Renegades Fall Short of Winning Series but Show Determination and Promise

The Renegades fell trap to the "Early Friday Game" in Tulsa and skated slowly out of the gates in Friday's 6-3 loss.  Spencer Archer continued his solid production by chipping in a goal, along with rookie Garrett Phillips.  The boys showed comraderie though, especially rookie Brad Harris, as they fought to protect recently acquired goaltender Rett Vossler.  The Renegades found penalty trouble Friday night and could not dig themselves out of the deficit.

Saturday was a new day, new game.  Coach Ambroziak rallied the troops as the Renegades trounced the Rampage 6-2.  Garrett Phillips contributed a goal and three helpers for a total of four points on the night.  Stefan Skinner had a beautiful bardown snipe and Anthony "Little Z" Zarella joined the party with a goal. 

Assistant Captain Matt Pipkins said "Yesterday (Saturday) was our best game of the year.  We kept building off positive energy instead of sulking in our loss.  I was proud to see the boys rally!"

Sunday, the Renegades did not clinch the series though.  The game was back and forth with a lot of emotion.  Both teams grinded to earn a win, but in the final period the Rampage pulled away.  Play was competitive though and Coach Ambroziak is aware the team's strengths and weaknesses.

The Renegades look to a solid week of practice upon their return to Rio Rancho and will have a well-earned off weekend from league play.  The Renegades travel to play the Texas Brahmas two weeks from now.

Renegades Prepare for Opening Weekend Battle!

The New Mexico Renegades are a little over 24 hours away from opening their regular season!  The Renegades will take on the Texas Brahmas at Blades Multiplex as they open up WSHL play.

The Brahmas went 1-2 against the Tulsa Rampage, in Tulsa, this past weekend.  Scoring was spread out between their top two lines, with the one player standing out on the scoresheet, Jordan Gnatkowsky, with a 3 point performance in the Saturday Brahma win.  The scores were two 5-2 losses (on Friday and Sunday) and a 5-3 (EN) win on Saturday.

The Brahmas are coached by Jeremy Law, who is no stranger to the WSHL.  Law led the Tucson Tilt and Forth Worth Texans, two of the better teams in WSHL history, a few seasons ago.  It is expected he will ice a competitive team.

The Renegades show no fear though, as they battled hard against the Tier II Mustangs of the NAHL while dominating the UNM ACHA team (they were stonewalled by goaltending coach Kevin Blair's son in the loss though).

The Renegades found solid production during pre-season from rookies Garrett Phillips, Chris Thirion and Spencer Archer.  Look for these forwards to terrorize the scoresheet along with veterans Jonny Voyles, DJ Pyle and Cody Miller.

Defensively, veteran Matt Pipkins continues to patrol the blueline with tenacity and put together a great pre-season along with rookies Creighton Lay and Mike O'Sickey.  Look for Brad Harris to be a physically imposing force.

In goal, Brandon Loera is settling into a rhythm in his first season of junior hockey, and with the defensive unit Bench Boss Peter Ambroziak recruited, Loera and his D-Men will find success.

Overall, excite fills the air as fans will get a look at a revamped Renegades roster!

Renegades Continue Development System! Extend Contract Offers to Two Young New Mexico Players!

The New Mexico Renegades Youth Organization and Junior Team are proud to announce the signing of Brad Harris and Craig Parry to the Junior "A" Program.

Last year, the 1st New Mexico Tiered Youth Hockey Organization began play with teams from the Squirt to Midget level.  These teams played "AA" in the Sonoran Youth League and brought an opportunity hockey players in New Mexico had never received.  The goal of the youth program is to develop the potential hockey talent in New Mexico so they have the opportunity to move on to the Junior, College and Professional level. Coach Ambroziak is sticking with his mission and has signed Harris and Parry, who both played for the Renegades U18 AA team this past season.

Harris is another big, strong defenseman who uses his physical prescence to intimidate forwards.  He is a great penalty kill player.  Brad is not someone who makes fancy plays or takes risk.  He prides himself in making the responsible play and protecting his own end, much like Mike O'Sickey and Creighton Lay.  This seems to be the underlying theme of the 2010-11 Renegade Defensive Crew.

Parry (Santa Fe, NM), on the other hand, is another "Cody Miller" like player.  He possesses a lot of skill and can play either defense or offense.  His ability to play all positions is very valuable to the team, because every team goes through injuries and sickness.  Craig will have an opportunity to establish his prescence with the Renegades in multiple roles.  It will be exciting to see which role he chooses to play with the Renegades.

Congratulations to these two New Mexico bred players, along with Anthony Zarella, for seizing this opportunity for the 2010-11 season and welcome to Junior!