Forward Jason Price has 15 goals and 16 assists in 55 games for the Renegades this season. Price paying dividends Solid two-way play gives Gades a push toward postseason When the Richmond Renegades picked up Jason Price off waivers late last season, coach Brian Goudie didn’t get a good look at the big winger. That’s because the 6-3 200-pounder suffered a broken finger after three games and sat out what was left of the season. But Price has come back strong this year, and Goudie has used him at both ends of the ice.

Since the Richmond Renegades played more games than anyone in the Southern Professional Hockey League during the first two-thirds of the season, they’ve gotten a bit of a break down the stretch. Can playing two games on a weekend instead of three, for example, be beneficial over the final month of the season? “It helps us for sure. Gives us a chance to get a little healthy,“ said Richmond coach Brian Goudie. “Gives us a little more practice time, where we can get sharper on things. Not having to play three in three nights all the time helps with the wear and tear on you.“

Richmond’s eight-game road trip didn’t get off to the kind of start that coach Brian Goudie had in mind Tuesday night in Fayetteville, N.C., and the special teams were mostly to blame. The Renegades gave up three power-play goals (in six chances) to the FireAntz and failed to convert any of the six opportunities they had in a 7-3 loss that snapped a five-game winning streak.

a closer look Sometimes Matt Larke has to pinch himself. The right wing is playing professional hockey for a living. Doing something he’s enjoyed almost since his stepfather first threw him on the ice when he was 3. “I cried and said I don’t want to do it again,“ Larke recalled. “Then, the next day I loved it.“ It may only be the Richmond Renegades—in the Southern Professional Hockey League, lowest rung on the pro ladder—but it beats the alternative of finding a real job.

Richmond coach Brian Goudie has been back on the phone, talking with agents and other coaches about prospective players. The reason? His Renegades suffered another season-ending injury Saturday at Columbus. Forward Mike O’Sullivan, who joined the club Dec. 30 and had played in 15 games (three goals, five assists), suffered a broken ankle against the Cottonmouths when he “lost an edge” on his skate and crashed into the end boards.

What do all of these pro athletes have in common? David Wright of the New York Mets. B.J. Upton of the Tampa Bay Rays. Allen Iverson of the Detroit Pistons. Plaxico Burress of the New York Giants. And Patrick “Beau” McLaughlin of the Richmond Renegades. All of them hail from Virginia’s Tidewater area, which has produced numerous professional standouts in baseball, basketball and football. But hockey? Very few pro hockey players have been raised in Virginia.

How can you figure out this season’s Richmond Renegades? One night they knock off the first-place team - Knoxville - in the Southern Professional Hockey League on the road. The next evening, they come home and lose to the last-place team, Twin City. That’s what has happened the past two nights to the Renegades, who beat Knoxville in overtime on Friday but dropped a 3-2 decision to Twin City last night before 3,708 at the Coliseum.

With the release of forward Josh Coyle on Monday, Richmond coach Brian Goudie hopes he has the team that will finish the 2008-09 season. Coyle was waived to make room for forward Dennis Sicard, who was signed to a regular contract after playing under a three-game tryout on the weekend. Coyle, who had five goals and five assists in 22 games, is going to play in Brooklyn (Eastern Pro Hockey League), according to Goudie.

Ryan Scott is working on earning degrees in wellness management and childhood education at the State University of New York-Oswego. The 25-year-old goaltender also is using some of that intelligence to stop pucks for the Richmond Renegades.

You could say the Richmond Renegades were dressed to kill. Wearing garish green-and-red jerseys and green socks — a sartorial salute to Christmas — the Renegades stung the league-leading Huntsville Havoc 5-2 last night at the Coliseum. The Renegades’ jerseys featured a whimsical touch. The leering pirate on the front of each uniform wore a jaunty Santa Claus hat.

There was a “new” player on the ice yesterday when Richmond went through practice drills at Skate Nation Plus in Short Pump. Actually, it was one of the veteran guys, but Dan Vandermeer hadn’t taken part in practice since suffering a broken arm and what was originally diagnosed as a dislocated shoulder Oct. 25. Coach Brian Goudie was glad to see his defenseman back on the ice, going through his paces. And Vandermeer was happy to be skating again with the boys.

Richmond Renegades coach Brian Goudie described his team’s defensive effort as, well, offensive. Goudie said yesterday’s 4-2 home-ice loss to the Columbus Cottonmouths was a function not of tired legs but rather of tepid defense.

Richmond will be two players short tonight when Fayetteville comes to the Coliseum to renew their heated I-95 rivalry. Defenseman Arthur Kiyaga, who sat out both weekend games against Columbus, is not expected to play against the FireAntz because of a “team issue,“ according to Allan B. Harvie Jr., the club’s president and general manager.

For the second time in a month, the Richmond Renegades have lost one of their top players, and this time, regular goaltender Ryan Senft won’t be back. Senft suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in Friday’s 10-4 victory over Fayetteville. A magnetic resonance imaging test Monday revealed the damage. Senft, who was 6-6-0 with a 3.42 goals-against average, won’t play any more this season. He suffered the injury when a player fell on his knee in the crease. He’s expected to have surgery within 10 days.

The Richmond Renegades continue to struggle with a pair of disturbing trends that will keep them from becoming contenders in the Southern Professional Hockey League unless they’re corrected.