Roadrunners Announce Hockey Day in Arizona, Coyotes/Roadrunners Alumni Start Doubleheader at 4:30PM
Tucson, Arizona- The Tucson Roadrunners announced today that they will be hosting Hockey Day in Southern Arizona on Saturday, February 24 at the Tucson Arena. The day will feature two games for the price of one.
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The Roadrunners will host Bakersfield at 7 p.m., while the Arizona Coyotes/Phoenix Roadrunners and other local NHL Alumni will skate in an exhibition game against the University of Arizona Hockey team starting at 4:30 p.m. (doors open at 4:00 p.m.).
The Roadrunners will be wearing throwback jerseys from the Phoenix Roadrunners who played in Arizona from 1967-1974 as part of the Western Hockey League (WHL), 1974-1977 in the World Hockey Association (WHA), 1977-1979 in the Pacific Hockey League (PHL), 1989-1997 in the International Hockey League (IHL) and 2005-2009 in the ECHL. Portions of the proceeds from the postgame jersey auction will benefit the University of Arizona Hockey Team.
Advanced single game tickets start at $19 and Flex Club Memberships are still available for the 2023-24 season. Visit www.tucsonroadrunners.com for more ticketing information.
The Alumni Game Roster will include:
(Forwards)
Mike Sillinger: With Coyotes 2003-04
Mike Vukonich: With Roadrunners 1991-1994
Lindsay Carson: 373 NHL games with Philadelphia and Hartford
Chuck Kobasew: 601 NHL games with Calgary, Boston, Minnesota, Colorado and Pittsburgh
Steve Bozek: 641 NHL games with Los Angeles, Calgary, St. Louis, Vancouver and Calgary
Ray Whitney: With Coyotes 2010-2012
Taylor Pyatt: With Coyotes 2009-2012
Michael Grabner: With Coyotes 2018-2020
Dave Scatchard: With Coyotes 2005-2007
(Defense)
Wayne McBean 211 NHL games with New York Islanders and Winnipeg Jets
Rob Cowie: With Roadrunners 1994-1996
J.J. Daigneault: With Coyotes 1998-2000
Mike Commodore: 484 NHL games with New Jersey, Calgary, Carolina, Columbus, Detroit and Tampa Bay
Mike DeAngelis: With Phoenix Mustangs 1999-2001
Garnet Exelby: 408 NHL games with Atlanta and Toronto
(Goalie)
Mark Schacker: with Arizona State University (ACHA) 2008-2012
Coaches:
Greg Adams: Played for Coyotes 1998-2000
Tim Watters: Played for Roadrunners 1991-1994 (741 NHL games with Winnipeg and Los Angeles).
About the Tucson Roadrunners
Entering their eighth year as a community partner to Southern Arizona, the Roadrunners play 36 regular season home games each season at Tucson Arena while calling the Old Pueblo home for 365 days a year; in which the team and Mascot Dusty look to be involved in and giving back to everything in our community. Since 2016, the team has drawn nearly 900,000 fans to Downtown Tucson while 54 players have also played for the Coyotes.
About the Phoenix Roadrunners
The Phoenix Roadrunners became Arizona’s first pro hockey team in 1967; they played professional ice hockey at Arizona’s Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. The Roadrunners played in the WHL from 1967-1974 and were champions in both 1973 and 1974. The WHL disbanded in 1974, but the Roadrunners became part of the WHA from 1974-1977 and the PHL from 1977-1979. After the end of the PHL, the Roadrunners returned 10 years later in 1989 to the IHL that lasted until 1997. In that time, the Roadrunners were a farm team to the Los Angeles Kings but left town a year after the Coyotes arrived from Winnipeg in 1996. Nine years later in 2005, the Roadrunners would return as a franchise in the ECHL but ceased operations in 2009.
About University of Arizona Hockey
The 2023-24 University of Arizona Wildcats are currently ranked #14 in the ACHA and are beginning preparations for the National Tournament taking place in St. Louis, Missouri in mid-March. The regular season is not done yet, the Cats are just one win away from the program’s 6th consecutive Cactus Cup, the season series trophy between Arizona and ASU. In this best of seven series the Wildcats have three wins over ASU and have two final home games on February 15th and 17th to reclaim the cup and celebrate in front of the great fans in Tucson.
University of Arizona Hockey was first established in 1978 by students who played games at the TCC. The team became the Arizona Icecats in 1979, coached by Leo Golembiewski and would eventually be a founding member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) in 1991. Starting in 2011 the Icecats would be renamed the Arizona Wildcats and would become a program area in the University of Arizona Campus Recreation department. Current Wildcats coach, Chad Berman, took over the program in 2015 and coached the team to back-to-back conference championships in 2019 and 2020, 5 consecutive Cactus Cups and 4 ACHA community service awards. The Wildcats have seen many incredibly talented hockey players come through the University including all-time leading scorer: Kelly Walker, former Wildcats captain and the first Wildcat to represent Arizona and the USA at the Universide games, Anthony Cusanelli, and current captain, Jesse Lowell, who has represented the Cats and USA two times in his college career for the Maccabiah games and the World Cup of University Hockey. It is the goal of the Arizona Wildcats to create a long-lasting hockey community in Southern Arizona and they are honored to be part of an event to showcase the long history of Southern Arizona hockey. Bear Down!
