Tucson Roadrunners Road Ahead: Marching Home To Tucson

Upcoming Games (All times MST)

Friday, March 3: San Diego at Tucson, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 4: San Diego at Tucson, 7:00 p.m.

Who’s On The Schedule

The Tucson Roadrunners return home for a two-game series against the San Diego Gulls at the Tucson Arena Friday, March 3, and Saturday, March 4. The pair of contests represent San Diego’s final trip to Tucson on the season, with the Roadrunners currently up three games to two in the eight-game season series against their I-8 Border Rivals. Tucson will have a week of practice on their home ice following a series split on the road against the Chicago Wolves over the weekend, while the Gulls have a midweek matchup at home against the Henderson Silver Knights on Wednesday before heading to Southern Arizona.

A Weekend For Everyone

The Roadrunners are opening the month of March at home with a pair of fun evenings at the Tucson Arena. The series opener on Friday, March 3 is the second El Lazo de Tucson Night of 2022-2023, with the Roadrunners set to wear their new alternate El Lazo jerseys for the second time this season. Tucson debuted the new red jerseys at home on January 20 in a 6-2 win over the Bakersfield Condors. The game will also feature Dusty’s Cheering Section, which includes one ticket, a Roadrunners Rally Towel, and a pregame edition of Roadrunners Hockey Rules for the first time hockey fan. The following night is Tucson’s Hockey Is For Everyone Game Presented by O’Rielly Chevrolet, featuring the second pregame Hockey and Hops event of the season. In addition, the first 250 kids who arrive to the game wearing a hockey jersey of their favorite team (real like the Roadrunners or Arizona Coyotes, fictional like the Mighty Ducks, or even their JR Roadrunners jersey) will receive a pair of Kids tickets to a future Roadrunners game in partnership with 96.1 KLPX, 94.9 MIX FM, and 102.1 KFMA. For more information on the weekend and to purchase tickets, visit TucsonRoadrunners.com/Fun.

Another Win Against The Wolves

Tucson is coming off of a two-game series split on the road against the Chicago Wolves to wrap up the four-game season series with the defending Calder Cup Champions. The Roadrunners took the first game of the weekend on Saturday by a final score of 6-2, as five different players lit the lamp for Tucson and four skaters notched multiple points in the win. Forwards Boko Imama and Curtis Douglas recorded points in both matchups over the weekend with a goal and an assist apiece, as Douglas also dropped the gloves for the fifth time this season with Tucson on Saturday. The Roadrunners finished the season with a 3-1 record over the AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes, with all three wins coming by at least three goals or more.

More From Mike Carcone

With his goal in Saturday’s series opener against the Chicago Wolves, Roadrunners forward Mike Carcone set one Tucson franchise record, matched another team record, and is nearing a third Roadrunners all-time record. The 26-year-old netted his 25th goal of the season in the second period on Saturday for the most goals in a season in Roadrunners history, surpassing his own mark of 24 tallies from last year. The score came while on the man-advantage, matching Carcone with forward Brayden Burke’s team record of 13 power-play goals in a season from the 2019-2020 campaign. In addition, the AHL’s leading scorer enters the week two points shy of Tucson’s single-season points record of 67, which was originally set by Chris Mueller in 2016-2017.

Shutting Down The Competition

Roadrunners have allowed two goals or less in four-straight contests going into the weekend series against San Diego, which represents their longest streak of the season and is tied for their longest stretch dating back to when they held their opponents to two goals or less in four consecutive outings in March 2020. During that span, Tucson netminders Ivan Prosvetov and Tyler Parks have combined for a .930 save percentage (107-for-115). The Roadrunners will look to extend the streak to five games on Friday against San Diego, who were the fourth opponent in Tucson’s 2020 streak. Both four-game streaks featured a pair of matchups against the Chicago Wolves, as the Roadrunners have allowed two goals or less in six-straight meetings with Chicago dating back to March 5, 2020.

No Place Like Tucson

Tucson returns home with an active six-game winning streak on their home ice since their 5-1 over the Chicago Wolves on Tuesday, January 24. A series sweep over the San Diego Gulls at the Tucson Arena this weekend would match a Roadrunners franchise record of eight-straight victories at home, while also clinching the I-8 Border Cup for Tucson over San Diego this season. During the current streak, the Roadrunners have outscored opponents 26 to 11 while allowing two goals or less in five of the six wins. Additionally, forward Adam Cracknell has recorded a point in all six games during the streak and is tied with linemate Mike Carcone for total scoring over that span with ten points apiece.

Did You Know?

Roadrunners forward J.S. Dea set a career high on Saturday when he tallied four assists in Tucson’s 6-2 win over the Chicago Wolves. With the performance, Dea joined Mike Carcone as the only Roadrunners skaters to notch a four-point performance this season, with Carcone having three four-point outings on the year. Dea is second on the team behind Carcone in total scoring with 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points, and is one of just two players along with Vlad Kolyachonok to have appeared in all 54 games for the Roadrunners this year. His next goal will make him the ninth player in Tucson history to light the lamp 20 times in a season and mark the first time since 2017-2018 that the Roadrunners had multiple 20+ goal scorers.

A Week Of Reading

Roadrunners players made their way into the Tucson community during their practice week before heading to Chicago, with a pair of events centered around reading to their younger fans following Kids Weekend at the Tucson Arena. On Tuesday, February 21, forwards Nathan Smith and Colin Theisen visited Bookman’s East on Speedway and Wilmot to read books, color, and sign team posters for fans in attendance. The next afternoon, Tucson goaltenders Ivan Prosvetov and Tyler Parks visited Dove Mountain K-8 STEM School to spend time with a fourth-grade class. The pair read a book and answered endless questions about themselves and the team as a whole. The groups of players were accompanied by Roadrunners Mascot Dusty, who stole the show at both locations.

On The Air

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. This week, co-hosts Adrian Denny, Brett Fera and Kim Cota-Robles will be joined by Roadrunners Director of Hockey Operations Jake Wagman during Tucson’s practice week leading into the two-game series against San Diego. In addition, a new episode of the Tucson Roadrunners Insider Podcast released on Sunday night, as “Voice of the Roadrunners” Adrian Denny and TucsonRoadrunners.com’s Jimmy Peebles broke down the weekend series from Chicago and heard from Tucson goaltender Tyler Parks. The podcast can be found on the iHeartRadio App or at TucsonRoadrunners.com/Podcast.