Retirement, call-ups and injuries are a major part of professional sports. Every athlete is going to have to broach these subjects at one time or another throughout their careers, and the teams that they play for have to be prepared to fill these vacant positions.
First-year head coach Marc Rodgers announced today that he has re-signed Tim Vitek, even though Vitek had strongly considered retiring after last season. The Ice Bears are happy that they don't have to find a new player to fill Vitek's position. "Timmy had some hard decisions to make over the summer regarding employment opportunities back home in Canada. We, the Ice Bears, wanted to support him anyway we could regarding the decisions he made about his future.
The coaching staff is extremely pleased that he decided to play another season for us. Timmy is a champion and a big game player who still has fire to do nothing else but win. He does all the small things during the game that every coach wants from his players to help the team succeed, that's what makes him the player he is today," stated Coach Rodgers. Even though Rodgers has about 24 players scheduled to begin training camp on Sunday, October 11, it would be a difficult task to replace Vitek. Since 2006, Vitek has played 98 games for the Ice Bears, scored 51 goals and had 88 assists with only 62 penalty minutes. However, the 26-year-old forward has a knack for scoring when it really matters.
In fact, goals by Vitek decided game 5 in the semi-finals and game 7 in the finals this past season, helping the Knoxville Ice Bears capture back-to-back Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) titles. "It's players like Tim Vitek that are going to give us the competitive edge that we will need to compete with the new teams in the SPHL this season. We've waited a long to time to receive a final answer from Timmy, but it was worth the wait," commented president and general manager Mike Murray. The puck will drop on another Knoxville Ice Bears' season on Friday, October 23 for the Home Opener and Championship Celebration. The first 1,000 fans to arrive that night will receive a replica championship ring, compliments of Jostens. Individual tickets will go on sale October 1.
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