Will winning distract red-hot Renegades?

Now that the Richmond Renegades have established the Southern Professional Hockey League standard for consecutive wins (12), could the streak become a distraction as the team continues its drive toward the top of the standings?

Not if coach Brian Goudie has anything to say about it.

"We don't look at it too much," Goudie said. "Our goal is to win hockey games, We take the same approach every night."

The Renegades' next opportunity to extend the string comes tomorrow night (7:35) when Fayetteville visits the Coliseum.

"We don't really talk about it until after the game," said forward Dennis Sicard. "If we win, it's like, 'Oh, that's 13 or whatever.' We know how we're playing right now. We're confident in what we're doing. We're jelling pretty well as a team. You just want to work hard for the guy beside you.

"Winning is contagious. Just like losing is, so we want to keep winning."

Goudie realizes other teams are keeping a close eye on Richmond because of the streak.

"Every time we play somebody, we know we're going to get their 'A' game," Goudie said. "They want to be the team that knocks us off and ends the streak. Every night, we've got to be ready. In a way, that's a good thing because it makes us play that much better to keep it going."

Senft is honored as goalie of month

It didn't come as much of a surprise to the Renegades when Ryan Senft was named the league's goaltender of the month for January.

In nine games, Senft went 8-1-0 with a 2.27 goals-against average and .927 save percentage. That included a pair of shutouts. For the season, Senft ranks first in the SPHL in wins (14) and save percentage (.915) and is second in GAA (2.89).

Goody's 'retirement' more than meets eye

When Mat Goody announced his "retirement" last week, there was more to it than just wanting to hang up his skates. Goody had said he was going to retire at the end of the season but a 12-game suspension and subsequent fine brought it on sooner.

"I definitely did not want to leave right now," he said "I had no intention of retiring until the end of the season, but circumstances dictated otherwise. I want to thank all the people who supported me. These are the best people I've ever met in my entire life. You don't just come to a place and people take you in like they did to me in the last three years. It's been unbelievable and very humbling to me."

Goody, who holds the SPHL record for penalty minutes (428), had trouble coming up with the nearly $1,200 in fines and damages to the Fayetteville arena that he needed to get back on the ice after a Christmas night incident.

According to Allan B. Harvie Jr., team president and general manager, the money was ready to be sent to the league when Goody called Goudie and told him he was leaving.

"It's disappointing to me that he left after all we did for him," Harvie said.

--John Packett