The Tucson Roadrunners will return home on Friday night with a Sun Devil by their side.
Forward Colin Theisen signed with the American Hockey League club on March 22. He made an instant impact, scoring a goal and registering an assist in last week’s 6-3 Roadrunners win at Henderson.
“I thought he did a really good job,” said Roadrunners coach Jay Varady. “He’s done a really good job with that transition and he’s gonna have to keep working on that transition as we go through the rest of the year.”
The 24-year-old Theisen will make his Tucson home debut on Friday, when the Roadrunners (20-30-4-1) host the Rockford IceHogs (28-24-4-1) at Tucson Arena. Theisen is the first Sun Devil to sign a contract with an Arizona-based pro team. He played the 2020-21 season for the Sun Devils after transferring from Notre Dame. While in Tempe, he set a single-season record for total points (42) and was named a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.
Theisen signed a professional tryout (PTO) contract with the Roadrunners. The deal is good for 25 games, but can be terminated at any time.
Former ASU star Colin Theisen will make his Tucson home debut on Friday, when the Roadrunners host the Rockford IceHogs.
The clock is ticking for Theisen, a Michigan native, to make his mark.
“It’s tough, when you’re on one of those PTO contracts, honestly you don’t know how long that’s gonna last; it’s not guaranteed,” Varady said. “So those guys are coming in here and trying to make an impression, and every day, they come to the rink they’re trying to be the best version of themselves so they get to stay as long as they possibly can.”
Theisen seems to be enjoying his chance to stay in the Grand Canyon State.
“It was tough to adjust at first … but you can’t complain living in Arizona,” Theisen said. “The weather’s great here every day, I was going to the rink in flip flops in January, which I’ve never had before, so I loved every second of it.”
Slap shots
Theisen overcame a potentially awkward situation when he arrived at ASU. While playing for Notre Dame in January 2021, Theisen laid out Sun Devils defenseman Jacob Wilson. Theisen was given a game misconduct, and the Big Ten Conference later suspended him for one game for contact to the head.
Months later, Theisen and Wilson became teammates.
“We actually became best friends like the first week there and kinda got it out of the way the first couple of days,” he said. “But it was a laughing joke pretty much all year, so they didn’t let that down.”
Last week, Wilson signed with the Providence Bruins of the AHL’s Atlantic Division.
Friday’s game marks the Roadrunners’ last “El Lazo” night of the season. The team will wear special “El Lazo” sweaters, and fans will be treated to food truck and Sunnyside High School’s mariachi band.
The AHL has reinstated San Jose Barracuda forward Krystof Hrabik following a 28-game suspension. Hrabik was initially suspended 30 games for racially abusing Roadrunners left winger Boko Imama, who is Black. Hrabik underwent an education and training program during his suspension, the league said. A report from the San Jose Mercury News said that Hrabik will train on his own pending a possible re-assignment to a lower-level minor-league club. He is unlikely to return to the Barracuda.
