	T-2nd of 8, SPHL 	W, QF 2-1 (Renegades)L, SF 0-2 (Fire Antz)
2007–08	52	32	16	4 	68 	199	169	1st of 7, SPHL 	W, QF 3-2 (Cottonmouths)SF byeW, F 3-0 (Barracudas)President's Cup Champions
2008-09	60	35	16	9 	79 	216	171	1st of 6, SPHL 	W, SF 3-2 (Havoc)W, F 4-3 (Fire Antz)President's Cup Champions
2009–10	56	30	23	3 	63 	228	199	4th of 7, SPHL 	W, QF 2-1 (Fire Antz)L, SF 0-2 (Havoc)
2010–11	56	27	29	- 	54 	186	187	6th of 8, SPHL 	L, QF 2-3 (Surge)
2011–12	56	32	16	8 	72 	208	170	3rd of 9, SPHL 	W, QF 2-1 (RiverKings)L, SF 0-2 (Ice Flyers)
2012–13	56	33	19	4 	70 	180	157	4th of 9, SPHL 	W, QF 2-0 (Cottonmouths)L, SF 0-2 (Ice Flyers)
2013–14	56	25	24	7 	57 	157	163	T-6th of 10, SPHL	W, QF 2-0 (IceGators)L, SF 1-2 (Ice Flyers)
2014–15	56	31	22	3 	65 	159	166	5th of 8, SPHL 	W, QF 2-1 (Cottonmouths)W, SF 2-0 (IceGators)W, F 2-1 (RiverKings)President's Cup Champions
2015–16	56	29	21	6 	64 	163	165	5th of 9, SPHL 	L, QF 1-2 (Fire Antz)
2016-17	56	29	20	7 	65 	175	178	6th of 10, SPHL 	L, QF 0-2 (Rivermen)
2017-18	56	30	20	6 	66 	205	182	5th of 10, SPHL 	W, QF 2-0 (Ice Flyers)L, SF 0-2 (Rivermen)
2018-19	56	29	22	5 	63 	169	166	4th of 10, SPHL 	W, QF 2-0 (Mahyhem)L, SF 0-2 (Havoc)
2019-20	48	26	17	5 	57 	153	151	6th of 10, SPHL 	Season cancelled prior to end of season
2020-21	42	24	14	4 	52 	128	103	2nd of 5, SPHL 	L, SF 0-2 (Ice Flyers)
2021-22	56	42	10	4 	88 	220	136	1st 	Lost Quarterfinals
2022-23	57	32	22	3 	67 	221	199	6th 	Lost Quarterfinals
2023-24	56	16	36	4 	36 	128	231	10th 	Did not qualify
==General manager history==
* Tommy Benizio: 2002–2003
* Preston Dixon: 2003–2006
* Mike Murray: 2006–present
==Coaching history==
* Tony Martino: 2002–2003
* Jim Bermingham: 2003–2007
* Scott Hillman: 2007–2009
* Marc Rodgers: 2009–2010
* Mike Craigen: 2010–2017
==Captain history==
* Steve Zoryk: 2002–2003
* Craig Desjarlais: 2003–2004
* Todd MacIsaac: 2004–2005
* Doug Searle: 2005–2006
* Kevin Swider: 2006–2010
* Mike Bulawka: 2010–2011
* Kevin Swider: 2011–2012
* Mark Van Vliet: (co-captain) 2013–2014
* David Segal: (co-captain) 2013–2015
* Jason Price: 2015–present
==Championships==
Year 	League	Trophy
2005–06	SPHL 	President's Cup
2007–08	SPHL 	President's Cup
2008–09	SPHL 	President's Cup
2014–15	SPHL 	President's Cup
The Knoxville Ice Bears have won four William B. Coffey Trophies as the regular season champions and four President's Cup championships as the playoff champions.
==Notable former Ice Bears==
*Kyle Bochek - Bloomington Blaze (CHL)
*Derek Foam - South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL)
*Bryan Hince - San Francisco Bulls (ECHL)
*Scott Holtzman - Ultimate Fighting Championship (lightweight)
*Jason LePine - Iserlohn Roosters (DEL)
*Ervīns Muštukovs - Sheffield Steelers (EIHL)
*Nick Niedert - Bloomington Blaze (CHL)
*Mike Towns - Idaho Steelheads (ECHL)
*Jason Weeks - Tulsa Oilers (CHL)
==References==
==External links==
*Knoxville Ice Bears
*The Southern Professional Hockey League website
Category:Southern Professional Hockey League teams
Category:Knoxville Ice Bears
Category:Atlantic Coast Hockey League (2002-2003) teams
Category:South East Hockey League teams