Founded in 2004, the SPHL (formerly known as the Southern Professional Hockey League) is an independent minor professional league headquartered in Huntersville, North Carolina. The league entered its 20th season of operation on Oct. 20, 2023.
Related: Introducing Major League Hockey (MLH)
With the exception of the 2019-2020 season, the league has crowned a champion every season since its inception. The Knoxville Ice Bears and Pensacola Ice Flyers currently lead the SPHL with the most championships – both teams have earned four. The Ice Bears captured their most recent SPHL President’s Cup in 2015, while the Ice Flyers won their last crown in 2021.
The league consists of ten teams with the states of Alabama, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, and Virginia represented. The head coaches have varied levels of playing and coaching experience, with most spending much of their careers in the minor leagues.
Craig Simchuk – Birmingham Bulls
Born on April 21, 1989, in Winnipeg, Canada, Craig Simchuk played four seasons of NCAA Division III hockey with Manhattanville College before embarking on a professional career in the SPHL. Between 2014 and 2019, he played three seasons with the Columbus Cottonmouths and two with the Birmingham Bulls.
Following his retirement from playing, Simchuk entered the coaching ranks before the 2019-2020 season. He has served as the head coach of the Bulls since the 2020-2021 season. Leading up to this season, Simchuk’s head coaching record stood at 67 wins and 71 losses. After leading the Bulls to the SPHL President’s Cup final last season, Simchuk was named the SPHL Coach of the Year.
Jeff Bes – Evansville Thunderbolts
Selected 58th overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota North Stars, Jeff Bes played parts of 25 professional seasons. A career minor leaguer, Bes spent significant time in the East Coast Hockey League (now the ECHL) and Central Hockey League (CHL). Between 2003 and 2011, he played center for the CHL’s Laredo Bucks, scoring 219 goals.
Bes, 50, has served as the head coach for the Evansville Thunderbolts since the 2019-2020 season. Leading up to the 2023-2024 season, his record stood at 85 wins and 62 losses in three seasons as head coach for the team.
Ryan Cruthers – Fayetteville Marksmen
A native of New York, Ryan Cruthers played two seasons with the Army West Point Black Knights men’s ice hockey team before transferring to Robert Morris University. There, he finished up his collegiate career, scoring 22 goals and 27 assists for the Colonials squad during the 2007-2008 season. His success that season led to his nomination for the Hobey Baker Award, a trophy presented annually to the best player in NCAA Division I hockey.
Undrafted in the NHL Entry Draft, Cruthers played professional hockey as a center from 2008 to 2015, spending time in the American Hockey League (AHL), ECHL, and CHL. He is the all-time leader in points for the ECHL’s Reading Royals with 273 over parts of five seasons with the team. The 2023-2024 season marks the first full season that Cruthers will serve as head coach and director of hockey operations for the Fayetteville Marksmen.
Stuart Stefan – Huntsville Havoc
A four-year starter at Castleton State College in Vermont, Stuart Stefan turned professional as a defenseman for the Huntsville Havoc of the SPHL during the 2011-2012 season. Except for 28 games with the Perth Thunder of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL), Stefan spent his entire playing career with the Havoc. A two-time captain for the team, he retired from playing after the 2017-2018 season. Stefan transitioned from spending his final two seasons as player-assistant coach to full-time assistant coach during the 2018-2019 season, a role he filled until being hired as the Havoc’s head coach this past summer.
Brent Clarke – Knoxville Ice Bears
A veteran of 13 professional seasons in the minor leagues, Brent Clarke was named head coach of the Knoxville Ice Bears leading up to the 2022-2023 season. He went 32-22 with the Ice Bears in his debut season. An alternate captain on the 2012-2013 Pensacola Ice Flyers SPHL President’s Cup championship team, Clarke played in over 300 professional games as a center, 154 of them in the SPHL.
Nick Niedert – Macon Mayhem
Born in Hudson, Iowa in 1982, Nick Niedert played 17 seasons as a goalie in the minor leagues between 2004 and 2021. The Eastern Professional Hockey League (EPHL) Most Valuable Player during the 2008-2009 season, Niedert won 25 games for the Jersey Rockhoppers that year.
He joined the coaching ranks as an assistant with the Vermilion County Bobcats of the SPHL leading up to the 2021-2022 season. Before the 2022-23 season, Niedert was named head coach of the Macon Mayhem. In his head coaching debut, Niedert had 13 wins and 39 losses. The head coach has deep ties to the city, having broken into the professional ranks with the former Macon Trax of the SPHL during the 2004-2005 season.
Gary Graham – Pensacola Ice Flyers
Head coach Gary Graham is no stranger to the Pensacola Ice Flyers fan base. Hired as head coach leading up to this season, Graham previously served in this same role with the Ice Flyers during the 2012-2013 season. That season, the Ice Flyers captured their first of four SPHL President’s Cups.
Graham only lasted one season in Pensacola, opting to return to his hometown Fort Wayne Komets to accept a head coaching job there. He remained with this ECHL franchise until after the 2018-2019 season. Graham then spent time coaching in the junior ranks and overseas before returning to the SPHL this season.
Jean-Guy Trudel – Peoria Rivermen
A veteran of eight professional seasons, Jean-Guy Trudel entered his tenth season behind the bench as the head coach of the Peoria Rivermen last month. A former left-winger, Trudel had “cups of coffee” with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes and the Minnesota Wild over the course of a career that was primarily spent in the ECHL, International Hockey League (IHL), and AHL. A three-time selectee to the AHL All-Star Game, Trudel was a member of the 2002-2003 AHL Calder Cup champions Houston Aeros team.
Along with playing in the United States, he also spent six seasons playing in Switzerland’s top professional league with HC Ambrì-Piotta and the ZSC Lions. Trudel led the Rivermen to a 2021-2022 SPHL President’s Cup and was named SPHL Coach of the Year three times.
Dave Pszenyczny – Quad City Storm
Veteran minor league blueliner Dave Pszenyczny was named the inaugural head coach of the Quad City Storm in 2018. In his first four seasons with Storm, he compiled a record of 89 wins and 100 losses. Before joining the coaching ranks, Pszenyczny played parts of 13 seasons in the United Hockey League (UHL), AHL, ECHL, CHL, and SPHL. In his final professional season, he recorded a career-high 50 points, seven goals and 43 assists, in 53 games for the Peoria Rivermen during the 2017-2018 season.
Dan Bremner – Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs
A six-year veteran of the SPHL, Dan Bremner captained the 2015-2016 Peoria Rivermen team that finished the season with the best record, thus capturing the SPHL William B. Coffey Trophy. That Rivermen team went on to fall to the Pensacola Ice Flyers in the SPHL President’s Cup final. Bremner’s playing days came to an end following the 2016-2017 season.
In 2018, Bremner was named head coach of the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs, a position he continues to hold this season. Entering the 2023-2024 season, Roanoke fans look for a repeat performance from last season’s SPHL President’s Cup winning run.
The Value of Professional Experience
The SPHL’s ranks are filled with several former college players from NCAA Division III varsity and Canada’s U Sports teams, many of whom are trying to achieve their goals of playing professionally. For most players in the league, the odds of reaching even the NHL-affiliated leagues or minor leagues are not in their favor. However, the presence of so many SPHL head coaches with professional playing experience, even in the minor leagues, gives these players a far better shot at achieving their dreams.
