No rest for the Tucson Roadrunners in busy stretch of the season

It’s a busy week for many in the United States, and it’s no different for the Tucson Roadrunners.

This week, Tucson has four games, part of a stretch where it plays five games in eight days and eight games over 15 days. Normally, the Roadrunners play two games over a weekend with the occasional mid-week series sprinkled in.

“It's nice, it’s fast hockey, it feels like playoff hockey a little bit, too,” said Tucson defenseman Montana Onyebuchi.

The Roadrunners (7-8-2-0) host the Abbotsford Canucks (3-12-1-2) for a two-game series starting on Friday. The Canucks are the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks and are the defending Calder Cup champions, though they did need the full three games to get past Tucson in the first round last season.

The Canucks series comes after the Roadrunners split a two-game series with the AHL-leading Colorado Eagles and had a Thanksgiving Eve game against the San Diego Gulls, falling 5-3.

Tucson’s schedule this week is game on Sunday, day off Monday, practice Tuesday, game Wednesday and then games on Friday and Saturday.

The first five of these games are at home for a team that’s used to long road trips like the annual gem show road games.

“We've got to take advantage of it, right? We love playing in front of our fans and being at home and we've got to make sure that we take advantage of it,” said Tucson head coach Steve Potvin. “We got to make sure that in practice we're taking shots and looking for rebounds and elevating the puck in tight. And obviously everybody talks about screening the goalie, we got to make sure we're taking the goalie's eyes away to get goals, especially against this goalie coming up.”

Potvin said the Roadrunners are healthy after defenseman Kevin Connauton needed help off the ice on Saturday, Onyebuchi returned from injury for the second Colorado series and defenseman Terrell Goldsmith nears his NHL debut. Goldsmith started the season on Utah’s non-roster injured reserve and joined the Roadrunners on Nov. 13.

“Our health is good, I think Connauton spent the day rehabbing (on Sunday), making sure that he's better,” Potvin said. “I think our health is in a pretty good spot right now — Buch came back, we’ve got Goldsmith probably going to make his debut here in the next couple games.

“So I think our health is good and our mindset's good, the spirit side, so I think we're in good shape.”

Onyebuchi’s sixth game this season was also his 200th regular-season AHL match, and he scored his first goal of the season.

“I think, yeah, it just takes a lot of resilience, coming from undrafted player and then on an A-Deal (AHL contract) and then sign an NHL deal and then sign another NHL deal,” Onyebuchi said. “I think it just comes with work, man, and just the days you don't want to do it, you get up and do it.”

Onyebuchi thinks the Roadrunners have depth, which will help out on the busy stretch.

“I think we have a great team, I think we're just finding our stride right now,” Onyebuchi said. “I think there's injuries and stuff that happen, but I think once everyone gets healthy and everyone's going, I think there's not a team that can beat us.”

Rooney returns, again

Center Kevin Rooney’s yo-yo season has continued.

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He returned to the Roadrunners from Utah on Nov. 14, then the Mammoth recalled him on Nov. 16 and then sent him back to Tucson on Nov. 22. He played two of the three Colorado games, the two on the road, plus Sunday’s 4 p.m. home game.

“He's an impressive person, he did it in Colorado, he flew in right at game time and performed really well,” Potvin said. “He seems to just love the game and wants to be around the guys and he did it again (Sunday). He got in at 11 o’clock, guys are coming in at 12:30, 1 o'clock, getting ready for the meeting and here it is, mile away and ready to play, so yeah, we're lucky to have him.”

Rooney signed a one-year, two-way contract with Utah on Oct. 6. He played 70 games for the Calgary Flames last year but hasn’t appeared in a Mammoth game this year.

In the AHL, he has four points in seven games, including three goals.

Utah first recalled the 32-year-old on Oct. 23, Tucson’s first transaction of the season. Other than players being added to the roster for the start of the season, the Roadrunners have had six transactions, four of which involved Rooney. The other two were center Andrew Agozzino returning from Utah, and Goldsmith being added to Tucson’s roster.

Let it glow

Saturday sees the debut of Glow Night for the Roadrunners.

The first 1,000 fans will receive glow sticks, and bigger ones will be available for purchase.

Saturday's game features a deal where four tickets will get fans a $20 gift card to Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers.

Friday is an El Lazo night, where the Roadrunners don the identity of El Lazo de Tucson. Their El Lazo logo features a Roadrunners skull with a cowboy hat, the Arizona flag and a lasso around him.

El Lazo is Spanish for the lasso, which is in reference to the longtime logo the city had with a lasso around the modern city and the San Xavier Del Bac Mission.

Look ahead

Following the Canucks series, the Roadrunners will hit the road for a three-game California road trip.

On Wednesday, Tucson will play a solo game at the Bakersfield Condors at 7:30 p.m. Then it will face the San Jose Barracuda on Dec. 5 and 6 at 8 p.m. for the first game of the series and then 7 p.m. for the second game.

The Roadrunners return home Dec. 12 to host the Condors.