Tucson Roadrunners Road Ahead: Teddy Bear Toss Week

Upcoming Games (All time MST)

Friday, December 15: Tucson vs. Abbotsford, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, December 16: Tucson vs. Abbotsford, 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec 20: Tucson vs San Jose, 8:00 p.m.

Before The Weekend
Select Roadrunners and Mascot Dusty will be at TCC Holiday Ice Wednesday night at 6 p.m. to skate with the community. Fans are encouraged to secure their tickets in advance HERE. All fans who bring a non-perishable food item will receive a raffle ticket and all fans attending will receive a discounted ticket offer to a game this weekend.

Back Home Friday
Friday the Roadrunners return home for College Night with a $10 online ticket offer available to students at University of Arizona and Pima Community College that is available HERE. In addition, all fans can take advantage of Rudy’s Texas B-B-Q Family packs that included four tickets and a gift card to Rudy’s by clicking HERE.

Throw the Bears:

On Saturday, Dec. 16, the Roadrunners will be hosting their annual Teddy Ber Toss Presented by TEP. Fans are encouraged to bring stuffed animals to throw onto the ice following the Roadrunners first goal. The Bears are donated to local children during the holidays with Aviva Children’s Services. -Fans are encouraged to bring stuffed animals to throw onto the ice following the Roadrunners first goal. The bears will be donated to local children during the holidays with Aviva Children’s Services. In addition, Assistance League of Tucson will be selling additional stuffed bears on concourse to fans to toss onto ice as well. Teddy Bear Toss Warm Up Jerseys will be worn and available for auction with all proceeds to benefit Roadrunners Community Efforts. CLICK HERE to view and bid on the items that also include: Team Signed Holiday Mini Sticks and Locker Room Name Plates will be available as well at the link above.

A Matchup Between Two Defensive Gauntlets:
The Roadrunners faceoff against the Abbotsford Canucks in a big two-game weekend set. In the standings, both teams have 13 wins in the pacific division with Tucson at 28 points and Abbotsford right behind at 27. In the AHL overall, Tucson and Abbotsford are in the top 15 in goals against, Abbotsford is 11th with 63 and Tucson is 12th with 64. Both teams also have penalty kills better than 84%, Tucson is killing penalties at 84.4% with Abbotsford at 85.4%.

The Defense Provides:
In their comeback win against the Colorado Eagles on Saturday, three different defenseman contributed to a goal with cam Crotty’s two assists, and Peter Deliberatore and Victor Soderstrom’s goals. In the last 16 games since the beginning of November, Tucson defensemen have combined for 10 goals and 24 assists for 34 points. In result, the Roadrunners have averaged 3.31 goals per game in their last 16 contests.

Success In The Big leagues:
Tucson’s NHL affiliate, the Arizona Coyotes, are 13-12-2 entering the week. From November 25 to December 4 the team went on a five-game winning streak that coincided with the Roadrunners five-game unbeaten streak from November 25-December 2. The Coyotes wins all came against former Stanley Cup Champions such as the Vegas Golden Knights, Tampa Bay Lightning, Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues, and Washington Capitals. In his last seven games, former Roadrunner and last year’s AHL leading goal scorer, Michael Carcone has seven goals and leads the Coyotes in that category with 14 total. Other former Roadrunners that were called up this season are also dazzling including: Michael Kesselring and Milos Keleman. Kesselring has six points in 11 games played this season including a four-game assist streak and his first career goal on Dec. 11 against the Buffalo Sabres. Keleman also had an assist on Kesselring’s goal and has a point in nine games played. Forward Zach Sanford was recalled to the Coyotes on Monday with other forward Ryan McGregor being reassigned to the Tucson Roadrunners. Sanford is a point-per-game player with Arizona having an assist in one game played.

On The Mic:

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 “Voice of the Roadrunners” Adrian Denny, with Kim Cota Robles Brett Fera and Jonathon Schaffer are joined by Roadrunners forward Austin Poganski. In addition, a new episode of the Tucson Roadrunners Insider Podcast released on Sunday as Jonathon Schaffer and Kim Cota-Robles recapped Tucson’s comeback win over Colorado and the big week ahead for Tucson.