The Renegades began play in the 1990-1991 season, the third year
of the ECHL's existence. The team was owned by local businessman
Allan Harvie. The nickname "Renegades" came from a "name the team"
contest, and a little girl won it after a tie-breaking draw. The
team's colors were orange and black (perhaps in deference to the Richmond
Robins of the 1970s, an AHL farm team for the Philadelphia Flyers), and
the logo was a black "R" with an orange upside down hockey stick forming
the inside of the letter. Head coach Chris McSorley was fired nine
games before the end of the season to be replaced by Dave Allison, former
coach of the Virginia Lancers. If either name sounds familiar, here
are some possible reasons: McSorley later coached the IHL's Las Vegas Thunder
and late served as the commissioner of Pro Beach Hockey. Dave Allison
coached the P.E.I. Islanders and (disastrously) the Ottawa Senators.
The team barely had a .500 record (29-29-6), yet made the playoffs, only
to lose in the quarterfinals to the Hampton Roads Admirals, three games
to one. Josh Lewyn was the team's radio announcer for the majority
of the season. [Top]
Dave Allison returned as head coach for the 1991-1992 season,
and the team's record improved slightly, to 30-27-7. In the playoffs,
the Renegades defeated the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds in the first round,
but fell again to the Admirals in the quarterfinals. Brian "Hambone"
Hamilton was the team's new play by play radio announcer, a position he
would hold through the end of the 1994-95 season.[Top]
The Renegades got another new head coach for the 1992-1993 season:
Roy Sommer, former coach of the Roanoke Valley Rampage. Once again,
the team's record improved slightly to 34-28-2. The team made the
wildcard game of the playoffs but lost to the Johnstown Chiefs. [Top]
1993-1994 didn't bring a new head coach but new ownership.
A Denver businessman bought the team from Harvie. Although he didn't
switch coaches, he needed to change the old team logo and colors needed
updating. Rumor has it that he let his kids pick the colors (purple
and teal), and the new logo had a purple bar containing
"Richmond" over the word "Renegades" in teal, with a puck running under
that. The new jerseys featured a thunderbolt sewn into the front
of the jersey. The base of the jerseys was white (home) or black
(road), and had silver trim in addition to the purple and teal. The
team had an affiliation with the New York Islanders, but the only Isles
prospect was goalie Milan Hnilicka (18-16-5). Other key players that
season were goalie Jon Gustavson and forwards Darren Colbourne, Guy Phillips,
Brendan Flynn and Richmond-born John Craighead, acquired in a late season
trade. A new mascot, The Wild Gade, who wore ripped jeans and acted
generally like a lunatic, was "hatched" midway through the season.
The team lost the last game of the season. If they had won, they
would have made the playoffs. It was a rough day for hockey in Richmond,
especially hard because the Renegades' record of 34-29-5 was better than
several teams' (in other divisions) that DID make the playoffs that season.
But things only got worse when the owner decided to sell the team, possibly
even to move it out of town! Salvation came in the form of an ownership/management
group led by investment banker Harry Feuerstein and former Washington Capital/color
broadcaster Craig Laughlin. [Top]
So 1994-1995 again brought many changes. The majority
of the front office turned over, with two notable exceptions: Assistant
GM Belinda Wiggins (who not only was with the Renegades from the very beginning
as an intern, but would later become COO) and Brian Hamilton. A full-time
director of player personnel (Chuck Imburgia) was added to the payroll,
and the team signed some very talented players, including many quality
rookies freshly graduated from college, with the emphasis on finesse players,
not goons. But the biggest acquisition was player/assistant coach
Scott Gruhl, the IHL's all-time scoring leader. Scott not only added
a scoring touch, but leadership. The team also created a new affiliation
with the Hartford Whalers, and the kid-friendly Gade became the team's
official mascot, with the toned-down Wild Gade relegated to unofficial
status. Former owner Allan Harvie opened the Ice Palace, a new public
year-round ice skating rink, finally giving the Renegades a permanent place
to practice. The team began the season with an amazing record of
13-0-3, just one win shy of the minor league record for best start to a
season. The team finished the season at 41-20-7, and thanks to the
Roanoke Express' loss in the last regular season game, won the Eastern
Division Championship. But the Renegades chose to really shine in
the playoffs, defeating the Columbus Chill (3-0), the Roanoke Express (3-1),
the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks (3-2), and the Greensboro Monarchs (4-1) to
win the Riley Cup. Blaine Moore won league MVP of the playoffs (17
G, 17A in 17 games), but G David Littman (GAA 2.33 in 16 playoff games)
was considered by many to be the key to the team's victorious playoff run.
Feuerstein and Laughlin were recognized as ECHL's executives of the year
for their turnaround of the team. [Top]
Expectations were high for the 1995-1996 Renegades, and they
did not disappoint during the regular season, going 46-11-13 (an ECHL record),
capturing not only the Eastern Division banner, but also the Brabham Cup,
for the most wins during the regular season. Goalie Grant Sjerven
set a league best with a GAA of 2.65, while Trevor Senn set a dubious team
record of the most PIMs in a season (507). Brian Hamilton moved up
to the Baltimore Bandits (after just one year there, Brian again moved
up to do play by play for the NHL's Might Ducks of Ahaheim). Andy
Davis was recruited away from the Knoxville to ably fill Brian's shoes.
Unfortunately, despite the team's success during the regular season, rumors
of discontent abounded, and the team couldn't repeat their prior playoff
success, perhaps in part due to the "Brabham Cup curse". Although
they swept the Hampton Roads Admirals (a nice bit of revenge) in the first
round, they fell to the Jacksonville Lizard Kings (3-1) in the second round.
Coach Sommer was named ECHL Coach of the Year. In fact, he was tapped
by the NHL's San Jose Sharks late in the summer for an assistant coach
position with their organization. No problem, said management.
[Top]
Scott Gruhl moved
to head coach to assume control for the 1996-1997 season, and Rod
Langway, former Washington Capital who had joined the Renegades late
in the 1994-1995 season, was named assistant coach. The team started
off on a hot streak and were at or near first place in the league through
the first part of the season. Unfortunately, the Renegades began
a slump in January (precipitated by the loss of C Mike Taylor to the Chicago
Wolves, and made worse by a transformer fire at the Richmond Coliseum that
eliminated home games for one month). The team finished the season
in third place in the East Division with a record of 41-25-4 (the first
time in team history that the record did not improve over the prior season's).
Andy Davis left to work for the slot with the Baltimore Bandits (vacated
by Brian Hamilton), and he was replaced by Kris Cooke. Kris had a
great set of pipes but no experience, which led to his firing early in
the season. He was eventually replaced by Pete Michaud, former Admirals'
broadcaster. The team beat Dayton three games to one in the first
round of the playoffs, but were eliminated in the second round of the 1997
ECHL playoffs by the streaking Pensacola Ice Pilots. Coach Langway
did such a great job with coaching the mostly rookie defense that he moved
up to the AHL's Providence Bruins
as an assistant coach for the '97-98 season, and even played some games
towards the end of the season (unfortunately, the team was terrible and
both Langway and head coach Tom McVie were fired after the season). [Top]
For 1997-1998, the ECHL reorganized into two conferences and
four divisions. The Renegades, along with arch-rivals Hampton Roads
Admirals, the Roanoke Express, the expansion Chesapeake Icebreakers, the
Johnstown Chiefs, and the Wheeling Nailers made up the new Northeast division.
Coach Gruhl and former player/assistant coach Scott Burfoot returned to
lead the team. (Renegades'
1997-1998 Schedule) Since the Baltimore Bandits folded, Andy Davis
returned as the voice of the Renegades. The Renegades continued their
affiliation with the old Hartford Whalers organization, now the Carolina
Hurricanes.
The 'Gades began the season using the firepower of Burfoot, Captain Andrew Shier, new player/assistant coach Brendan Flynn (the Renegades all-time leading scorer), and David Dartsch. The young defense was led by Craig Paterson and Shayne Tomlinson. Our defense was backstopped by Carolina Hurricanes property Tripp Tracy and former Stingray Taras Lendzyk. Some big acquisitions during the '97-98 season included Jay Moser, Kevin Knopp, and Dan Fournel, all from a blockbuster trade with South Carolina; Peter Vandermeer, who was acquired from Columbus for Jay McNeill; Sal Manganaro and Daryl Lavoie from Dayton; Etienne Beaudry and Brandon Gray from Pensacola; and all-star Shaun Reid from Tallahassee.
The regular season opened with an 8-1 shellacking at the hands of the Hampton Roads Admirals, but the Renegades bounced back. At one point they were 19-10-3 and in first place in the Northeast Division! Unfortunately, the Renegades had another mid-season slump that they couldn't snap out of. The Renegades were eliminated from post-season competition before the end of the season, with the worst record in team history. Play-by-play man Andy Davis received the ECHL's Public Relations award.
The Louisiana Ice Gators captured the Brabham Cup. In the '97-98 Kelly
Cup playoffs, the Admirals (who barely squeaked into the playoffs as #8
seed in the North) were the definite Cinderella story of the playoffs,
as they defeated the Ice Pilots in the finals to claim the Kelly Cup.
[Top]
1998-1999: After the disappointing season ended, our owners
promised some changes to the organization, beginning in the near future.
They began by not renewing Scott Gruhl's contract. Mark
Kaufman, former assistant coach of the AHL's
Kentucky Thoroughblades, has been announced as his successor. Former
Renegades' head coach Roy
Sommer became head coach of the Thoroughblades (way to go, Roy!). The
Renegades reached an affiliation agreement with the Thoroughblades and
San
Jose Sharks for the 1998-1999 season. A strong affiliation led to several
hot young rookies being assigned to Richmond by the San Jose/Kentucky organizations.
Ownership let radio play-by-play announcer/media relations director, Andy
Davis, defect to the South Carolina Stingray's organization after he
was awarded the ECHL's Public Relations award. His replacement was John
Emmett. The team's jerseys were also tinkered with. The body featured a
printed icicle design in place of the cut-and-pieced thunderbolt. And for
the first time, the Gades wore Sunday jerseys for the first part of the
season. The white body had dark teal, purple and yellow swirls at the bottom
and a new logo based on a stylized "R".
The Northeast Division was just five teams (as the Wheeling Nailers
move to the Northwest), the smallest in the league. More importantly, the
1998-98 Renegades knew how to win, finishing the season with a record of
40-27-3, good enough for third in the Northeast Division and fifth overall
in the Northern Conference. Three rookies were selected to represent the
Northern Conference in the All-Star Game. Rookie netminder Maxime Gingras
cleaned up with many awards, including ECHL Goaltender of the Year, ECHL
Rookie of the Year, and Renegades MVP. Andrew Shier set a new franchise
record for career goals.
In the 1999 Kelly Cup playoffs, the Renegades defeated the Hampton
Roads Admirals in round 1, swept the Toledo Storm in Round 2, and swept
the Roanoke Express in Round 5 to win the Northern Conference Championship.
Unfortunately, they fell to the Mississippi Sea Wolves in 2OT of game 7
of the Kelly Cup Finals.
1999-2000: Coach Kaufman returned for the 1999-2000 season. For teh first time in franchise history, the Renegades had no formal affiliation with an NHL team, only a working agreement with the Kentucky Thoroughblades. Darren Wetherill, Andrew Shier, Trevor Senn, and Kevin Knopp all returned. The Renegades had an ECHL first: three brothers (Pete, Joe and and Dan Vandermeer) playing for the team simultaneously. The Northeast Division underwent a face lift as Johnstown shifted to the Northwest, and Charlotte and the expansion Greensboro Generals joined the Northeast.
For a look at all four pro hockey teams that have called Richmond home, the current version of the Renegades game program contains an article I wrote on the Robins, Wildcats, Rifles, and Renegades. During the season, read my articles on In the Crease's Renegades page for more current developments and game summaries.
We still believe! Go Richmond Renegades in 2000-2001 in the quest for the Kelly Cup! [Top]
