It’s official and all the business matters are finished. The Coyotes AHL affiliate team will soon be taking up residence in Tucson at the Tucson Convention Center (TCC).
Name The Team
The name for the former Springfield Falcons is yet to be determined, so please join in the process and add your suggestion by clicking on the image below.
Convention Center Upgrades
The Tucson Convention Center will receive renovations and upgrades including locker rooms for home and away teams, the purchase of a Zamboni ice resurfacer, and some new video equipment. The renovation process will begin immediately.
Click here for the Arizona Star story.
More Ice, More Ice Time
The University of Arizona, the Tucson Adult Hockey League, and the Wildcats Youth Hockey Association already share the TCC ice surface. Having the ice available for longer periods of time will help all three organizations expand their operations or, at least, improve their play.
There’s strong talk of another facility coming on-line soon. Having a permanent sheet of ice available to the public will have a tremendous effect on growing the game of hockey in the Tucson area. This has been a major stumbling block in the Tucson area, it’s difficult to build a youth hockey program without enough ice time for practices and games.
Community Advantages
Having an AHL team affiliated with an NHL team that’s a couple hours away by car will mean benefits to the community as well as to the Coyotes.
The Arizona Coyotes Foundation is very active in the Valley and continues to support a wide variety of organizations, including DHD, that benefit the local community. The AHL team will be out in the Tucson community doing similar things, and having the NHL team so nearby will strengthen their ability to make a difference.
DHD South
DHD is currently planning events in the Tucson area and we’d love to hear from Tucson people. Please contact us with any ideas for venues, what neighborhoods are most in need of some youth outreach programs, and anything else you want to discuss.
Our ultimate goal is to extend the reach of DHD with partners in the Tucson area to be, essentially, “DHD South”. Pooling resources and sharing knowledge will be a great way to keep programs flowing throughout the year to get more kids started with hockey through ball hockey events.
Shoot us an email or give us a call any time to talk about how we can work together to make this thing happen.