Leslie Karnowski

Mike Craigen...is the Center of Attention.

The Tin Man had already been cast in Mike’s first figure skating carnival, so at three, he traded his Flying Monkey costume for a hockey jersey. In his fourth season as a Knoxville Ice Bear, Mike coolly says, “Playing hockey isn’t about money. I love this sport and being with guys who have the same goal.” A last-second championship win two years ago leaves this 25-year-old smelling blood. If they don’t have another shot, it’s not because he didn’t perform his game day rituals: eat at Bravo, warm-up to the same routine, hold stick just so, sing the national anthem, wear time-honored #16. “My birthday’s the 16^th. My dad and granddad also wore #16 baseball jerseys.” Mike considers Knoxville much like his hometown in Ontario where he spends the off-season. “Southern hospitality is definitely not a myth,” he admits. Mike thinks about using his journalism background after professional hockey. “I’d love to be a hockey (or baseball) columnist for Sports Illustrated.” That, he thinks, would be … well, really cooooool.

What’s the best thing about reading skirt! : “when I read it, I get interested in things that in an ordinary day, I wouldn’t typically think about.”

What’s the best thing about wearing a skirt!? : “It’s much easier to do cross-overs!”