Tucson Roadrunners Road Ahead: April Blizzard

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Upcoming Games (All Times MST)

Wednesday, April 17, Tucson @ Coachella Valley, 7:00 p.m.

Friday, April 19, Tucson vs. San Jose, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 20, Tucson vs. San Jose, 7:00 p.m.

Roadrunners Record Through 69 Games: 41-23-3-2 (87 points), second place in the Pacific Division, third place in the Western Conference.

Pacific Playoff Watch This Week:

Coachella Valley Firebirds 45-14-6-4, (100 points), First Place

  • Wednesday, April 17 vs. Tucson Roadrunners at 7:00 p.m. PST
  • Saturday, April 20 @ San Diego Gulls at 6:00 p.m. PST
  • Sunday, April 21 vs. San Diego Gulls at 3:00 p.m. PST

Ontario Reign 40-22-3-4, (87 points), Third Place

  • Wednesday, April 17 @ Bakersfield Condors at 7:00 p.m. PST
  • Saturday, April 20 @ Colorado Eagles at 7:05 p.m. PST
  • Sunday, April 21 @ Colorado Eagles at 3:05 p.m. PST

Abbotsford Canucks 38-25-5-2, (83 points), Fourth Place

  • Friday, April 19 vs. Calgary Wranglers at 7:00 p.m. MST
  • Saturday, April 20 vs. Calgary Wranglers at 7:00 p.m. MST

Colorado Eagles 37-24-5-2, (81 points), Fifth Place

  • Tuesday, April 16 vs. San Diego Gulls at 7:05 p.m. MST
  • Wednesday, April 17 vs. San Diego Gulls at 7:05 p.m. MST
  • Saturday, April 20 vs. Ontario Reign at 7:05 p.m. MST
  • Sunday, April 21 vs. Ontario Reign at 3:05 p.m. MST

Bakersfield Condors 38-27-2-2, (80 points), Sixth Place

  • Wednesday, April 17 vs. Ontario Reign at 6:30 p.m. PST
  • Friday, April 19 @ Henderson Silver Knights at 7:00 p.m. PST
  • Saturday, April 20 vs. Henderson Silver Knights at 7:00 p.m. PST

Calgary Wranglers 35-27-5-3, (78 Points), Seventh Place

  • Friday, April 19 @ Abbotsford Canucks at 7:00 p.m. MST
  • Saturday, April 20 @ Abbotsford Canucks at 7:00 p.m. MST

Check Out The Entire AHL Playoff Primer HERE

WhiteOut Clinched:

On Saturday, April 13, the Roadrunners clinched home ice advantage for the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs. Ben McCartney scored the game winning goal at the 5:55 mark of the third period to give the Roadrunners the lead and the 2-1 win; bringing WhiteOut Tucson back to Southern Arizona for the first time since 2018. The last time Roadrunners hosted a playoff game in the 2017-18 season: the team finished 42-20-5-1 in 68 games played. Those 42 wins are the most the team has in a single season along with 90 points. The 2023-24 Roadrunners have three remaining games to earn the most wins and points in a regular season: currently at 41 wins and 87 standings points.

The Big Boy Line:

The Roadrunners have seen the “Big Boy Line” of Curtis Douglas, Travis Barron and Hunter Drew throughout the season, but the three-monster unit has helped Tucson win four-straight games ahead of the final week of the season. The line has combined for 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists) in the last six games; with Douglas at three points (1 goal, 2 assists), Barron at four points (1 goal, 3 assists) and Drew (2 goals, 3 assists) at five points. Drew is second on the Roadrunners in scoring for the month of April with four points (2 goals, 2 assists) in the last five games.

Finishing Off With A Bang:

The Roadrunners have a four-game win streak for the fourth time this season with five being the season high. The Roadrunners have three games left against the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Wednesday, April 17 and San Jose Barracuda on Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20. Despite seeing four callups to four vital players for Tucson in the last three weeks including: Josh Doan, Max Szuber, Vlad Kolyachonok and Jan Jenik; the team has gone 5-2-0-0 in the last seven games; scoring three goals per game and allowing 2.57 goals against per game. Tucson’s four game winning streak is the longest in the entire AHL and the team looks to enter the playoffs as the hottest unit in the Pacific Division.

Dominating The Season Series:

The Roadrunners won another season series against the Colorado Eagles with a weekend sweep; both coming in one-goal games. The sweep marked the seventh season series victory for Tucson; with them having beaten: San Diego (7-1-0-0), Henderson (5-1-1-1), Texas (4-0-0-0), Colorado (3-1-0-0), Chicago (3-1-0-0), Calgary (2-1-1-0) and Iowa (2-1-1-0). With Coachella Valley and San Jose remaining on the schedule, the Roadrunners have an opportunity to end the year with nine season series victories. Tucson is currently 3-3-0-1 against Coachella Valley and 4-2-0-0 against San Jose.

Potential First Round Opponents:

Entering the final week of the season, the Roadrunners need two points to finish no worse than third in the Pacific Division; currently tied with the Ontario Reign in points (87); but own the tie breaker with one more regulation win for second place. That means Tucson has the potential to face the Abbotsford Canucks (4th place), Colorado Eagles (5th place), Bakersfield Condors (6th place) or Calgary Wranglers (7th place) in the first round. If the Roadrunners finish second place, they host the seventh seed for the first best-of-three first round for the Calder Cup Playoffs. In addition, Tucson would have guaranteed home ice advantage for the best-of-five Divisional Semifinals round if the team stays in second place and advances past round one.

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. This week Adrian Denny with Co-Hosts Kim Cota-Robles and Brett Fera are joined by Roadrunners defenseman Max Szuber. In addition, the latest episode of the Tucson Roadrunners Insider Podcast dropped Saturday as Adrian and Jonathon Schaffer recapped Tucson’s sweep over Colorado and a more in depth look of who Tucson could host for round one of the playoffs.