The Richmond RiverDogs were a minor professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

team based in Richmond, Virginia, that played at the

Richmond Coliseum Richmond Coliseum is a defunct arena located in downtown Richmond, Virginia, with a capacity of 13,500 that was most often used for various large concerts. The arena opened in 1971 and the region is looking to replace the aging facility with a la ...

from 2003 to 2006. The RiverDogs were formed during an expansion of the

United Hockey League The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor professional ice hockey league, with teams in the Unite ...

(UHL) in the fall of 2003, replacing the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

Richmond Renegades The Richmond Renegades were an ECHL ice hockey team in Richmond, Virginia that played in the East Coast Hockey League from 1990 until 2003. The Renegades played at the Richmond Coliseum, which they marketed in later years as ''the Freezer''. T ...

, which folded in April 2003. It was originally owned by Dr. Eric Margenau, a New York-based psychologist who also owned several other minor league teams. In their first year of play in the UHL, the RiverDogs were coached by

Rod Langway Rodney Cory Langway (born May 3, 1957) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played for the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals in the National Hockey League (NHL) and Birmingham Bulls of the World Hockey Associati ...

and won the Eastern Division in the regular season and made the playoffs, but lost in the first round to the

Elmira Jackals The Elmira Jackals were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Elmira, New York. They were members of the United Hockey League from 2000 to 2007 and the ECHL from 2007 to 2017. The Jackals played their home games at First Arena. On ...

. General manager Jeff Croop then fired Langway and replaced him with Don Martin. The following offseason, Dr. Margenau sold the team to Glenn Morelli and the team failed to qualify for the playoffs while also reportedly bouncing checks. In 2005, Dr. Eric Margenau re-purchased the franchise along with Jay Acton and hired Robbie Nichols as head coach and general manager. On January 31, 2006, Nichols was announced to be leaving his post as coach of the RiverDogs on February 4 to join to the UHL expansion Chicago Hounds, which was also owned by Dr. Margenau, while staying on for the rest of the season as the RiverDogs' general manager. In April 2006, the Richmond Coliseum's management announced that the RiverDogs had missed several opportunities to renew their lease for 2006–07 and Margenau transferred all operations to the new Chicago team. The RiverDogs were replaced by the second incarnation of the

in the Southern Professional Hockey League in October 2006. Former RiverDog Brian Goudie was named player–assistant coach of the SPHL Renegades in 2006–07 and head coach of the Renegades in 2007–08.

References

External links

Richmond RiverDogs at HockeyDB
{{IHL Sports in Richmond, Virginia Defunct United Hockey League teams Defunct ice hockey teams in the United States Ice hockey clubs established in 2003 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2006 Ice hockey teams in Virginia 2003 establishments in Virginia 2006 disestablishments in Virginia