A former Kapuskasing Minor Hockey Association player had a special honour bestowed of him over the weekend. Bryan Hince was enshrined into the Knoxville Ice Bears Pillar of Champions.
The Ice Bears, located in Knoxville, Tennessee, are a Single A professional hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League. The former goaltender says it was a surreal moment for him and hard to put into words what’s all has taken place.
“Obviously on Friday I was emotional,” he said. “I was an emotional player so it goes both ways right you play with emotion that never leaves you. So when you have an honour such as that it’s pretty cool but emotionally it kind of takes a lot out of you.”
Hince spent six seasons in Knoxville and backstopped the team to its fourth league championship in 2015.
Hince runs a successful hockey academy in Knoxville, Tennessee and has watched over 400 kids play minor hockey in a city known more for basketball and football. The 38-year-old still doesn’t forget where he came from from.
“I was fortunate to grow up in Kap I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world,” he said. “As I grew older travelling around North America there were other great cities as well but I hope to make it back to Kap in the next year, year and a half something like that either to give back to the sport and the kids and go see my family.”
