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 James White Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 2006 the Ice Bears defeated the Florida Seals to take the SPHL championship and the President's Cup. They have also won the Commissioner's Cup for the best record in the SPHL in the regular season the first two seasons of the SPHL's existence. In 2008, Knoxville did the double again winning both the Commissioner's and President's Cups.

KNOXVILLE ICE BEARS TICKETS EVENT DATE AVAILABILITY Fayetteville Marksmen vs. Knoxville Ice Bears Tickets 11/27 Nov 27, 2024 Wed, 7:00 PM Knoxville Ice Bears vs. Evansville Thunderbolts Tickets 11/29 Nov 29, 2024 Fri, 7:05 PM Knoxville Ice Bears vs. Fayetteville Marksmen Tickets 11/30 Nov 30, 2024 Sat, 7:05 PM Knoxville Ice Bears vs. Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs Tickets 12/6 Dec 06, 2024 Fri, 7:05 PM Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs vs. Knoxville Ice Bears Tickets 12/14 Dec 14, 2024 Sat, 7:05 PM

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 with 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 for 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 Commissioners Cup, now renamed the William B. Coffey Trophy. In the 2008 President Cup playoffs the Ice Bears faced the Columbus Cottonmouths in the opening round after winning the first two games in Knoxville (4-2 & 5-2) the Ice Bears dropped the next two in Columbus by the identical score of 4-2. In the fifth and deciding game the Ice Bears won comfortably on home ice 6-3. The championship, Best-of-Five, series started on April 10th with Knoxville coming out on top of the Jacksonville Barracudas 6-2. The scene switched to Jacksonville for game two on April 12th where the Ice Bears pulled out a hard fought 4-3 win. The brooms were out at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum the following night (April 13) and the Ice Bears didn’t disappoint as they jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, but Jacksonville fought back to tie the game at 2-2 after 20 minutes. However, in the second period Tim Vitek scored to put Knoxville ahead to stay and added another in the third for the final score of 4-2. Rookie goalie Kirk Irving took home playoff MVP honors. The President Cup title was the Ice Bears second in three years.

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]}

Coaching history

• - 2002-03
• - 2003-07
• - 2007-09
• Marc Rodgers - 2009-present

Captain history

• - 2002-03
• - 2003-04
• - 2004-05
• - 2005-06
• - 2006-Present

Current Roster

Forwards
#		align=left	Player	Pos.	Shoots	Height	Weight	Place of Birth
8		Chris Rebernik	C	R	6' 0"	185 lbs.	Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
9		Mark Van Vliet	F	L	6' 0"	170 lbs.	Dorchester, Ontario, Canada
12		Kevin Swider (C)	C	L	5' 10"	177 lbs.	Livonia, Michigan, USA
15		Jon Foster	F	R	5' 11"	185 lbs.	Suffern, New York, USA
17		Tim Vitek	F		5' 10"	175 lbs.	Dresden, Ontario, Canada
18		Mike Carter	W	R	5' 8"	180 lbs.	Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
19		Derek Pallardy	F		5' 10"	175 lbs.	Chesterfield, Missouri, USA
20		B.J. Pelkey	F	R	6' 0"	210 lbs.	South Stormont, Ontario, Canada
26		Ryan Moore	F		5' 7"	180 lbs.	Randolph, Massachusetts, USA
77		Ford Sergeant	C	L	6' 4"	228 lbs.	Saginaw, Michigan, USA
88		Caleb Moffat	W	R	6' 0"	210 lbs.	Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Defensemen
#		align=left	Player	Pos.	Shoots	Height	Weight	Place of Birth
2		Brett Smith	D		6' 0"	175 lbs.	Hudson, Massachusetts, USA
4		Kevin Harris	D	R	5' 11"	210 lbs.	Altona, Manitoba, Canada
11		Matt Withers	D		6' 3"	220 lbs.	Laconia, New Hampshire, USA
14		Phil Sbrocchi	D		5' 10"	180 lbs.	Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
22		Jared Siganuk	D		6' 2"	215 lbs.	Williamstown, New Jersey, USA
24		Sean Cryer	D	R	5' 11"	170 lbs.	Brampton, Ontario, Canada

Goaltenders
#		align=left	Player	Pos.	Catches	Height	Weight	Place of Birth
1		Kirk Irving	G	R	6' 0"	190 lbs.	Swan Hills, Alberta, Canada
82		Andrew Gallant	G		6' 2"	202 lbs.	Summerside, P.E.I., Canada

Championships

Year	League	Trophy
2005-2006	SPHL	President's Cup
2007-2008	SPHL	President's Cup
2008-2009	SPHL	President's Cup
2007-2008	SPHL	William B. Coffey Trophy

References

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