Tucson Roadrunners Road Ahead: SoCal Swimming
Upcoming Games (All Times MST)
Wednesday, January 8 @ Coachella Valley Firebirds at 8:00 p.m.
Friday, January 10 @ San Diego Gulls at 8:00p.m.
Saturday, January 11 @ San Diego Gulls at 7:00 p.m.
Roadrunners Record Through 30 Games: 17-12-1-0, 6th in the Pacific Division
Heading Down South:
The Roadrunners continue its seven-game stretch from the Tucson Arena to begin a five-game road trip versus the Coachella Valley Firebirds, San Diego Gulls and Calgary Wranglers. Tucson finished its two-game series versus the Texas Stars in Cedar Park with a split on Friday, January 3 and Saturday, January 4. The team enters the week 7-7-0-0 on the road: which ranks as the 11th best in the Western Conference and Seventh in the Pacific Division. The Pacific Division fairs much better at home than on the road: with a 71-69-8-3 record on the road and 83-58-3-10 at home entering the week. To start off the five-game trip, Tucson faces the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Wednesday, January 8 and the San Diego Gulls on Friday, January 10 and Saturday, January 11. This season, Tucson is 5-3-1-0 versus teams from Southern California: including a 4-1-0-0 record versus San Diego and a 1-1-0-0 record versus Coachella Valley. Last season in 2023-24, the Roadrunners went 3-1-0-0 at Acrisure Arena, the home of the Coachella Valley Firebirds, that averaged 8,844 fans per game last season; which was ranked fifth best in the league. Overall, the Roadrunners are 4-4-0-0 in the Acrisure Arena in the past two regular seasons.
Hebig Making It Happen:
Roadrunners forward Cameron Hebig has been one of Tucson’s most consistent scorers: notching seven goals and seven assists for 14 points in his last 15 games, including a first-career hat trick on Friday’s 6-3 victory versus the Texas Stars. Hebig, who is in year number five with the Roadrunners, is in line to have his best career yet statistically and excelled that with his hat trick. His nine goals, eight assists and 17 points are all nearly or halfway through his career bests with less than half of the games played at 25. Hebig’s career high in goals at 13 came in the 2021-22 season and his most assists at 20 and points at 32, came last season in 2023-24. If Hebig continues at his current pace and plays all of Tucson’s remaining 42 games, he will acquire 24 goals and 21 assists for 45 points in 67 games, easily making it the best season of his career. Hebig is also in line to break Roadrunners history this season; needing just 14 more games played to break Michael Bunting’s record of second all-time in games played at 260 and 33 to break the all-time record for most games played that belongs to Dysin Mayo at 279. In addition, his line mates Kailer Yamamoto and Austin Poganski have helped Hebig combine for 10 of Tucson’s last 13 goals in the last six games: with Hebig scoring five goals, Yamamoto scoring three goals and Poganski scoring two goals.
The Blue Line Provides:
The Roadrunners blue line has been providing offense for the team since late November. In the last 13 games, Roadrunners defensemen have eclipsed 22 points with five goals and 17 assists. Rookie Artem Duda has led the way with seven assists for seven points, including two multiple point games on December 13 versus the Henderson Silver Knights (3 assists) and the Texas Stars on January 3 (2 assists). Assistant Captain Kevin Connauton has four points: including three goals which leads defenseman in the stretch and overall on the season. Other defensemen who have provided offense for Tucson in the last 13 games include: Robbie Russo (3 assists) Maksy Szuber (3 assists), Montana Onyebuchi (2 assists), Lleyton Moore (1 goal, 1 assist) and Peter DiLiberatore (1 goal, 1 assist).
The Next Stretch:
The Roadrunners finished its recent 10-game stretch with a 7-2-1-0 record: the best 10-game stretch of the season so far. In the 10 games from December 13 to January 4, the team averaged 3.10 goals for per-game and 2.10 goals against per-game. In games 1-10 and 10-20, the team went 5-5-0-0 in each; resulting in a 10-10-0-0 record to start off the first 20 games of the season. After the recent 10-game stretch that included a six-game winning streak, the Roadrunners sit at 17-12-1-0. Tucson now enters games 31-40; in which the team went 6-4-0-0 last season.
Points, Points and More Points:
The Roadrunners had three multiple-point scorers in the teams’ 6-3 victory over the Texas Stars on Friday, January 3: including Hebig’s hat trick, Doan’s three assists night and Duda’s two-assists. It was Tucson’s first hat trick and third three-assist night of the 2024-25 season. Hebig sits as the team’s only player with a hat trick, but Doan joined both Austin Poganski (Nov. 23 vs. Calgary) and Artem Duda (Dec. 13 vs. Henderson) as players on the team with three assist nights. Doan and Hebig also became the fifth and sixth players this season to acquire a three-point game for Tucson: that includes, Egor Sokolov, Andrew Agozzino, Artem Duda and Austin Poganski. In addition, two of Tucson’s three-point night’s belonging to Sokolov (1 goal two assists, on Nov. 9) and Agozzino (1 goal, 2 assists, on Dec. 18) are against the San Diego Gulls.
We Are Live:
Tucson Roadrunners Happy Hour airs every Tuesday at 5 p.m. on FOX Sports 1450AM and the iHeartRadio app, with a podcast version also available after each episode on the iHeartRadio app and Apple Podcast. This week, “Voice of the Roadrunners” Jonathon Schaffer and Co-Host Kim Cota-Robles are joined by Roadrunners Strength and Performance Coach Parker Poore. Listen live each week HERE and the podcast version after HERE.
