The hockey world was abuzz late last month about the goings on up Interstate 10 — and it had little to do with what was happening on the ice itself.
Instead, much was made about the 5,000-seat structure that is now home tthe NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, the parent club of the Tucson Roadrunners.
Arizona State’s Mullet Arena, named for the donor who made ASU’s Division I hockey program possible, is meant to be a temporary home for the Coyotes as the organization works to build its own multi-billion-dollar arena nearby.
In Tucson, the Roadrunners’ arena situation appears as solid as can be. Tucson (6-2-0-0) will host the expansion Coachella Valley Firebirds (5-3-0-0) twice this weekend, the first game set for Friday at 7 p.m.
On the road, however, Tucson’s early season has been rife with new barns across the western half of North America. All six of Tucson’s road games so far this season have taken place inside either new (to them) arenas.
The Roadrunners opened the season in mid-October playing for the first time at the Dollar Loan Center, new home of the Henderson (Nevada) Silver Knights. Tucson’s next road trip included its first time at Tech Cu Arena, the new home to the San Jose Barracuda. And last week, Tucson played for the first time inside Calgary’s 39-year-old Scotiabank Saddledome, after the former Stockton Heat moved in the offseason to be closer to their parent club, the NHL’s Calgary Flames. Tucson split the two-game set with the newly renamed Calgary Wranglers.
The arena wackiness doesn’t stop there.
Because of construction, Coachella Valley has yet to play a true home game at Acrisure Arena, located 367 miles west of Tucson Arena, right off I-10. The Firebirds have played most of their outings on the road so far, with a few at various facilities in the Seattle region, home turf of the Firebirds’ NHL affiliate, the Seattle Kraken.
Coachella Valley will christen its arena on Dec. 18. The opponent that night: the Roadrunners.
Pregame ‘line brawl’ leads to 8 ejections
“Old-time hockey.”
That’s how Tucson forward Hudson Elynuik described what took place in San Jose on Oct. 29. The game between the Roadrunners and Barracuda included four full-blown on-ice fights and eight ejection.
And the puck hadn’t even dropped yet.
“There’s no real explanation on what happened. Hockey’s an intense game. Tempers flare. There was a little scuffle off the opening draw there, and all of a sudden there’s a line brawl going on,” Elynuik said. “We had a hard-fought game against them (the night before) and I think a lot of that energy transformed into Saturday as well.”
San Jose’s Jasper Weatherly and Tucson’s Travis Barron skated toward each other for the opening faceoff, only to end up going at it before the referee was even set in the center-ice circle.
Weatherly was tossed, as were Barracuda teammates Patrick McGrath, Adam Raska and Patrick Sieloff. Elynuik, Tyson Empey and Vlad Kolyachonok also joined Barron in the locker room.
All eight were given game five-minute major penalties and both 10-minute and game misconduct penalties for “fighting other than during the periods of the game.”
After the fracas, there was still a full 60-minute-plus hockey game to be played. Tucson prevailed in a shootout, 4-3.
Tucson’s Michael Carcone said playing 65 minutes with only three lines was unique.
“It’s definitely tough,” he said. “You definitely have a little more energy shift to shift when you have four lines.
“It’s also a blessing for some of the guys, too, that don’t necessarily eat a lot of minutes,” he added. “They get to have a little more opportunity to showcase themselves.”
A few days after the dust had cleared in San Jose, the AHL announced that Tucson coach Steve Potvin and San Jose coach John McCarthy had been fined an undisclosed amount “as a consequence of their teams’ actions prior to the start of their game on Oct. 29.”
TV slate starts Friday
For the third consecutive season, a select number of Roadrunners home games will be televised locally on KWBA-TV, which appears on either Channel 8 or 58 on most Southern Arizona cable or satellite systems.
The first of six such broadcasts take place Saturday against Coachella Valley live from Tucson Arena.
Adrian Denny, the Roadrunners’ regular radio play-by-play voice for all home and road games on 1450-AM, will be on the call for the radio/TV simulcast.
Video broadcasts of all games (with audio set to Denny’s radio call) are also available via AHLtv at WatchTheAHL.com, the league’s subscription-based live-streaming service.
