Richmond coach Brian Goudie brought Dan Vandermeer in this season to be his assistant coach and backbone of the Renegades.

The veteran blue-liner not only provided the club with leadership and teaching but wound up as Richmond's leading scorer and tied for fifth overall in the Southern Professional Hockey League.

For his efforts, Vandermeer was recognized as the league's defenseman of the year yesterday in voting by the league's coaches. He followed in the footsteps of Goudie, who was the 2006-07 defender of the year before retiring and taking over as coach.

Vandermeer, who had 13 goals and 57 assists for 70 points, also was named to the first-team, all-star squad, which also included defenseman Kevin Harris (Knoxville), forwards Kahlil Thomas (Jacksonville), Kevin Swider (Knoxville) and Daryl Moore (Twin City) and goaltender Tim Haun (Jacksonville).

Richmond left wing Andre Gill (33 goals) was chosen to the second team, along with defensemen Chad Schwartzentruber (Jacksonville) and Cory Hessler (Fayetteville), forwards Tim Velemirovich (Fayetteville) and Chris Rebernik (Jacksonville) and goaltender Kirk Irving (Knoxville).

Swider, the league's leading scorer, was MVP. Jacksonville's Rick Allain was coach of the year. Forward Taylor Hustead of Twin City was rookie of the year.

In addition to Hustead, the all-rookie squad consisted of Schwartzentruber, defenseman Darren Noskey (Columbus), forwards Matt Pierce (Knoxville) and Rob Colangelo (Jacksonville), and goalie Ian Vigier (Columbus).

Knoxville claimed the first William B. Coffey Trophy as the regular-season champion and top seed for the President's Cup playoffs, which begin Friday. -- John Packett