Sympathy for the Sun Devils — The Importance of Arizona State Men’s Ice Hockey After the Coyotes’ Departure

Image Courtesy: Sun Devil Athletics

MULLETT ARENA USED TO HOUSE TWO TOP-NOTCH DESERT HOCKEY PROGRAMS. HOW WILL THE SUN DEVIlS FILL HOCKEY FANS’ HEARTS’ HOLES?

Written by jAMES BLENNAU

The Sun Devils stuck around Tempe when they saw it was a time for a change. Coyotes Owner Alex Meruelo was forced to sell and relocate the beloved NHL team, but the Coyotes’ former arena roommates remained in the desert. The Sun Devils’ Division I men’s ice hockey team, now a staple of desert hockey, was partly established by the meteoric rise in popularity of hockey in the Phoenix Valley since the Coyotes moved south in 1996.

How did we get here, though? A DI ice hockey team in the heart of one of the hottest states in the US? Similar to what they faced a few months ago, hockey began in the desert through a controversial relocation of a beloved franchise.

A new glacial oasis emerged amid the Coyotes’ stay in Glendale, far closer to Central City. The Sun Devils completed their final step and became an NCAA Division I program in 2015 after $32 million in donations, including some from former players. Just 20 years after hockey made its first official emergence in the Valley, it proved its longevity and importance with the establishment of the program.

A short five-year wait led the state’s Board of Regents to approve funding for the famous (or infamous) Mullett Arena, opening in the fall of 2022. Most hockey fans know the story after this point; the Coyotes lose their arena deal, relocate, and Arizona State begins their journey filling the hockey vacuum left by the Coyotes, but yet again, we’re left with a question — how did the Sun Devils end up the best hockey team in the area? The answer may lie in the Coyotes fanbase not making the Mullett move.

“The best-attended games were always when a well-known team came to town,” said Joe Terracciano, a raised Islanders fan who began watching the Coyotes when he moved to Scottsdale, Arizona in 1999. With the core fanbase in Scottsdale and original plans for an arena in the area being shot down, the team ended up 30 miles out from most of their fans, in Glendale.

Image Courtesy: Stadium Journey | A nearly empty Gila River Arena in Glendale during a regular-season game

“The weekday games would go almost completely unattended, maybe like 3-4,000 people,” Terracciano added. “It was just kind of ‘go there, watch the game, have a few beers, hang out with your friends,’ and it was moreso kind of a social atmosphere than a hockey atmosphere.”

The move to Mullett Arena for some also proved to be delaying the inevitable, and not just in hindsight.

“Probably about 50% of us were hopeful and 50% of us like me were always skeptical,” he noted. “I never wanted to read between the lines, and I was always a little bit hopeful. But there has to be some underlying kind of political issue that isn't being made transparent between the ownership, the NHL, the fanbase, and Scottsdale.”

This brings us to today, where the Sun Devils, new members of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) for the 2024-25 season carry the load of the Phoenix ice hockey community’s weight. The Coyotes-affiliated youth organizations have made a massive impact on players throughout the Valley, and some may want to see their impacts replicated by the Sun Devils.

“All the rinks, jerseys, practice times, everything was sponsored by the Coyotes,” said Andrew Miller, a lifelong hockey player and fan from Scottsdale, who played for Coyotes’ sponsored programs through even his high school days. “My parents never really wanted to play travel as much for us because of the expenses, but my brother and I still did [through Coyotes programs]. It definitely helped grow and shape not just me, but a big couple of names that came from the program like Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies,” Miller added.

Arizona State has already begun to show their example of how to provide a pipeline to high-level hockey, to one of the desert's favorite player’s sons.

Image Courtesy” NBC Sports | Josh Doan (right) on the ice at Mullett Arena with Arizona State alongside his father, Coyotes Legend Shane Doan (left)

“Another kid can see that and say, ‘Hey, if Josh Doan did it, I can do it as well,” Miller shared.

Setting an example was not the only way he shared that the Sun Devils can keep hockey belonging in the desert.

“They [ASU] can continue to grow the sport and continue that passion [by] taking over some of the programs that the Coyotes used to have,” he envisioned. With the Junior Sun Devils already playing at tiers one and two, this may be only the beginning for the Sun Devils’ support, especially considering their ever-growing NHL alumni base.

Even the Sun Devils themselves recognize their roles in the Phoenix hockey community, with their impact hitting closer to home for one more than most. A full circle moment led one player from spending 13 seasons with Junior Coyotes programs aided by NHLers around the rinks heading to his home team.

“I think I'll always be involved in the community here with hockey,” said David Hymovitch, a sophomore Arizona State forward from Scottsdale. Hymovitch recognizes the role he and his teammates play inspiring youth players across the Valley in their play and more.

“It's important for us to have a competitive team on a nightly basis every time we step out at Mullett Arena, especially now entering the NCHC we're gonna have the top teams and college hockey come,” Hymovitch shared. “They come to these games and see how fun hockey can be really visualized… They're right over the ice watching the players older than them. They can look up to these players and really see themselves in there where they're at now, or see themselves get to where the players on the ice are.”

Even if the change to a new ownership group revives the Coyotes from the ashes of Phoenix, the Sun Devils remain an inspiration to keep hockey alive in the desert. Between their and USA Hockey’s contributions to the community, the passion for hockey still burns for one of the most active nontraditional-market communities in the nation. As the next generation of hockey stars in the Valley look up towards the future of their careers, and face the even brighter potential future of the sport in their home state, the blistering Arizona sun shines on a devil holding a hockey stick.