Hockey in Arizona remains strong behind the explosion in popularity from the high school level to the NHL. (File photo by Savannah M Nugent/Cronkite News)
PHOENIX – Kenny McGinley prides himself on being part of one of the first generations to play hockey in Arizona. Born in 1993, the current president of the Arizona High School Hockey Association was 3 when the first iteration of the Winnipeg Jets packed up and joined the Valley’s professional sports franchises as the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996.
For many years after the NHL’s emergence in the Valley, there was great skepticism as to whether a winter sport like hockey could survive in an arid climate. But there are several reasons why the sport has grown in the past 27 years, the largest being the Coyotes’ success in spearheading the hockey movement in Arizona.
On the surface, it appears that Arizona hockey is in a tumultuous time. The Coyotes, who were renamed the Arizona Coyotes in 2014, saw their 2023-24 regular season come to a close on April 17 at the 5,000-seat Mullett Arena in Tempe. The next day it was announced that the Coyotes had been sold and will be moving to Salt Lake City due to ownership’s inability to secure a long-term arena deal in the Valley. However, the impact of an NHL team in Arizona has extended far beyond just the professional level.
The ever-growing youth scene – for both boys and girls – in addition to the strides made in college and minor-league hockey, have shown that the sport can thrive in such an untraditional market.
Youth hockey’s rise in the desert
Since the Coyotes arrived in town, the number of ice rinks in the state — specifically in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area — has rapidly increased, with 15 currently in the state of Arizona. This resulted in the emergence of youth programs, such as the Jr. Coyotes, who were originally established in the early 2000s, around the time the Ice Den in Scottsdale was built.
Naturally, more rinks and hockey programs becoming available meant more children were introduced to the sport. During the 2002-03 season, 4,949 athletes from Arizona were registered with USA Hockey. Twenty years later, the number of registered players has climbed to…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at "ice hockey" – Google News…