The Tucson Roadrunners return home Tuesday night, beginning a seemingly fortuitous stretch run to the 2019-20 regular season that sees eight of their final 12 games within the confines of Tucson Arena.
But while that’s great for fans itching to see a playoff race up close, playing in Tucson hasn’t been all that much of an advantage for the team on the ice itself.
Not that it’s been a disadvantage, either.
“It’s good to be at home in terms of practice in our facility, how we can focus on getting better every day,” Tucson coach Jay Varady said. “It just creates an environment for us to get better as individuals … to get better as a team.”
The Roadrunners (35-18-1-2) enter Tuesday’s 7:05 p.m. faceoff with the San Diego Gulls (29-18-6-2) not only in the top spot in a crowded American Hockey League Pacific Division, but also with the sixth-best record across the AHL.
Those results have come from Tucson being relatively the same team — with almost identical results — on the road as they’ve been at home.
That’s exactly what Varady wants out of his club.
“I think it’s about finding a way to be your personal best every time you play,” Varady said, “regardless of where you’re at, what time the games at, any of that.”
The Roadrunners’ mark at Tucson arena is seventh best in the league at 16-8-1-1 – good for a .654 win percentage. Away from Southern Arizona, they’re sixth overall, at 19-10-0-1 and .650.
That kind of consistency complements Varady’s vision of a team that plays exactly the same any day, anywhere. The big part of that, Varady notes, is that he’d rather his staff and players focus on the things they have actual control over.
“We don’t make the schedule … so I can’t get caught up in that very much,” he said.
Roadrunners’ right wing Hudson Fasching (24) can’t reach the loose puck in time during a scramble in the crease against Colorado in the first period of their AHL game at TCC, January 31, 2020 Tucson, Ariz.
Across the AHL, there are certainly other teams sporting balanced efforts that mirror what Varady’s Roadrunners have been able to accomplish. Some of those might just be potential Western Conference playoff foes over the coming weeks.
League-best Milwaukee’s .710 win percentage is far and away first overall, thanks to the AHL’s third-best road record, and second-best mark on home ice. The latter for the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Nashville Predators comes while skating at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, a 9,500-or-so seat facility originally constructed in 1950.
Tucson’s Pacific Division rival, the Colorado Eagles have seen their own success playing in Loveland, Colorado’s Budweiser Events Center — a 7,200-seat multi-purpose building that opened in 2003. But while a more than respectable ninth overall at home, the Eagles have been quite competitive elsewhere, too, posting the fifth-best road record in the AHL.
Notably, the Eagles also trail only the Roadrunners in the Pacific Division race, just three points out of first as Tucson enters its mid-week matchups.
Other teams across the AHL haven’t been nearly as consistent home and away — some likely Eastern Conference playoff teams the Roadrunners wouldn’t have a chance to see unless in the Calder Cup Final.
Hartford, an AHL affiliate of the NHL’s New York Rangers and a top-10 team league-wide virtually the entire 2019-20 campaign — lead the AHL with a robust .776 win percentage at home.
That’s the XL Center, built in 1971 and able to host nearly 15,000 fans when all areas of the arena are open. But hitting the road, the Wolf Pack are in the bottom third of the league at .438.
Belleville is another posting mismatched home and road records, but with a seemingly opposite scenario at play. When the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Senators are at home at CAA Arena — the facility, a couple hours each direction from the Ottawa and Toronto metropolitan areas, was built in 1978 and can hold roughly 4,300 for hockey – they’re barely a .500 team.
Away from CAA, though, they’re virtually unbeatable. Belleville is 23-4-3-0 on the road — an .817 clip that not only leads the league by a wide margin, but also has the team owning the league’s fourth-best overall record at this point.
The Roadrunners’ have four games in the next six days inside the 6,700-seat Tucson Arena — the horseshoed multi-purpose facility that sits at the center of the Tucson Convention Center’s ever-expanding downtown campus.
So far this season, the Roadrunners are drawing roughly 4,100 a game on home ice, where they face San Diego on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tucson is 3-3 against the Gulls this season, including a 2-0 mark at home.
Roadrunners goaltender Adin Hill said he is excited to get back in front of a friendly crowd, but added that being energized to be at home is about more than the building itself.
“When you’re playing at home, it is nice. You can have your own bed, make your own food. Anytime you can be at home it’s an advantage in many ways,” said Hill, who has won all four of his starts over the past two weeks since returning to Tucson from a long call-up with the NHL’s Coyotes.
“It will be nice to have eight of 12 at home, especially with the weather warming up, too.”
