ICE BEARS BOOSTER CLUB

October 24, 2008
Fayetteville @ Knoxville

Help support your Ice Bears - join the Booster Club and participate in many of the fun fund raising activities during the season with the Ice Bears Player's and other Ice Bear Fans. Watch this site for the next scheduled meeting.

Carter and Harris find a home in Knoxville

August 13, 2008 – Scott Hillman, head coach of the Knoxville Ice Bears, is continuing to build a strong foundation for the 2008 team. The organization recently re-signed Mike Carter, a 28-year-old forward from Cambridge, Ontario and Kevin Harris, a 26-year-old all-star defenseman from Altona, Manitoba.

Before signing with Knoxville last season, Carter and Harris had combined to play on 9 different professional teams. Carter played 155 NCAA Division I hockey games at Mercyhurst College in Pennsylvania from 2000 until 2004 scoring 26 goals. He then went on to play for the Wichita Thunder in the Central Hockey League (CHL) playing in 59 games and scoring 12 goals.

Carter then moved on to another CHL team, the Odessa Jackalopes, where he scored 13 goals and 29 assists for 42 points in 62 games during the 2005-2006 season. Coach Hillman and Carter both played for the Jackalopes that year. The 2006-2007 hockey season was a busy one for Carter. He only played in one game for the Jackalopes until he moved on to the Lubbock Cotton Kings for 27 games. From there he went back to the Wichita Thunder and played in six games before moving on to the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) for the 2007-2008 season.

The Ice Bears organization recruited Carter just a few games into the season, which proved to be a good decision. He scored 17 goals and had 27 assists for 44 points in 50 games. “Mike Carter is a key component as we attempt to build a team to make a run at back-to-back championships. ‘Carts’ is one of the fastest skaters in the league and became known for his end-to-end rushes with the puck. I believe that last season Mike was really getting his legs back under him after a frustrating season in the CHL that was split between three teams.

It looks like he has found a home with the Ice Bears, as he had a great experience joining the likes of Swider, Craigen and Vitek last year. I hope he will be a part of our franchise for years to come,” commented Coach Hillman.

Harris is a 5’10, 210 pound blueliner who has extensive hockey experience. Before being recruited by Knoxville, Kevin Harris played 97 professional games at the “AA” level and has experience in all 3 “AA” leagues. His career started in the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1997. Over the course of five seasons, he played 227 games of Major Junior Hockey with the Brandon Wheat Kings.

During that time, he accumulated 36 goals, had 97 assists and only logged 118 penalty minutes. Harris spent one year in the Canadian Interuniversity Sports league before being recruited by a variety of ECHL and CHL teams before coming to the Ice Bears last season, which was arguably his best professional season. Harris led the SPHL in the plus-minus category with a (plus-32). In 50 games with Knoxville, he scored 10 goals and 25 assists. “Marc Rodgers (assistant coach) and I are so pleased to have “Harry” back with us as we re-tool our blue line once again.

Kevin played a huge role in our championship season last year. We had no returning defensemen, and people really thought we would struggle without the twin towers of Searle and Menzul on the blueline. Kevin proved to be a great anchor for a very inexperienced blueline. He showed great leadership and patience as our team made a significant change from a run-and-gun style in the early parts of the season to a team that took great pride in keeping our goals-against to a minimum. Kevin is at a point in his career where he has experienced the game at the next level but is has really enjoyed his experience in Knoxville and hopes to help to continue to lead this franchise to success,” Hillman explained.

Don’t forget to vote for your championship Knoxville Ice Bears in the News Sentinel East Tennessee’s Best Readers Poll 2008. Visit BEST and choose the Knoxville Ice Bears as the best attraction under Attractions, News and Entertainment.

The Knoxville Ice Bears will resume play in October. The defending SPHL champions will play 30 regular season home games at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.