Renegades close with 4-3 win in overtime

The Richmond Renegades completed their season last night with a dramatic 4-3, overtime victory over first-place Knoxville.

Despite a 30-27-3 record, the Renegades failed to make the playoffs because Fayetteville (30-25-5) lit up Twin City 9-0 to finish two points ahead of Richmond for the fourth and final postseason spot in the Southern Professional Hockey League.

But the question on the mind of many in the crowd of 6,351 (second-largest of the season) leaving the Coliseum was: Will the team be here next season?

Allan B. Harvie Jr., president and general manager of the three-year-old franchise, announced last month that the team was suspending operations after the season unless a large investor or more sponsors committed for the 2009-10 season.

After the game, Harvie said nothing has been determined yet about the team's future.

"Right now, I can't say anything," Harvie said. "First off, we have to catch our breath. It's unfortunate what happened in Fayetteville tonight.

"I've got meetings this week with some high-level government officials to see if there's an opportunity there for them to provide some [financial] assistance. I'm working on many different levels. There's six or seven different avenues that we're going.

"It's a little early to tell. A week, two weeks, we should have a pretty good idea what's happening."

Hockey in some form has been at the Coliseum for the past 19 seasons, starting with the original Renegades in the East Coast Hockey League in 1990. Before that, three other franchises, including the American Hockey League, called the downtown arena home.

"This is a sad day, if this is the last game here," said Vince Caruso, a longtime season-ticket holder. "Look at the crowd tonight. The people are here. They could turn this thing into something..

"I think Harvie has done everything he can do. It's a shame it's come down to this."

Down to the wire: The Ice Bears, who will open defense of their championship later this week, were playing without forward Kevin Swider, the leading scorer in the SPHL who was given the night off by coach Scott Hillman.

Richmond got a goal and assist from Nick Pernula, Trevor Karasiewicz and Jason Price in beating the Knoxville for the sixth time this season in 11 meetings. All of the wins have been in overtime or a shootout.

After the Ice Bears forced OT on a goal by Mark Van Vliet with 1:03 to go in regulation, Pernula won it 3:43 into the extra session with a bullet from the slot that beat goalie Kirk Irving low to the glove side.

Goaltender Mike Ronan, something of a surprise starter in place of regular Ryan Scott, made 30 saves to earn the victory.

"We had our chance [Friday] night to do our part and it wasn't meant to be, I guess," said Richmond coach Brian Goudie, referring to his team's 5-3 loss to Twin City. "It's been a struggle the last two weeks. Ups and downs. A lot of inconsistency."

Legends triumph: The Legends of Richmond Hockey defeated the Virginia Commonwealth alumni 8-4 in the warmup game.

Goudie scored twice for the Legends, and Scott Gruhl tallied once. During the first intermssion, Gruhl's No.24 was retired (for the second time) and unveiled from the upper reaches of the Coliseum.

Without Wrobel: Former Renegade J.J. Wrobel was not with the Ice Bears and is not expected to be available for the playoffs because of a variety of ailments.

In 51 games for Knoxville this season, the right wing had eight goals and 26 points. Wrobel was traded to the Ice Bears late last season and helped Knoxville claim the SPHL title.

Knoxville ------------------------- 2 0 1 0 -- 3
Richmond ------------------------- 1 2 0 1 -- 4

First Period -- 1, Richmond, Price 16 (Pernula, Vandermeer), 6:02. 2, Knoxville, Moore 11 (Vitek), 7:34. 3, Knoxville, Rebernik 19 (Furdero, Lewis), 7:57. Penalties -- Pallardy, Knox (slashing), :46; Carter, Knox (boarding), 2:51; Van Vliet, Knox (roughing), 10:09; Busby, Rich (holding), 10:09; Lewis, Knox (roughing), 15:16; Oke, Rich (hooking), 17:38.

Second Period -- 4, Richmond, Oke 4 (Karasiewicz, Kiyaga), 4:00. 5, Richmond, Karasiewicz 19 (Price), 18:17. Penalties -- Oke, Rich (hooking), 6:56; Pelkey, Knox (playing with broken stick), 7:53; Rollins, Rich (high-sticking), 10:15; Busby, Rich (roughing), 16:16; Norrie, Knox (roughing), 16:16; Lewis, Knox, major (fighting), 18:20; Zalba, Rich, major (fighting), 18:20.

Third Period -- 6, Knoxville, Van Vliet 9 (Keller, Furdero), 18:57. Penalties -- Pallardy, Knox (high-sticking), 1:45; Smith, Knox (hooking), 15:19.

Overtime -- 7, Richmond, Pernula 3 (Busby, Vandermeer), 3:43. Penalties -- Karasiewicz, Rich, minor-misconduct (holding), :46.

Shots on goal -- Knoxville 8-13-9-3 -- 33. Richmond 14-10-8-2 -- 34. Power-play opportunities -- Knoxville 0 of 4, Richmond 0 of 6. Goalies -- Knoxville: Irving 15-9-5 (34 shots-30 saves); Richmond: Ronan 5-1-0 (33-30). Referee -- Curtis Marouelli. A -- 6,351.