Death. Taxes. The Tucson Roadrunners hockey team starting a season seemingly on fire.
Like clockwork, the 2022-23 version of the Roadrunners have again raced out of the gates red hot.
Tucson has started previous seasons with such marks as 6-1-1-0 (2016-17), 5-1-2-0 (2017-18), 6-1-0-1 (2018-19) and 6-2-0-0 (2019-20, Tucson’s inaugural season). A win Friday against the Calgary Wranglers would help this season surpass them all.
This year, Tucson is 6-1-0-0 through seven games. A win Friday would give the Roadrunners their best start in club history and the sole possession of first place in the league’s gargantuan 10-team Pacific Division.
Tucson’s 3-4-1-0 start to the 2021-22 season marked the only time the Roadrunners hadn’t blitzed through the first 10% of its season. This year’s team includes plenty of holdovers from that group.
Six regulars remain from the 2020-21 squad, including current leading scorer Mike Carcone, fellow forwards Jan Jenik and Ryan McGregor, and defenseman Victor Sodorstrom. Tucson’s 2019-20 roster included two current regulars, goaltender Ivan Prosvetov and defenseman Cam Dineen.
What’s the common denominator for early-season success, year after year?
Perhaps it’s on the bench, where coach Steve Potvin and assistant John Slaney are now in their sixth season in Tucson in one capacity or another.
“I have a lot of respect for those guys. I think (me) being around for seven years in the AHL, they’re two of the hardest-working people,” Carcone said. “They’re constantly on their laptops, working on how we can be better – what we need as players, systems. … They stay up at all hours trying to figure it out.”
Road trips are where Potvin’s work ethic takes extra hold.
“if you’re sitting beside him on the plane, get ready to watch some clips because, yeah, he’s got some for you,” Carcone added. “It’s pretty easy to do your job or feel comfortable going out there knowing what you have to do and when those guys are coaching you just because they’re so detailed.”
While Tucson traditionally starts hot, their finishes are a different story. Only twice in the past six seasons have the Roadrunners finished anywhere near on par with where it started. Tucson finished with the best record in the AHL’s Western Conference in 2017-18 and added a Pacific Division crown during the COVID-19-shortened 2019-20 slate.
Carcone is one of a number of Roadrunners aiming to flip that script.
Carcone enters Friday’s tilt with a team-high 12 points and nine assists. Those figures are second-best among the 753 non-goaltenders to skate in at least one AHL game this season.
Dauphin’s five goals are tied for fifth league-wide, and newcomer Jean-Sebastien Dea sits just behind him with four. Dineen’s six points rank in the top five among all defensemen.
But, statistically speaking, perhaps it’s Prosvetov who has been the best of the bunch. The fourth-year Tucson netminder is 4-0 while leading the AHL with a .951 save percentage. His 1.53 goals-against average is second in the AHL.
After his 29-save performance in a 3-1 win Wednesday at Calgary, Prosvetov’s assessment of the team’s success was matter of fact.
“I told the boys in the locker room that I have their backs and they have mine, and that’s how good teams play, he said. “We have good coaching, good forwards, good defense, and good goaltending.”
It's a team effort between Tucson's AHL club, its sponsors and fans, who received autograph pucks for helping the cause.
