Tucson Roadrunners Road Ahead: Last Call For The Regular Season

Upcoming Games (All times MST)

Friday, April 14: San Jose at Tucson, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 15: San Jose at Tucson, 7:00 p.m.

Next Stop: Calder Cup

The Tucson Roadrunners have secured their spot in the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs Saturday night with two games remaining in the regular season. Playoff Round Passes are on sale at TucsonRoadrunners.com/WhiteoutCentral should the Roadrunners move on to the Second Round to host Playoff Hockey at the Tucson Arena. Tucson will be on the road for the full best-of-three series in the First Round of the Playoffs taking place between April 18 and 23. For The First Round, the Roadrunners have partnered with Main Event at 4700 South Landing Way as the official Watch Party Site of the Playoffs. Main Event will host Watch Parties for each Tucson road game in the Playoffs with food and drink specials, discounted play cards, and more available for Roadrunners fans.

Who’s On The Schedule

The Roadrunners wrap up the 2022-2023 regular season at the Tucson Arena this weekend with a two-game set against the San Jose Barracuda. San Jose comes to the desert for the first time since November 22 and were eliminated from Playoff contention by the Roadrunners on Saturday. Tucson has a 3-2-1-0 record against the AHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks this season, with two of the three wins coming by at least three goals. The Roadrunners and Barracuda rank first and second in the American Hockey League in total penalty minutes with 361 combined penalty minutes through their first six meetings on the season.

Wrapping Up The Regular Season

The series opener between the Roadrunners and Barracuda on Friday, April 14 is the third El Lazo de Tucson Night of the season Presented by the City of Tucson. The first 1,500 fans in attendance will receive a free “El Polvo” Bobblehead courtesy of KOLD, “El Polvo” is the alternate El Lazo identity of Roadrunners Mascot Dusty. The Roadrunners are hosting a Tacos and Tequila Event at Dusty’s Party Nest in the Tucson Arena starting at 6 p.m. MST and lasting through the duration of the game. A special package is available that includes a game ticket, a t-shirt, four tacos, a churro, and discounted tequila tastings at TucsonRoadrunners.com/Tacos. The final El Lazo de Tucson game of the year also features Dusty’s Cheering Section Presented by Arizona Bilingual and Proforma for the first time hockey fan that includes one game ticket, a Roadrunners Rally Towel and a pregame edition of ROADRUNNERS HOCKEY RULES. Finally, game number 72 to close out the regular season on Saturday, April 15 is Fan Appreciation Night Presented by the Arizona Daily Star, with a Player Poster Giveaway courtesy of AMR. For full information on the Roadrunners remaining home games and to purchase tickets, visit TucsonRoadrunners.com/Fun.

Four Goals To Fight Back

The Roadrunners clinched the Playoffs on Saturday by earning a standings point in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Texas Stars. Tucson trailed the first-place Stars 4-0 with 21:19 remaining in regulation before scoring four unanswered goals to force overtime. Forward Colin Theisen began the rally with a power-play goal to close out the second period, before fellow Arizona State University product Josh Doan opened the final frame with another goal on the man-advantage for Tucson. Still behind 4-2, Roadrunners forwards J.S. Dea and Cam Hebig scored back-to-back goals in the span of 37 seconds over the final 2:41 of regulation to even the score at 4-4. The standings point in overtime was all Tucson needed to punch their ticket to the Playoffs after their closest competition, the San Jose Barracuda, fell to the Colorado Eagles 4-0 earlier in the evening on Saturday.

El Lazos Are Listed

Ahead of Friday’s third and final El Lazo de Tucson night of the season, the Roadrunners have made the team’s alternate El Lazo Jerseys available in the form of bid to win opportunities on DASH and at TucsonRoadrunners.com/Community. Fans can also purchase $25 Raffle Tickets with the chance to win current Arizona Coyotes defenseman Victor Soderstrom’s El Lazo Jersey. In addition to game-worn player jerseys, Mascot Dusty’s “El Polvo” jersey is also available to bid on, with the event lasting until Monday, April 17 at 9 p.m. MST.

#CarconeMVP Campaign Continues

Forward Mike Carcone continued his quest for the AHL’s scoring title over the weekend with four assists in two games against the Texas Stars. Three of the assists came in the third period of Friday’s series opener, representing Carcone’s 11th outing of the season with three points or more. With two games to play in the regular season, Carcone leads Syracuse Crunch forward Alex Barré-Boulet by three points for the league’s scoring lead with 31 goals and 53 assists for 84 total points in 63 games played. Carcone’s 103 penalty minutes would make him the AHL’s first leading scorer to have as many penalty minutes as points since Steve Maltais in 2002-2003 (86 points, 86 PIM), and the first leading scorer to top 100 minutes in the box since Domenic Pittis in 1998-1999. Entering the weekend against San Jose, the 26-year-old leads the season series between Tucson and the Barracuda in scoring with four goals and six assists for ten points in five outings. #CarconeMVP.

Did You Know?

The Roadrunners have four forwards entering the week on active point streaks of three games. Mike Carcone (5a) and Adam Cracknell (3g 2a) are tied for the most points during that stretch with five points apiece, as Cracknell’s two-assist night on Saturday marked a new single-season career high for points at 52 (21g 31a) for the Roadrunners Captain. Meanwhile, forwards Cameron Hebig (1g 2a) and Josh Doan (1g 2a) have each recorded a point in three-straight after the pair scored two of Tucson’s three goals in the Saturday’s third period against the Texas Stars. Hebig’s eighth tally of the year tied the contest at 4-4 with 2:04 left in regulation, sending the Roadrunners to overtime and the Playoffs. Doan’s current scoring streak is the first of his professional career, as the 21-year-old out of Arizona State University is a plus-three with five points in 12 games since joining Tucson in March.

Prosvetov Picks Up Another W

Goaltender Ivan Prosvetov was in net for the Arizona Coyotes Saturday afternoon at Mullett Arena, recording 25 saves on the way to earning his fourth NHL win of the season with a 5-4 overtime victory against the Anaheim Ducks. 2021-2022 Roadrunners Matias Maccelli (1g 1a) and J.J. Moser (2a) each tallied multiple-point performances in the comeback win, as Maccelli’s late third-period goal sent the contest to overtime before he assisted on Barrett Hayton’s game-winning score. Earlier in the week in Seattle against the Kraken, forward Laurent Dauphin netted his first NHL goal of the season after racking up 16 for Tucson this season, and rookie forward Milos Kelemen dropped the gloves for a fight against Seattle’s Brandon Tanev.

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 a special guest to preview the final weekend of the regular season and the upcoming Calder Cup Playoffs. In addition, a new episode of the Tucson Roadrunners Insider Podcast released on Easter Sunday, as “Voice of the Roadrunners” Adrian Denny and TucsonRoadrunners.com’s Jimmy Peebles recapped Satruday’s Playoff-clinching comeback with quotes from Adam Cracknell, Cameron Hebig, Tyler Parks, and Head Coach Steve Potvin. The podcast can be found on the iHeartRadio App or at TucsonRoadrunners.com/Podcast.