The Southern Professional Hockey League, or SPHL for short, is an independent minor professional league with its main office located in Huntersville, North Carolina. It was established in 2004. On October 20, 2023, the league began its twentieth season of competition.
Since the league’s founding, every season has seen the crowning of a champion, with the 2019–2020 campaign being the exception. With four titles each, the Pensacola Ice Flyers and Knoxville Ice Bears are currently the two teams in the SPHL with the most titles. The Ice Bears won the SPHL President’s Cup for the last time in 2015, and the Ice Flyers did the same in 2021.
The states of Alabama, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, and Virginia are represented among the ten teams in the league. The head coaches have varying degrees of playing and coaching experience; the majority of them have worked in the minor leagues for the majority of their careers.
Craig Simchuk was born in Winnipeg, Canada, on April 21, 1989. He played four seasons of NCAA Division III hockey with Manhattanville College before starting a professional career in the SPHL. He played three seasons with the Columbus Cottonmouths and two with the Birmingham Bulls between 2014 and 2019. After retiring from the game, Simchuk entered the coaching ranks prior to the 2019–2020 season. He has been the head coach of the Bulls since the 2020–2021 season. Until this season, his head coaching record was 67 wins and 71 losses. Simchuk was named the SPHL Coach of the Year.
Jeff Bes was a part of 25 professional seasons after being chosen by the Minnesota North Stars with the 58th overall pick in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. Bes played minor league hockey for a living, spending a lot of time in the Central Hockey League (CHL) and East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). He scored 219 goals while playing center for the Laredo Bucks of the CHL between 2003 and 2011.
