By John Packett
Renegades Writer

With just over two weeks remaining in the regular season for the Southern Professional Hockey League, voters for postseason awards will be making their choices.

Assuming Columbus doesn’t crumble in the closing weeks, Cottonmouths coach Jerome Bechard appears to the favorite for coach of the year. His club is the top defensive outfit in the league and should wind up on top of the standings.

Robert Sich, who started the year with Florida and moved to Fayetteville when the Seals folded in early January, is the likely player of the year, after leading the SPHL in scoring. Sich has 39 goals in 44 games.

Richmond center Danny White is one of the prime candidates for rookie of the year with 29 goals and 54 points in 49 games. Fayetteville’s Tim Velemirovich might have the edge for the moment, however, after producing 73 points in 49 games.

Chad Rycroft will be the goaltender of the year after the season he’s had. Rycroft was 20-8-1 with a 2.89 GAA before a Thursday game against Jacksonville.  Richmond’s Doug Groenestege was battling Rycroft for the honor but a rough road trip in mid-February dropped him into second place, well below Rycroft.

The defensive player of the year is usually a tough call, but it’s hard to overlook the job done by Richmond’s Brian Goudie this year.  Goudie is on the ice for probably 40 minutes a game, including both special teams and is the Renegades’ fourth-leading scorer with 38 assists and 45 points. His ice time is +6.

The awards are usually handed out during the final week of the regular season, which winds up on March 25. The playoffs are scheduled to begin later that week at three sites.

By John Packett
Renegades Writer

Are the upper-echelon teams in the Southern Professional Hockey League securing new and better players for their rosters while the Richmond Renegades fall back in the pack?

That’s the way it seems lately, as the Renegades have dropped four straight to fall from first to fifth place in the past three weeks. Richmond owner Allan B. Harvie doesn’t see it that way.

“At this time of year, where are you going to find guys?” Harvie said. “Some of these teams are paying all these fees, $1,500 a man, to expedite their visas. I’m not going to pay $1,500 a man to bring in players. Some of them are putting guys on injured reserve who aren’t hurt so they can test other guys out. I’m not going to do that either.”

Fayetteville was able to obtain the rights to forward Robert Sich through the dispersal draft when Florida folded in early January. In 16 games for the FireAntz, Sich has scored 18 goals and added 16 assists.

Huntsville has obtained forward Justin Keller in a trade with Pee Dee and he’s expected to join the Havoc sometime this month. Keller was leading Florida with 22 goals when the Seals folded.

“We’d like to have had Sich, but he wasn’t available when we picked,” Harvie said. The Renegades chose goaltender Matt Balser but he never showed up here.

Richmond has picked up forward/defenseman Chris Shaw (Central League) and defenseman Nathan Oke (released by Knoxville) over the past couple of weeks.

“Why is everybody pushing the panic button?” Harvie said. “When we play togther, when we play for 60 minutes, there’s nobody better than we are. We’ve proven that. We’ve got the same team that won six in a row. I’ve got all the faith in the world in these guys. We told them that after practice [on Tuesday]. None of these guys has given up.

“We’ve got a club that’s capable of going to the [playoff] finals and maybe winning it all.”

The Renegades opened a three=game road trip Thursday night in Florence, S.C., against Pee Dee, then continue to Fayetteville on Friday and first-place Columbus on Saturday before returning to the Richmond Coliseum on March 9 against Pee Dee.

By John Packett
Renegades Writer

If the Richmond Renegades want to have any chance at finishing first in the Southern Professional Hockey League regular-season standings, they will have to root hard for the Jacksonville Barracudas.

That’s because first-place Columbus still has six games remaining with sixth-place Jacksonville. The Cottonmouths have beaten the Barracudas six of seven times already this season.

Although Columbus only leads Knoxville by one point, the Cottonmouths have three games in hand on the Ice Bears and five in hand on the Renegades. Fourth-place Huntsville is four points behind and Columbus on two games in hand on the Havoc.

The reason the Cottonmouths have so many games with Jacksonville goes back to the revamping of the schedule when the Florida Seals folded in January. Because Jacksonville is Columbus’ closest rival, several of the games that would have been with Florida were changed to Jacksonville.

“I just find it unusual to have 10 of their last 23 games against any one team,” said Allan B. Harvie, Jr., Richmond’s president and general manager.  “Yeah, there’s some quirks in the schedule because of Florida, but that’s a really big quirk in the schedule.”

Bill Coffey, director of hockey operations for the SPHL, said the reason behind the unbalanced schedule was, “Everybody was trying to save money and travel expenses,” when the new schedule was put in place.

The Renegades were supposed to have played at Jacksonsville on March 6, for example, but that game was erased from Richmond’s schedule and replaced with Columbus at Jacksonville.

Richmond has 11 games left, starting with Friday’s contest against Knoxville at the Coliseum. The Renegades will probably have to win at least seven of them in order to finish among the top three in the league and have home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

The game with Knoxville is Richmond’s only one this weekend, so the Renegades will have to watch the scoreboard as teams around them either gain ground or stay where they are.

Finishing first is a huge advantage because one plays six in the first round, while the other four teams battle through a pair of best-of-threes to see who plays the one-six winner in the President’s Cup final.

By John Packett
Renegades writer

After going most of the home season without playing beyond regulation, the Richmond Renegades were forced into overtime by their last two opponents at the Coliseum.

Knoxville scored with just over a minute to go on Friday, while Pee Dee tallied twice in the third period to set up the five-minute OT period on Saturday.

Because of the 3 on 3 scenario under which the Southern Professional Hockey League uses to try and end the game as soon as possible, the Renegades were lucky to win both games.

Donald Melnyk scored 3:04 into OT to beat Knoxville 3-2, then Dean Jackson broke in alone to score at 2:18 and defeat Pee Dee 4-3.

“I like it,” said Richmond left winger J.J. Wrobel, whose OT goal beat Pee Dee earlier this season in Florence, S.C. “I’d much sooner see a game get settled the way it should, rather than going into penalty shots.  Give it a chance first. With three on three, there’s so much room out there. It’s exciting for the fans to see, too.”

If the teams are still tied at the end of OT, the outcome is determined by a shootout. That’s when five players from each team go one-on-one with the goaltender, and whichever team scores the most goals in the shootout is declared the winner.

Richmond has played in only one shootout this season, that coming two days before Christmas in Fayetteville, N.C., when the Renegades outscored the FireAntz 2-1. Wrobel had one of Richmond’s shootout goals.

The Renegades lost their first two games that were decided in overtime—in Jacksonville and Columbus—but have captured the last three.  Counting the shootout win, Richmond is 4-2 after regulation.

“The games could easily go either way,” Wrobel said of the OT setup. “One bad break, or a lucky bounce. We’ve been fortunate the last three times. It’s a matter of when you get those chances, you’ve got to bury it, because it can very easily go down and turn against you at the other end.”

The winner of OT or a shootout receives two points in the standings, while the loser leaves with one.

After winning three straight at home, the Renegades (25-15-2) hit the road for three in a row, starting Friday night in Huntsville.  Richmond is 10-7-2 on the road.

John Brophy wanted to embarrass his team after last Wednesday night’s 5-2 loss to Knoxville at the Richmond Coliseum.

After reaming them out when they came off the ice, Brophy motioned for me to accompany him back into the dressing room, where the players were still sitting in front of their lockers. 

“All right,” said Brophy. “I’m not going to tell the reporter why we lost the [expletive] game. I want you to tell him why we lost the [expletive] game.”

It was embarrassing for me to be in there when Brophy said that, but I stayed and wrote down what some of the players said.

“No heart.” “Didn’t come ready to play.” “Too many shots for them. Not enough for us.” “The season is nearly over and some people still don’t know how to play their position.”

When Brophy was satisfied that the players had given enough answers and were upset about having to do it front of a reporter, he walked out. I followed him out the door.

It was the first time a coach had asked me to go in the dressing room like that, and it’s not something I enjoyed doing. I didn’t use any of the quotes from the players, as Brophy probably wanted me to do. 

After I had interviewed Brophy, who thought it was the worst game his team had played all season, I went back in the dressing room and told some of the players that it wasn’t my idea to be in there. They understood what was going on and told me not to worry about it. Having been around Brophy all season, they know how he reacts to losses, which isn’t very good.

Brophy hates to lose, but what he especially dislikes is when he doesn’t feel the players put out the kind of effort it takes to win. 

Since this was a home game, it was even more upsetting to him, so he wanted his message to get across loud and clear.

I understand where Brophy is coming from, but I don’t plan on going into the locker room next time. It’s not the reporter’s job to be part of the embarrassment of a loss.

The Renegades next chance to keep Brophy happy comes Wednesday when they face the Fayetteville FireAntz at the Coliseum. Faceoff is 7:35 p.m.

BY JOHN PACKETT
Renegades Writer

When the Knoxville Ice Bears visit the Coliseum Wednesday night to play the Richmond Renegades, it ought to be interesting. 

After the final horn of Richmond’s 2-0 victory over Knoxville last Wednesday, the players didn’t head for the locker room as they normally do.

Instead, the Ice Bears left their bench and milled around on their side of center ice. After congratulating Doug Groenestege for his shutout, the Renegades stayed on the ice to see what might develop.

Some background. With two seconds left, Ben Manny tried to start something with Richmond’s Danny White in the corner. White, the Renegades leading scorer, isn’t a fighter, so several teammates quickly stepped in. Both got two minutes for roughing.

With 16 seconds left, Jeff Hansen, the Ice Bears’ enforcer, came onto the ice for a faceoff in Richmond’s end. He was apparently looking for someone to drop the gloves with, so David Mitchell came off the bench for the Renegades. As soon as the puck dropped, the two squared off and moved to center ice for a heavyweight bout. Both landed several blows, but Hansen appeared to get the best of it at the end.

The only problem was, Richmond coach John Brophy didn’t send Mitchell out. The players did, and Brophy was disturbed after the game because he didn’t want Mitchell, who hadn’t played much to that point, to think he had put him on the ice just to get into a fight.

“I want to make it clear that I didn’t put Mitchell out there,” Brophy said. A few days later, he said, “I was upset because I didn’t know what was going on, but the players knew what was up. They were all set to run our goaltender. It was a good thing for [Mitchell] to come on the ice.”

J.J. Wrobel, one of Richmond’s veterans, felt it was necessary to have some muscle on the ice because of what the Ice Bears had done.

“It was a situation where I don’t think they had one of their leading goal scorers on the ice,” Wrobel said. “There isn’t a team that wants to get shut out. For whatever reason, I think their plan was to win the draw back and throw the puck to the net and send their guys crashing to the net hoping to get a goal. They sent out their muscle and if something had happened to Dougie, it’s just nice to have somebody out there like Mitch.

“Not to fight necessarily but to make sure those guys know that they can’t just do what they want out there either.”

Could there be a continuation of the hostilities at this week’s game, scheduled for a 7:35 p.m. faceoff?

“You can talk up all the hype you want, but when it comes down to it, I think you’re going to see a lot more games like the Huntsville game [3-2 Richmond win on Saturday], because coming down the stretch, every team is playing for a [playoff] position. Obviously, our goal is first place, but theirs is probably not far from that, too.  By no means are you going to see some kind of gong show, because neither team can afford it.

“Whatever happens, happens. It’ll be an intense game, that’s for sure. We’ve got four games in five nights, so we want to start off right with a win.”

By John Packett
Renegades writer

J.J. Wrobel isn’t worried about the Richmond Renegades folding this season. He should know, since he’s been through such a scenario twice.

The left wing was asked about his concerns in the wake of the Florida Seals going out of business earlier this month and causing the Southern Professional Hockey League to shrink from eight to seven teams.

“It happened my rookie year,” Wrobel said. “The team [Mohawk Valley Prowlers in the United Hockey League] folded halfway through the year.”

It also occurred when Wrobel played for the Anchorage Aces of the West Coast Hockey League, but “they waited until the end of the year. It was the same thing. We got kicked out of our apartments and checks were bouncing.”

Wrobel, who spent all or parts of three seasons with the Richmond RiverDogs (UHL) until the franchise left for Chicago after last season, leads the Renegades with 20 goals through the first 32 games.

The seventh-year pro believes the Renegades, who are an expansion team in the SPHL, are on firm ground financially under owner Allan B. Harvie Jr., who founded the original Renegades in 1990.

“This is as professional as it gets,” Wrobel said. “Allan has done a fantastic job for the players. There’s not a worry in my mind about anything here.”

Wrobel said he’s convinced the SPHL in general isn’t in any danger of losing more teams and perhaps not having enough franchises to stay afloat.

“I think there’s enough people that want to keep it going,” Wrobel said. “They [Florida] just had a tough time getting people in the building. Any time you can’t bring fans in to watch the games, you’re not going to be able to support the team. I think it’s just a matter of time before another ownership group picks up and puts another team, maybe not in Kissimmee [Florida] but in another place.

“I know personally a couple of guys that I’ve played with who have thrown the idea out. Asked me about the league. I’m not concerned about the whole league going down.”

This is the third year of the SPHL, which has lost four franchises and added three since its inception for the 2004-05 season.

John Packett covers the Richmond Renegades for the Times-Dispatch, in print and now online.  Check back soon to see John’s entries in Renegades Extra.