Gades prevail after fights

The blood-letting started early last night between Richmond and Knoxville.

There were four fights in the first 12 seconds, one of them resulting in a shovel full of blood that had to be scooped up at the Knoxville blue line before play resumed in front of 3,280 at the Coliseum.

The bleeding was courtesy of several blows to the face of Knoxville's Jared Siganuk by Matt Withers :04 into the Southern Professional Hockey League game.

When they finally got around to playing, the third-place Renegades scored the first two goals, then hung on to post a 5-4 shootout victory over the second-place Ice Bears.

Richmond (16-13-1), however, allowed a two-goal lead to evaporate in the third period - and almost gave up one at the end of OT - before scoring twice in the shootout while the Ice Bears (17-8-4) came up empty.

"We had no life last night [in loss to Fayetteville on Friday]," Richmond coach Brian Goudie said of the early fireworks. "No fight in us. I wanted to do something to kick-start our team. Something to build on.

"I wanted us to play with some passion. That's the bottom line."

Mission accomplished: For most of the evening, Richmond held the upper hand, although the Ice Bears outplayed Richmond in the third period, tying it on goals by Kevin Swider and Kevin Harris, the latter coming with 5:24 to go.

With about five seconds remaining in OT, Harris almost scored the game-winner, but the puck bounced behind goaltender Ryan Scott and scraped the crossbar before landing in the crease.

In the shootout, Scott denied all four Ice Bears, and Beau McLaughlin and Geoff Rollins beat Knoxville goalie Andrew Gallant. The Renegades are 4-0 in shootouts, and Richmond goaltenders have not allowed a goal in 17 attempts.

Striking early: Newcomers Mike O'Sullivan and Bill Zalba scored in the first 10 minutes to give Richmond an early advantage. O'Sullivan's first goal as a Renegade followed a turnover in Knoxville's end at 4:53. Zalba finished off a 2-on-1 break with a close-range wrister into the upper corner at 9:39.

After Knoxville had cut the lead in half with a power-play goal, Trevor Karasiewicz took a cross-ice pass from O'Sullivan and beat Gallant with a slap shot from the faceoff circle.

Tight second period: The defenses got a little stiffer, keeping shots to a minimum in the second 20 minutes.

The Ice Bears took only six shots but managed to score once to slice their deficit to 3-2 early in the frame.

Given only their second power-play opportunity, the Renegades regained a two-goal lead when Josh Coyle batted in the rebound of a shot by Ryan Busby with 3:27 left in the period.

Roster moves: The Renegades activated defenseman Dan Vandermeer from injured reserve on Friday and waived defenseman Clay Lewis. The Ice Bears picked up Lewis, but he wasn't in uniform last night.

Vandermeer, who has been out since breaking a bone in his forearm Oct. 31 against Knoxville, hopes to return to the lineup later this week, pending a doctor's permission tomorrow.

Richmond added Zalba to the roster yesterday. Zalba has played more than 270 games in the United and International hockey leagues.

Knoxville ------------------------- 1 1 2 0 0 - 4
Richmond ------------------------- 3 1 0 0 1 - 5

First period - 1, Richmond, O'Sullivan 1 (Rollins, Busby), 4:53. 2, Richmond, Zalba 1 (Price, Karasiewicz), 9:39. 3, Knoxville, Norrie 7 (Van Vliet), 12:25. 4, Richmond, Karasiewicz 10 (O'Sullivan, Scott), 14:36. Penalties - Siganuk, Knox, major (fighting), :04; Withers, Rich, major (fighting), :04; Moffat, Knox, major (fighting), :09; Needham, Rich, major (fighting), :09; Martell, Knox, major (fighting), :11; Zalba, Rich, major (fighting), :11; Norrie, Knox, major (fighting), :12; Lyke, Rich, major (fighting), :12; Zalba, Rich (hooking), 7:25; Lyke, Rich (interference), 10:33.

Second period - 5, Knoxville, Vitek 10 (Swider, Carter), 5:28. 6, Richmond, Coyle 5 (Busby, McLaughlin), 16:33 (pp). Penalties - Zalba, Rich (high-sticking), 1:13; Harris, Knox (hooking), 6:46; Pelkey, Knox (cross-checking), 15:00.

Third period - 7, Knoxville, Swider 19 (Carter, Brannen), 4:02. 8, Knoxville, Harris 5 (Vitek, Carter), 14:36 (pp). Penalties - Richmond, bench minor (too many men), 14:15.

Overtime - None. Penalties - Karasiewicz, Rich, minor-misconduct (tripping), 1:12.

Shootout goals - Knoxville: None. Richmond: McLaughlin (GW-16), Rollins.

Shots on goal - Knoxville 8-6-12-8-34; Richmond 9-13-4-1--27. Power-play opportunities - Knoxville 2 of 5, Richmond 1 of 2. Goalies - Knoxville: Gallant 9-3-2 (27 shots-23 saves); Richmond: Scott 6-4-1 (34-30). Referee: Stephen Meyer. A - 3,280.