Jim Chesnutt Named Equipment Manager of the Year

PENSACOLA, FLA. – The SPHL on Thursday announced that Jim Chesnut of the Pensacola Ice Flyers has been named the 2025-2026 SPHL Equipment Manager of the Year.

Chesnut was selected in a vote of the league’s equipment managers and athletic trainers, becoming the first three-time winner of the award.

Chesnut began his professional career as an equipment manager for the Topeka Scarecrows in the Central Hockey League. His career has taken him across 12 different teams in five different professional leagues, and he joined the Ice Flyers staff ahead of the 2020-21 season. He then spent some time in the ECHL with Jacksonville before returning to Pensacola during the 2021-22 season.

Chesnut worked his 1,000th professional game during the 2015-16 season, the same season he won his first SPHL Equipment Manager of the Year award. Last season, Chesnut was honored by the Ice Flyers for working his 1,500th professional game.