The Renegades left the ice last night with a feeling they hadn't experienced in a while.

Fayetteville 2, Richmond 1. The Streak is over.

"We knew it was going to happen," coach Brian Goudie said. "It was more of a distraction than anything."

The loss stopped a 12-game winning streak and a nine-game home winning string. Those numbers will now fade away into the SPHL record book, a piece of trivia trotted out each time another team challenges it.

Now that the Renegades are mortal again, they will turn their focus toward playoff position. They're just one victory away from catching first-place Knoxville and need to hold off all the teams they leapfrogged during their run.

"We dug ourselves back out of the hole during the streak," goalie Ryan Senft said. "Now it's just about guys getting their consistency back and keeping their heads up."

Richmond's last loss was on January 3. Renegades fans seemed shocked that their team was capable of coming out flat. Missing four players because of flu and another two to suspension, the team couldn't find itself early.

The Gades coughed up an early goal to Tim Velemirovich on a power play when he broke through the defense and beat the goalie with a stick move from 5 feet away.

The FireAntz struck again to open the second. After making a defensive stop, the Richmond defense left the puck floating, and it was immediately snatched up by Chad Haacke and punched into the goal for a 2-0 Fayetteville lead.

The only momentum the Gades had was from team brawler Dennis Sicard, who kept both his fists and mouth busy. He took down Mark Vida in the game's opening minutes, a warmup to his game-long feud with Chad Wilcox.

The two fought to open the second period, going at it until the refs separated the two tired players about a shift's length later. With the two in the penalty box, they yelled at each other from opposite sides of the Plexiglas.

When they emerged from the box, they continued the jawing all the way to the bench, though they did not see the ice at the same time again.

Midway through the second period, things began to click for the Renegades. On a power play, Andre Gill set up Dan Vandermeer for a one-timer from the blue line that put the team on the board.

From there, they attacked for the rest of the period, evening the shooting statistics and coming close to evening the score.

"Once we got skating and putting the puck on the net, the game started to change," Senft said.

On a power play late in the period, a slapshot hit FireAntz goalie Chad Collins in the facemask, sending him to the ice and then to the bench to get it repaired. He returned to the ice and made a pair of inspired saves to protect the one-goal lead.

He held his ground again in the third and flicked away a pair of shots in the final two minutes as Richmond used a late power play combined with a pulled goalie to finish the game 6 on 4. Even with the advantage, the Gades couldn't sneak a puck by Collins.

Goudie, who described himself as "a little groggy" after taking a fall during practice Friday, said the team has to regroup as it prepares for another home game tomorrow.

"The biggest thing is how you respond after the streak ends," he said. "We think we should win every game, and that's the mentality we should take."
Contact Michael Phillips at mphillips@timesdispatch.com.

Fayetteville ------------------------- 1 1 0 - 2
Richmond ------------------------- 0 1 0 - 1

First period - 1, Fayetteville, Velemirovich 15 (Snyder, Moreland) 4:50. Penalties - Keller, Fay. (high-sticking) 1:23; Vida, Fay., major (fighting) 4:21; Sicard, Rich., major (fighting) 4:21; Haacke, Fay. (holding) 5:47; Vandermeer, Rich. (interference) 9:45; Katzberg, Fay. (cross-checking) 15:43; Norris, Rich. (slashing) 15:43; Lyke, Rich. (tripping) 16:10.

Second period - 2, Fayetteville, Haacke 8 (Stephens, Vida) 6:19; 3, Richmond, Vandermeer 10 (Gill, Karasiewicz) 9:35. Penalties - Sicard, Rich., major (fighting) 2:29; Wilcox, Fay., major (fighting) 2:29; Wilcox, Fay. (roughing) 2:29; Cole, Fay. (tripping) 8:44; Moreland, Fay. (tripping) 15:10; Hessler, Fay. (cross-checking) 18:41.

Third period - Penalties - Karasiewicz, Rich. (hooking) 3:52; Cole, Fay. (holding stick) 6:08; Snyder, Fay. (hooking) 17:42.

Shots on goal - Fayetteville 11-8-13 - 32. Richmond 6-13-10 - 30. Power-play opportunities - Fayetteville 1 of 4, Richmond 1 of 8. Goalies - Fayetteville: Collins 6-12-10 (30 shots-29 saves); Richmond: Senft 10-7-13 (32-30). Referee - Jarrod Ragusin. A - 2,371.