Tucson Roadrunners center sticks it to team that 'didn’t really want' him

Editors note: The Utah Mammoth recalled center Kevin Rooney from Tucson after the Star went to press Thursday. 

New Tucson Roadrunners center Kevin Rooney is off to such a hot start that he burned his former organization.

In four games this season, Rooney has three goals and an assist. He’s tied for sixth in the AHL with three goals, leads Tucson in goals and is second on the Roadrunners in scoring.

Rooney had five goals in 70 games with the Calgary Flames last year and one goal in four games with the Wranglers. Over the weekend, he had two points against Calgary, including a goal that started their comeback on Sunday.

“It feels great to get some points against a team that didn’t really want you,” Rooney said. “So, yeah, it feels really good and it was getting chippy there with some old teammates there, so that was good, too.”

Rooney and the other Roadrunners (2-1-1-0) will host the Bakersfield Condors (2-1) for a two-game series starting on Friday night. The Condors are the AHL affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers.

Rooney signed a one-year, two-way contract with Utah on Oct. 6. This ended an agonizing offseason after Calgary chose not to re-sign him.

“It was tough,” Rooney said. “I’m lucky my family, my circle back home was there for me, and I just tried to go to the gym and go to the rink every day with a purpose to get better to prove people wrong. You know, prove to people that I could still play even though I’m a little bit older — the AHL has kind of shifted to a lot of younger guys, you only get so many of those veterans.

“So, I just wanted to keep working hard and show that I could keep up with the young guys.”

The 32-year-old played at Providence College where he won the 2015 NCAA National Championship title. He has played for the Albany Devils, the Binghamton Devils and the Wranglers in the AHL and the New Jersey Devils, the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames in the NHL.

He’s played 259 games in the AHL and 330 in the NHL.

Tucson head coach Steve Potvin said with some players that go from the NHL to AHL, you don’t have to get them in the right mindset.

“Players that come to us and they have a real appreciation for the game and they find pleasure in playing the game, they don’t care whatever league they’re in, they feel like that’s their NHL,” Potvin said. “So he’s looking forward to an opportunity to play and we’re looking forward to giving him an opportunity to lead and insulate our young guys, and so it’s been a real good mix and it hasn’t taken any effort at all.”

With the Roadrunners in the midst of a six-game home stand, Rooney is finally getting a break from living out of a suitcase. On Sunday, he said he was moving to his new home on Monday and his family is coming soon.

“I’m really excited just to get out of the hotel,” Rooney said. “It’s been a long time in the hotel, since, I think, Sept. 3rd or something, so ready to get out of the hotel and get my family here and excited for the weather and getting to know people in the community.”

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The Roadrunners unveiled their new third jersey on Wednesday.

Their new sweater features their original primary logo, with the dominant color being black and uses the colors of their primary jerseys for their first nine seasons. They will wear the blacks for eight home games, starting with Nov. 8 against the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

Bonus hockey

Against Calgary, Tucson played two overtimes in consecutive nights and went to extra hockey in three of its four games this season.

On Sunday, the Roadrunners rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third to each overtime, where they lost 4-3. Tucson got three out of four standings points over the weekend.

The Roadrunners got walk-off wins on Friday, 5-4, and against the Ontario Reign, 5-4, on Oct. 10.

Milestone goals

It was a busy weekend for the Roadrunners’ European players.

On Sunday, forward Miko Matikka scored his first AHL goal after forwards Noel Nordh and Daniil But opened their American league accounts on Saturday.

“I’m gonna be honest, I kinda blacked out,” Matikka said. “Obviously, get a power play in a 0-0 game and just trying to follow the plan we had.”

Matikka is from Finland, Nordh is from Sweden and But is from Russia.

From Russia with love?

Former Roadrunners goalie Ivan Prosvetov returned with Calgary, but Tucson didn’t welcome him that kindly.

The Roadrunners scored five goals and beat the Moscow native in overtime on Saturday. Prosvetov played 129 games for the Roadrunners over four seasons.

Prosvetov played last season for CSKA Moscow.

“Well, it’s great to see him back in league,” Potvin said. “We always say to our guys ‘we want you to grow, go far, get rewarded’ and so when they do have that buy-in, we want them to find a way into the ecosystem, the ecosystem is the NHL or the hockey world. We want them to continue their path. Whenever you have a player in your own system that continues on, you’re proud of it, you’re happy for them and you hope that they’ve learned something.”

When the 2023-24 season was starting, the Arizona Coyotes waived Prosvetov with the intention of sending him to Tucson, and the Colorado Avalanche signed him. He played 11 games for the Avalanche and 21 games for the AHL Colorado Eagles, winning AHL Goaltender of the Month for that February as Matthew Villalta became Tucson’s new No. 1 goalie and earned his first AHL All-Star selection.