For immediate release

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

The Knoxville Ice Bears will host their annual free agent camp on Friday and Saturday, October 7-8 at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum, head coach Jeff Carr confirmed. The camp will precede the team’s preseason camp leading up to the start of the regular season on October 21.

“Each year we’re finding a stronger, more competitive crop of players that are making our roster out of this camp,” said Carr. “Last year we had four players make our opening night roster.”

Forwards Mike Mercurio and Colton Fletcher and defensemen Riley Robertson and Cody Rodgers all received roster spots out of Knoxville’s free agent camp last September. Each of those four players appeared in at least 26 SPHL regular season games last season.

The Ice Bears had 17 players either on the active roster or from the previous season’s protected list receive a call-up to the ECHL, with four of those players being signed by AHL teams. 45 different Ice Bears players have received a call-up to either the ECHL or the AHL in the last five seasons.

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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