Hince to stay at ECHL's Greenville this week; Klaver still gone, too

Don’t look for No. 1 goalie Bryan Hince to be in the lineup for the Ice Bears’ three games this week starting with Thursday night’s game against the Mississippi Surge at the Civic Coliseum.

Defenseman Jeremy Klaver more than likely won’t be in the Ice Bears’ lineup, either.

Ice Bears coach Mike Craigen said after Tuesday’s skate that Hince will remain with Greenville (S.C.) of the East Coast Hockey League this week, while Klaver is still with Cincinnati of the ECHL.

Hince was loaned to Greenville for last weekend’s two-game series against the Chicago Express on Saturday and Sunday, and was expected to return to Knoxville in time for Thursday’s home game against the Surge and road games Friday at the Surge and Saturday at Pensacola.

“With Hincey, he won’t be here for the weekend,” Craigen said. “He’s going to spend another weekend in Greenville and I expect to get him back the following week, but neither of them (Hince or Klaver) are expected in the lineup this weekend, so I’m actually working on having a goaltender in here right now.”

If so, the new goalie will be with the Ice Bears for Wednesday’s skate.

The Ice Bears (20-5) are tied with Augusta (19-6-2) atop the Southern Professional Hockey Leagues standings with 40 points each.

Hince is 16-1 for the Ice Bears this season and is on track to break the SPHL record for goalie wins in season (28) set by Terry Denike of the Florida Seals in 2005-06. Denike was 28-13-1 that season.

Craigen plans to start rookie goalie Jesse Kallechy this weekend. Kallechy is 4-4 with the Ice Bears this season.

“Jesse’s going to probably start all three games this weekend by the looks of it,” Craigen said. “It’s tough to get a guy in here. We were waiting on Hincey. We expected Hincey back (Tuesday), and I found out late (Monday) night that we wouldn’t be getting him, so it’s very hard to pull the trigger and fly somebody in. We don’t have the resources that the higher levels do, so we’ve got to kind of rely on location and geography and things like that, but we’ll hopefully have someone in here (Wednesday) morning to fill that backup spot for the weekend, and if they have to, maybe longer.”

Klaver, a rookie from Ontario via Adrian College, is on his second loan to Cincinnati. He returned to Knoxville from his first loan on Dec. 20 and left again for the Cyclones on Dec. 27.

“I really don’t know with Klaver,” Craigen said. “It’s one of those things with these affiliations where he could be on a flight tomorrow morning or he could be up there for two months. You don’t really know.”