Think it's been cold around here this winter, bunky? Has the wind-chill factor made you really bundle up on some of these breezy evenings?

Well, try 60 below zero.

That's how cold it got the other night in Thunder Bay, Ontario, where Richmond center Trevor Karasiewicz calls home.

"It was minus 51 [Celsius, which is minus 60 Fahrenheit] last night," Karasiewicz said after practice yesterday. "When it's like that, you don't go outside. You start your car and run back in the house to let it heat up. Sometimes it won't even start."

Global warming apparently hasn't had much of an effect on the Canadian city, which is 16 hours north of Toronto on the northwest shore of Lake Superior.

While Karasiewicz played hockey most of the year as he was growing up, the 5-11 185-pounder was a standout on the baseball diamond during the summer months.

"For about two or three months, June, July and August," Karasiewicz said of his baseball opportunities as a catcher. "I played in the World Juniors for Team Canada for 15, 16 year-olds. It was pretty good.

"It was just something to do in the summertime to have fun and stay away from hockey for a little while."

Karasiewicz also was a star on the ice for the Thunder Bay Bulldogs, scoring 33 goals and 105 points in 50 games in 2002-03 before joining the pro ranks the following season with Port Huron (United Hockey League).

The Renegades acquired him Jan. 2 from Huntsville, and the 25-year-old has had a significant impact on the club. In 19 games, Karasiewicz has contributed four goals and 14 assists. Perhaps it's no coincidence that Richmond began its Southern Professional Hockey League-record, 12-game winning streak around the time he arrived.

"He's played in the league for a few years now, and he's pretty much put up a point a game," Richmond coach Brian Goudie said. "He sees the ice well, and he's a very patient player. He fit in pretty well when he got here. We had just lost [leading scorer Danny White], and he stepped in and filled that void for us."

Karasiewicz has played mostly on a line with wings Andre Gill and Brett Needham.

"The coach gave me a lot of good chances right off the hop," Karasiewicz said. "Threw me in with the top [goal] scorer, Gill, and that helped me a lot. Plus I'm playing with better guys."

Huntsville was floundering at the time of the trade and didn't get anything other than cash in dealing Karasiewicz to Richmond.

"We were getting pressure from the top, and I was one of the guys they wanted to move," he said. "It was a tough thing to do, especially when you've been with guys for two years."

Karasiewicz got a little revenge against his old teammates Saturday, when he scored the only goal in a shootout to help the Renegades end their six-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Havoc.

"When I scored the game-winner, it was nice," he said. "I looked over at the coach, knowing that he had gotten rid of me. I liked scoring against them."

Contact John Packett at (804) 649-6313 or jpackett@timesdispatch.com.