Michael Carcone’s coaches and teammates have been asked so many times this season to describe how good he’s been for the playoff-bound Tucson Roadrunners, they’re having a harder time of late coming up with ways to describe the play of the presumptive front-runner for the American Hockey League’s MVP award.
Now they a new descriptive phrase for the league’s current leading scorer: First-team AHL All-Star.
The AHL announced Carcone among the 12 individuals selected among its 31 teams selected to the 2022-23 All-Star teams, with Carcone, tops in the league entering the Roadrunners’ final two games with 84 points, a First-Team selection.
Tucson Roadrunners forward Michael Carcone tallied a goal and an assist in Tucson's 3-2 overtime loss March 31, 2023, at the Bakersfield Condors. Even with the loss, the Roadrunners gained a point due to sending the game past regulation, putting Tucson six points up on San Jose for the AHL Pacific Division's final 2023 Calder Cup playoff spot. Carcone, the AHL's leading scorer as the season heads down the stretch, now has multi-point games in five of his last six appearances. Video courtesy Tucson Roadrunners
The Roadrunners are locked into the seventh position out of the AHL’s Pacific Division, but in the loaded 10-team lineup, that’s enough to earn a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs, which start next week. It will be Tucson’s first playoff series appearances since 2018.
While the AHL’s westernmost division makes up almost a third of the 31-team league, Pacific Division players made up seven of the league’s 12-member All-Star team, as announced Thursday.
Joining Carcone on the first team are Pacific Division honorees in forward Matthew Phillips and goaltender Dustin Wolf of the Calgary Wranglers, as well as defenseman Christian Wolanin of the Abbotsford Canucks. Pacific Division representatives on the second team include two-time reigning AHL MVP T.J. Tynan, a forward for the Ontario Reign, and defenseman Brogan Rafferty and forward Max McCormick of the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
With two Calgary on the first team and two from Coachella Valley on the second team, fittingly Carcone and his fellow Roadrunners will be facing one of those two teams in a three-game series — Tucson will be on the road for all three games per the Pacific Division’s early-round playoff format — starting next week. The Wranglers are one point up on Coachella Valley heading into this final weekend. The winner will own the AHL’s best record this season and take the division title, which also includes a first-round playoff bye. The runner-up will host Tucson in the first round.
Carcone’s season has been spectacular for months. In addition to playing in nine NHL games with the Arizona Coyotes on various recalls this season, he won the AHL’s Player of the Month Award in December by notching 10 goals and 20 total points in just 10 games.
Roadrunners forward Michael Carcone (8) gets congratulated after slotting home the first goal of the night against Ontario in December.
His 84 total points in 63 games played sit two up on Alex Barré-Boulet of the Syracuse Crunch as of Thursday. Barré-Boulet and his teammate, Syracuse defenseman Darren Raddysh, were also named a first-team All-Stars Thursday. Carcone and Barré-Boulet were teammates in 2015-16 in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the Drummondville Voltigeurs. That season, while Carcone scored 47 goals, both notched 89 points — a top 10 number in the QMJHL (the league’s leading scorer that season: former Tucson Roadrunners and Arizona Coyotes forward Conor Garland, now with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, with 128 points).
Springfield Thunderbirds goaltender Joel Hofer, Charlotte Checkers defenseman Lucas Carlsson and Cleveland Monsters forward Trey Fix-Wolansky rounded out the all-star teams, all as second-team selections.
The AHL started rolling out its season-ending awards yesterday by announcing the All-Rookie team. That list included Providence Bruins goaltender Brandon Bussi, Coachella Valley defenseman Ryker Evans, Calgary defenseman Jeremie Poirier, Hershey Bears forward Ethen Frank, Coachella Vlley forward Tye Kartye and Providence forward Georgii Merkulov.
The AHL’s Les Cunningham MVP Award honoree should be announced sometime in the next week or so. Carcone, Barré-Boulet, and Wolf are the likely top three for the Cunningham Award.
Alex Barré-Boulet, pictured in September 2022 moving the puck for the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning against the Carolina Hurricanes, has kicked it into gear of late for the Lightning’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. Entering this weekend, Barré-Boulet has tightened the gap on the AHL’s scoring lead to just two points behind Tucson’s Michael Carcone.
In addition to being the only Roadrunner to ever have 80 or more points in a single season, Carcone is also the first to score 30 goals in a season or have 50 assists in one year. And he’s done all three this year alone. Carcone is fifth league-wide in goals and third in assists, to go alongside his league-leading 84 points.
Carcone also has 103 penalty minutes. No AHL league leader in points has had more than 100 penalty minutes going back to at least 2015. The impact of Carcone’s willingness to play physically doesn’t go unnoticed by those around him, either.
Just last Saturday, with Tucson eventually needing to get a single standings point to clinch its playoff spot, the Roadrunners trailed 3-0 late in the first. Carcone mixed it up with Texas Stars’ defenseman Michael Karow, who had been glued to Carcone’s hip for a good portion of the first period. Carcone bit back and while he received a triple-minor — two minutes for slashing, two for roughing (Karow also got two for roughing) and two for tripping, that pushback may have just sparked the Roadrunners. Tucson head coach Steve Potvin said his team’s alternate captain lit a fuse that ultimately helped the Roadrunners gain confidence through the killing off the four-minute ensuing Texas power play and then start chipping away. The Roadrunners turned a 4-0 Stars lead into a 4-4 tie after regulation. The Roadrunners earned their playoff spot with the comeback.
“I think anytime your top scorer can get up and get into a dust up I think it sends a message to the team, there’s no doubt,” Potvin said. “When he’s fiery our guys are going to respond, without a doubt.”
Among the other likely MVP contenders, Barré-Boulet’s 59 assists and 82 points are both second for the Crunch, the second-best team out of the North Division this season.
And Wolf, honored as the AHL’s top goaltender a year ago when the Wranglers were playing in northern California as the Stockton Heat before moving to Calgary in the offseason, has been even better in 2022-23 by posting a 2.08 goals against average while leading the AHL in save percentage (.932), wins (41), games played in goal (53) and minutes played (3121).
Calgary Wranglers goaltender Dustin Wolf keeps his eye on the puck during his 5-0 shutout of the Roadrunners March 17 at Tucson Arena. Wolf stopped all 30 shots he faced, and the win was one of three shutouts for the second-year AHL pro over a four-game stretch last month.
Slap shots
Potvin said they expect former 2022-23 Roadrunners and current Arizona Coyotes Ivan Prosvetov to rejoin Tucson with the Coyotes’ regular season ending Thursday night in Tempe against the Vancouver Canucks.
It’s also possible as many as four other current Coyotes end up back in Tucson for the playoffs: forward Jan Jenik, who was called up just Wednesday, forward Milos Keleman, defenseman Victor Soderstrom and forward Laurent Dauphin; Dauphin did, however, leave the Coyotes’ Monday home matchup with the Seattle Kraken early with an upper body injury.
— James Kelley
Friday’s game will the last El Lazo de Tucson night of the season. The Roadrunners will wear their El Lazo jerseys and give away “El Polvo” bobbleheads to the first 1,500 fans.
The El Lazo identity of Roadrunners mascot, Dusty, El Polvo literally translates to “the dust.”
The Roadrunners are currently auctioning off their El Lazo jerseys (including Dusty’s) on the DASH app and at TucsonRoadrunners.com/Community. They are selling $25 raffle tickets with the chance to win current Coyote Soderstrom’s El Lazo jersey.
The Roadrunners also host a tacos and tequila event Friday at Dusty’s Party Nest starting at 6 p.m. and continuing during the game.
— James Kelley
