As part of their 10th season celebration, the Tucson Roadrunners have unveiled new home and away jerseys.
The Roadrunners’ new main logo is now the kachina design. The cartoon logo based on the old Phoenix Roadrunners’ mark is now the secondary logo, which appears on their shoulders opposite the Utah Mammoth crest.
For the first time, Tucson will also wear two primary uniforms based on the kachina logo, with the new primary color being dark green.
“I love them, they’re really nice, I think they did a great job,” said Tucson forward Owen Allard. “Definitely not used to the green, I’m used to the red and white, but it’s great, I really like it.”
The Tucson Roadrunners unveiled new primary home and away uniforms, showcasing a reimagined kachina color palette and logo.
Previously, Tucson’s primary uniforms were red and featured the Dusty the Roadrunner logo.
The Roadrunners will first wear their new gear in their regular-season opener on Friday at the Ontario Reign.
The kachina first came to hockey in 1996 when the Arizona Coyotes debuted. The design is “inspired by the supernatural beings in the traditions of the Pueblo peoples.”
“I had no idea like that we had new jerseys, I had no idea they were like that, but holy, they’re nice,” said Tucson defenseman Maveric Lamoureux. “I like that it’s like the old Coyotes jersey, the green, all the touches, I really like that. They look nice and I’m pretty sure we’re gonna have one of the best jerseys in the league now this year.”
The Roadrunners first added a kachina logo in 2019. It appeared on an alternate jersey that was primarily black with dark red on the shoulders and purple as the secondary color.
For the 2022-23 season, they replaced it with a white kachina jersey, where the secondary color was also purple.
On Monday, the AHL posted photos of the Roadrunners’ new ‘fit, saying “Grounded in green” with a fist bump emoji.
The kachina jerseys proved popular with fans and players, with Tucson opting to wear them to AHL All-Star Classics, and the team would have worn them for the 2023 playoffs had it gotten home games.
“We love them, I think when you have a pretty cool logo that’s done across your chest, you feel pretty powerful,” said Roadrunners head coach Steve Potvin. “I think guys have kind of dripped in (Roadrunners President) Bob’s (Hoffman) pot a little bit that they want to wear the kachina and listen, we’re proud of the Roadrunner. He’s pretty a feisty bird, too, we’re going to be proud wearing both, but yeah wearing the kachinas is a lot of fun.”
The Roadrunners’ third jersey will debut at a later date. It will be black with the cartoon Roadrunner logo.
Lamoureux, a first-round 2022 draft pick who played 15 games for Utah last season, also likes the NHL team formerly known as Utah Hockey Club’s new name and logo — the Utah Mammoth.
“I actually love it, I love the logo, too,” Lamoureux said. “I’m glad they kept the colors, too. I feel like the colors stand out in that way, but overall, I actually really like the name.”
Roster moves
With the NHL regular season having just started and the AHL opening night coming up, the Roadrunners’ transaction list has been lit up.
The Mammoth waived forward Cameron Hebig, goaltender Matt Villalta, defenseman Scott Perunovich, forward Ben McCartney and goalie Jaxson Stauber with the intention of sending them to Tucson, and they cleared waivers.
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.
However, the Tampa Bay Lightning claimed forward Curtis Douglas when Utah was trying to send him back to the Roadrunners.
Meanwhile, Lamoureux, defensemen Kevin Connauton, Artem Duda, Montana Onyebuchi and Maksymilian Szuber, as well as forwards Sam Lipkin, Julian Lutz and Miko Matikka were reassigned to Tucson by Utah.
One move that Utah/Tucson didn’t have to sweat was forward Sammy Walker, who was signed to a one-year AHL contract on Oct. 1. Last season, Utah traded for Walker from the Minnesota/Iowa Wild and he tallied 33 points.
“I love it here and I just want to be back and it was nice to get a deal done and get that over with and then you can just focus on, you know, where you’re gonna be and you can just train the way you want and not have to worry about that,” Walker said.
Division of champions
For the third straight season, a Pacific Division team reached the Calder Cup Finals, and over the summer, the Abbotsford Canucks won the AHL championship.
After Tucson lost its first-round series against the Canucks 2-1, Abbotsford went on to win the Calder Cup. In 2023, the Roadrunners lost 2-1 to Coachella Valley, which won the Western Conference championship.
Tucson went 5-3 against the Canucks in the regular season last year, including 3-1 at Abbotsford.
Potvin said the Canucks’ long run offered them a chance to get more information, and they fared well against Coachella Valley and Abbotsford in those series, but they need to play better together to get over that hump and get past the first round after three straight playoff appearances.
“I think it offered us another opportunity for the information that we needed to gather,” Potvin said. “It’s happened to us twice now out of the three years that we’ve made the playoffs, both teams went to the finals, one won and the other lost, so I think we’re on the right track.
Roadrunners head coach Steve Potvin talks with one of his lines against Calgary in the first period of their AHL match at the Tucson Convention Center, March 5, 2024.
“We’ve brought both of those teams to the brink and I think what we offered them was the opportunity to elevate; they knew they needed to elevate to get through us and, you know what? That’s our stress, we need to make sure we’re able to elevate our game when it matters the most.”
