Tucson Roadrunners assistant coach Brian Slugocki has a personal connection with head coach Steve Potvin and the Tucson Arena.
Slugocki, the Roadrunners skills development Utah Hockey Club rehab coach, returned to Tucson last season, where he played for the University of Arizona from 2009-13.
“I have a great relationship with Potsie from coaching his kid when he was 11 years old and we actually started coaching (Utah right wing) Josh Doan when he was 13, 14 together and so it’s fun to kind of be working with him again,” Slugocki said.
Brian Slugocki, skills development coach for the Tucson Roadrunners, directs players through a drill at practice at the Tucson Convention Center, Feb. 27, 2025.
On Friday and Saturday, the Tucson Roadrunners (24-22-2-2) host the Rockford IceHogs (21-24-5-1) for a two-game series. The IceHogs are the AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks, and Friday is University of Arizona Night.
Slugocki had 157 points, including 89 goals in 126 games for the UA. After college, he played in Sweden for a year.
He’s been coaching full-time for almost a decade now, and this is the first in nine seasons he hasn’t coached youth hockey. He works with the Roadrunners during and after practice on skills and goes up to Salt Lake City to work with Utah’s injured players.
“Slugo, we appreciate what he does everyday,” said Potvin. “He comes in from Phoenix, he practices with us every single day, he doesn’t come game nights but he’s here every practice and he set up a shooting gallery over there.”
Slugocki, who lives in Scottsdale, wakes up early, comes to practice and is home in time to pick up his kids from school.
“I’m here for every home practice and I think over the course of the season they have 60 home practices,” Slugocki said. “So, yeah, I get up at 4ish. I leave my house at 4:30, get here 6:30-7 I’m here till 12:30 or 1 and then make the drive back … It can be a lot of times, but because I have a great relationship with the coaching staff and the players are really receptive to what I’m trying to do with them and you will teach with them it makes it easier to make the two-hour drive, two or three times a week.”
Brian Slugocki, the skills development coach for the Tucson Roadrunners, returned to Tucson last season where he played for the University of Arizona from 2009 to 2013.
Center Cameron Hebig leads the team in goals with 19 and is tied for second in points with 35. His previous career high in points was 32 last year, and his previous career high in goals was 13 in 2021-22.
Hebig said Slugocki is a big factor in that.
“He’s awesome, I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Brian, he’s a good guy, good coach and I found a ton of value working with him, just the way he sees the game and little pointers and skill work we do after practice,” said Hebig, who was selected as an AHL all-star for the first time this season. “It’s been awesome, really fortunate to get to work with him … he’s just always always giving pointers and trying to work on our game and how we can how we can make it better, so it’s been awesome.”
In 2011, Slugocki, then the Arizona Wildcats club hockey president, led the campaign to closer tie UA hockey to the university and get a new coach.
Tucson Roadrunners assistant coach Brian Slugocki watches film with a player during practice on Feb. 27, 2025.
Although the Wildcats play second fiddle to the Roadrunners at the TCC, Slugocki is excited about the program head coach Chad Berman has developed.
“I saw it just last night they made it into the nationals, so wishing them the best,” Slugocki said. “Unfortunately, because now there’s a pro team down here, it kind of takes away some of the fans but I think like when you get ASU down here the games are crazy and I know there’s been a handful of players that have gone through the Junior Coyotes program that I was coaching at that have now played here.”
He said it was “pretty weird” to get back on the TCC ice but he was excited, as he is for the future of UA hockey.
“Any hockey in Arizona I’m going to support,” Slugocki said. “So I’m really happy for and hopefully this whole new arena and a facility for them works out well.”
Although busy with the Roadrunners and Utah, Slugocki still gets to coach younger players.
“Not many skills coaches would really appreciate spending time with the players off the ice and working on their shots and the skill mechanics and their shooting mechanics but he takes such pride in it and it really helps the individual,” said Potvin, who was a skills coach and youth coach. “And then he spends time before practice, we have a skill session most practices prior to practice and he handles those and then he’s around for after practice duties and some of the guys that are using him, we are seeing some some real (results), the guys are just really making some adjustments on and we’re seeing some real results.”
Brian Slugocki runs through shooting drills with the Tucson Roadrunners.
Slap shots
– On Monday, Utah Hockey Club announced that defenseman Juuso Välimäki cleared waivers and was assigned to the Roadrunners.
Välimäki has played 271 games in the NHL and was on Finland’s team in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
– Friday’s game is also Faith and Family Night. Evangelist/author Kyle Peart will deliver a pregame message of hope at 5:30 p.m. for ticket holders at the Coconino/Greenlee room at the TCC.
Saturday’s game is Hockey Is for Everyone Night and the Roadrunners will host a Women in Business panel at 5 p.m. at the Maricopa/Mohave rooms at the TCC. Go to TucsonRoadrunners.com to RSVP.
