For immediate release

For more information, contact: Joel Silverberg, Director of Broadcasting (865) 525-7825, joel@knoxvilleicebears.com.

The Knoxville Ice Bears will open their 21st season with a home game on Friday night, October 21 at 7:35 p.m. at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum, the Southern Professional Hockey League confirmed earlier this week. The 56-game regular season will be the SPHL’s 19th. Knoxville spent its first season in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League before moving to the South East Hockey League the following year. The SPHL was formed in 2004.

In their 20th season, the Ice Bears set an SPHL-record with 42 regular season wins and became the first team in league history to win the William B. Coffey Trophy as regular season champions five times.

The evening’s festivities will include Knoxville raising a banner to commemorate the organization’s regular season title.

Knoxville’s opening night opponent, full home and road game schedules and promotional schedule will be released at a later time.

ABOUT The Knoxville Ice Bears: The Knoxville Ice Bears organization began in 2002 and was an inaugural charter member of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) in 2004. As four-time SPHL Champions and five-time regular season champions, the Ice Bears are an experienced and established organization, offering the city and its visitors a balanced product of highlight-reel hockey, unique and exciting intermission activity and endless fan interaction, presenting the most affordable, family-friendly way to enjoy sports and entertainment. Season, Partial Season and Flex Tickets are now on sale. For more information, visit www.knoxvilleicebears.com or call (865) 525-7825.

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