Kent's Hat Trick Propels Ice Bears to 2-1 Series Lead
SPHL Knoxville Ice Bears

Kent's Hat Trick Propels Ice Bears to 2-1 Series Lead

Published on April 23, 2026 under SPHL (SPHL)
Knoxville Ice Bears News Release


Tim Kent scored a hat trick, Jimmy Soper had a goal and an assist, Kyle Soper had three assists and Stephen Mundinger made 32 saves as the Knoxville Ice Bears defeated the Peoria Rivermen 4-2 at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum Thursday night in the President's Cup semifinals.

Knoxville now leads the best-of-five series 2-1. Game four is Friday night in Knoxville.

Kent scored 13 seconds into the game off a centering feed from Kyle Soper. Jimmy Soper won a face-off in the left circle back to Kyle at the point. Kyle carried up the wall towards the corner and sent the puck to the front of the crease. Kent got his stick on the puck to slide it underneath Jack Bostedt for his first career postseason goal.

Jimmy Soper scored eight and a half minutes later to give the Ice Bears a 2-0 lead. Knoxville kept the puck in the zone with the forecheck and Dawson McKinney found Kyle Soper at the left point. Kyle slid the puck across the blue line to Brendan Dowler, who fired the puck from the perimeter. The shot bounced off of Bostedt and out in front where Knoxville's captain put it back on net.

Mundinger denied Peoria's best scoring chance early in the first when Kullen Daikawa slipped a pass from behind the net out in front behind Mundinger, but Knoxville's net minder got his paddle on JM Piotrowski's shot on the open net and Jared Westcott blocked Daikawa's ensuing follow up attempt from the left circle.

Kent netted his second of the night when he muscled his way up the right wing, created space in the circle and found the top shelf over Bostedt to make it 3-0 at 10:41. The winger completed his hat trick a little more than two minutes later from a similar spot on the ice. Kyle Soper slid the puck to Kent in the right circle and Kent snapped a shot that Bostedt got a piece of before it found its way in. Bostedt finished with 24 saves.

Matt Wiesner and Alec Baer scored 24 seconds apart towards the end of the second period to make it a 4-2 game at the second intermission.

Mundinger preserved Knoxville's lead through the third to ensure the win. He held onto Jordan Ernst's blast from the left side, made a glove save on Michael McChesney's drag shot from the right hash and kicked away a redirect from the slot.

Check out the Knoxville Ice Bears Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



SPHL Stories from April 23, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central