This season, the Tucson Roadrunners are celebrating their 10th season in the Old Pueblo.
The Springfield Falcons moved to Tucson in 2016 and became the Roadrunners, named after various pro hockey teams in Phoenix.
“We had a lot to prove and we had a very good game plan in my mind of what we needed to do, what we needed to accomplish, and I think we’ve crossed a lot of those things off of our list,” said Bob Hoffman, Roadrunners president/alternate governor.
While Hoffman said the team still has work to do, the Roadrunners fully intend to celebrate the momentous milestone of a decade in the desert.
“We were certainly excited to get our head around what this year means and to look at 10 years in the desert and 10 years in Tucson when you have the comparison of just how challenging that can be in the sports world, and to have that longevity and success from a franchise and from a team.
“So, we’re excited to jump into it, excited for our fans, and right now, things are looking great for Saturday night.”
The Roadrunners (1-1) host the Calgary Wranglers (0-2) on Saturday and Sunday in their first series at home this season.
“I love the fact that we’ve been here for 10 years and we feel like we’re fighting alongside the people that we’ve been fighting with for a long time,” said Tucson head coach Steve Potvin, “and so that’s exciting to be able to feel that continuity and that togetherness ... it’s been a great run and we want to see it continue, so we’re pushing all we can and I know that we have some pretty good partners in that.”
Tucson Roadrunners forward Cameron Hebig takes in the ice in his 280th game with the Roadrunners to become the franchise’s all-time games played leader in a March 28, 2025, 5-1 loss to the San Diego Gulls at Pechanga Arena.
The Roadrunners came out with a 10th anniversary logo that features the original cartoon logo, mountain ranges, a diamond representing 10 years and 250 and 90 on cross hockey sticks representing the 250th anniversary of Tucson and the 90th of the AHL.
According to hockeydb.com, after averaging 3,564 fans per home game in 2021-22 and 3,625 in 2022-23, the Roadrunners’ attendance was up to 4,123 in 2023-24 and 4,112 last year. In 2016-17 it was 4,054.
Before the Roadrunners, Tucson had a rough track record with professional teams, particularly hockey.
In the ’70s, the Tucson Icemen and Tucson Rustlers each only lasted a season. The Tucson Gila Monsters folded during their second season in 1998, and then, in 2000, the Tucson Scorch folded before playing a game.
Hoffman said the reason the Roadrunners have lasted so much longer than other pro hockey teams is because of the fans, their pride and desire to support downtown Tucson.
More new jerseys to come
The Tucson Roadrunners unveiled new primary home and away uniforms, showcasing a reimagined kachina color palette and logo.
Last week saw the regular season debut of the Roadrunners’ new green kachina uniforms, and more new jerseys are set to come.
This weekend will be the first time Tucson wears the new white jerseys.
Hoffman said the reception to the new uniforms that feature the kachina logo as the primary has been great.
“We wanted to make it unique and different,” Hoffman said. “We wanted to kind of do a little bit of a twist with our jerseys, with our colors to really lean into the kachina for our 10th anniversary and next week we’re going to be unveiling our third jersey for this year, that’s going to be really unique and different, too.”
With the AHL celebrating its 90th season, the Roadrunners will wear some faux-backs to commemorate that when they play San Diego.
“We’re wearing a vintage jersey that is somewhat of a throwback because we haven’t been around long enough to have all the throwbacks,” Hoffman said. “So we’ve had a design made of something that’s a vintage jersey and we’ll be playing in that for the first time on Nov. 26 ...
“So that’ll be really fun to have two teams going at it in the Tucson Arena wearing old, vintage-type jerseys on a throwback night.”
Then, on Dec. 27, the Roadrunners will host Peanuts Night, where they will wear Peanuts comic strip warm-up jerseys.
“We’re doing a Peanuts night and gonna celebrate all the kids from the Charles Schulz cartoon there with the specialty warm-up jersey, so that’s going to be new and unique around the holidays,” Hoffman said. “It’s a great jersey, we just finalized the print on that this week to get it ordered so it’s here for December and I think fans are going to love that.”
Those sweaters will be available for purchase at the Roadrunners’ store, so it will be more affordable than the special jerseys the team auctions off after some games.
Promos start Saturday
As usual, the Roadrunners have a full slate of promotions this year, which starts on opening night Saturday.
At 3 p.m., the Roadrunners will have a tailgate party with music, food and drinks. Then at 4, the players will arrive to the red carpet and will sign autographs.
Hoffman said fan favorite promotions like teddy bear toss, military appreciation and Star Wars night will return, but the team will also have new ones like Barbie and Grateful Dead nights.
Roadrunners player Jon Martin helps shovel stuffed toys towards the door following the first goal of the Roadrunners Dec. 21, 2019, teddy bear toss game at Tucson Arena.
“We want to make sure that we stay true to what makes our fans happy and the things that they’ve really leaned into, our staples, that are always a giant hit for us,” Hoffman said. “But we also wanted to make sure we looked at some new things and wanted to make sure we tried to explore different audiences.”
