The Knoxville Ice Bears hosted the Sled Bears in an exhibition sled hockey game Sunday afternoon.
The goal of the free exhibition event was to raise awareness of the sport of sled hockey growing in East Tennessee.
The Sled Bears are a new team in the Knoxville Amateur Hockey Association, and allow players with some physical disabilities to play in a specially designed sled which sits atop two hockey skate blades . Players use two sticks with metal picks on the bottom to propel themselves and shoot the puck.
"Oh, it's hard," Knoxville left winger Jake Rivera said after the game. "These guys make it look so much more graceful than it is. We were just going in straight lines. These guys are zig-zagging around. It was pretty fun to watch and really hard to do."
The Ice Bears had fun with the game, and scored an early goal to give them a 1-0 lead.
But the Sled Bears, comprised of players from Nashville and Knoxville, scored nine unanswered goals to win the exhibition game 9-2.
Rivera said after the game he was sore from propelling himself with the sticks.
"Oh yeah, a little sore," Rivera laughed. "I'll be sore tomorrow."