Any momentum the Augusta RiverHawks had after Thursday’s season-opening win was lost completely on a sloppy Saturday night at James Brown Arena.

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The Huntsville Havoc scored on two of its first five shots and frustrated every Augusta attempt to climb back into the game in a 5-1 RiverHawks defeat.

Head coach Brad Ralph said the loss was a wake up call for a young team that cruised to a win against the defending league champion Mississippi Surge just two nights ago.

“Unfortunately you need these games at times to realize what the league’s all about,” he said. “We had a false perception from Thursday’s game.”

While the Surge couldn’t handle Augusta’s offensive talent, Huntsville took the home team out of its game early with physical play and staunch defense.

“We saw what they did Thursday, and we wanted to get out there and match their intensity,” Huntsville coach Randy Murphy said. “I challenged our returning guys to be better than their returning guys, and I think they did that.”

A bloodied Matt Auffrey, Augusta’s team captain, skated off the ice after a fight with Gabriel Boutin-Gagnon earned both players game misconducts in the second period. Tyson Gimblett picked up two 10-minute misconducts and Aaron McGill got another, all three for inciting an opponent in a game that saw seven fights and 148 penalty minutes. An announced crowd of 1,338 saw Augusta’s 89 penalty minutes - 71 of which came after Auffrey left the game - break a franchise record.

“You want guys to step up for your captain, but you have to channel that emotion sometimes,” forward Jim Gehring said. “We have to come better prepared for a game like this. I think we thought after Thursday this way going to come easy for us.”

Gehring got Augusta’s lone goal on a back-handed shot in the second period to pull the RiverHawks to within a goal. But a defensive breakdown later in the period left Mike MacDonald alone in front of the net for an easy score.

David Wilson, making his first start for Augusta, allowed five goals on 24 shots.

“They took it to us,” Ralph said. “They outskated us. It took some nasty hockey to wake us up, and we couldn’t control our emotions.”

The addition of Travis Dunstall to the roster did little to spur any offense. Augusta (1-1-0) managed 33 shots but Huntsville goalie Mark Sibbald stopped 32 to give the Havoc a win in their season opener.

Huntsville (1-0-0) got two goals from Brandon Richardson.