KNOXVILLE, TENN. – The year was 2008. The Knoxville Ice Bears were skating on the ice at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum with the SPHL President’s Cup being passed from player to player. It was the last time that Kevin Swider and Mike Craigen were together on the ice as teammates. Although Swider would hoist the hardware the following season, Craigen was not around to see and enjoy the spoils of war.
Following a year off, Swider is back on the ice with his friend Craigen behind the bench and the two have one goal in mind: returning the cup to Knoxville. The road to that goal begins Wednesday night at the Civic Coliseum when the third-seeded Ice Bears battle the sixth-seeded Mississippi River Kings in game one of their best-of-three series. The teams will then head to Southaven, Mississippi for game two on Friday with a potential game three scheduled for Sunday in Knoxville if necessary.
The return of the swagger in Knoxville, although tempered by a .500 record in the season’s final five games with second place on the line, has centered around the return of Swider and the continued coaching education of Craigen. The Livonia, Michigan born Swider, already destined to go down as arguably the best player in the short history of the SPHL, has looked as if he never missed a single game between the spring of 2010 and the fall of 2011. For the seventh time in his career with the Ice Bears, he broke both the 30-goal and 90-point marks, notching 31 goals and 65 assists for 96 points. He set a career high with a plus-36 rating and had six game-winning goals.
One of the intangibles that Swider carries with him is the ability to make his teammates better. That was evident in the play of winger Emery Olauson, who was paired up by Craigen on a line with Swider. During the 2010-2011 season, Olauson was a point-per-game guy with 57 points and a plus-2 rating in 47 games with Knoxville. Riding shotgun with Swider, Olauson set career highs in goals (44), assists (44) and points (88) as well as finishing the regular season at a plus-33 rating. The pair also made the All-SPHL first team list. It also doesn’t hurt to have two-time SPHL Defenseman of the Year and All-SPHL first team defender Mark VanVliet patrolling the blue line, putting up 58 points and a plus-36 rating.
For his part, Craigen has grown into the head coach job quite nicely, taking a roster that finished sixth a year ago and taking it to within three points of second place. He made the right moves, pushed the right buttons and got his team to play better hockey. He also dealt with losing his starting goalie, Bryan Hince, but finding Kyle Rank who won nine games and had two shutouts late in the year.
Over in Southaven, the River Kings were going through adjustments of their own. Not only was the franchise dealing with a change in leagues and development levels, the team had a completely new roster and a new coach in Derek Landmesser.
Landmesser tried hard to get his troops to play a consistent brand of hockey but found the going tough. SPHL veteran Rob Sich played just 13 games before being suspended then called up to the ECHL but when he was released back, the River Kings released him. Between injuries, call-ups and other moves, only seven of the players who at one time or another were on the roster played more than 50 games.
Landmesser had to be quite happy with the ones who were around all year. Winger Darrell Stoddard led the offense with 19 goals and 33 assists for 52 points and a team-high plus-15 rating. Center Mark Magnowski led the team in goals with 21 to go with 21 assists and a plus-7. Ken Selby put up 20 goals and 35 points in a full season with the River Kings. Defensively, Kyle Lundale (8-26-34) and Leland Fidler (5-16-21) made it through the entire year.
Between the pipes, Scott Darling saw action in 35 games, posting a 15-17-1 record with a respectable 2.92 goals against average. David Wilson, acquired in a trade from Augusta, went 10-9-2 with a 2.99 goals against mark.
Knoxville won six of the nine meetings between the two franchises during the regular season. The Ice Bears won four of the five games in Tennessee while the River Kings won two of the four in Mississippi. Neither team had an advantage on the power play as they had identical 4-for-42 records which translates to a 9.5 percent success rate.
No less than five Ice Bears had nine or more points against the River Kings. Swider led the way with two goals and 15 assists for 17 points, followed by Olauson (7-5-12), Eric Slais (2-9-11), defenseman and All-SPHL second team member Ricky Helmbrecht (4-5-9) and VanVliet (3-6-9).
Stoddard was the best Mississippi player against Knoxville, notching five goals and three assists for eight points. Magnowski was next with six points while Lundale and Nick Vandenbeld added five points each. Between Wilson and Darling in net, they combined for a record of 3-3-2 against the Ice Bears.
Editor’s Pick: Any team with the firepower of Swider, Olauson and VanVliet would be a heavy favorite in any series, let alone with the surrounding cast the trio has. The River Kings could put up a fight but in the end, Knoxville wins this series in a two game sweep.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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