Phoenix is slowly becoming a hockey town.
The Suns are an irrelevant team. After trading Steve Nash, who is the most recognizable face on the team? Goran Dragic?
The Diamondbacks struggle to maintain any continued success to draw the support of fans. The presence of Spring Training here also does not give out-of-town transplants any reason to shift their loyalties.
The Cardinals made the Super Bowl in the 2008 season but have never done anything before or since.
Then there’s the Coyotes. They made the Western Conference finals last year. Their attendance has increased, albeit slightly, over the last four seasons.
The TV ratings for the Coyotes are the highest they’ve been in 12 years.
The Feb. 18 game against the Calgary Flames sold out. That was a Monday night against a team that was 5-5-3 coming all the way from Canada.
The bottom line is that people are starting to care about hockey in Arizona.
For me, I thought hockey would be a good get-me-over from football to baseball season.
Funny thing happened though. As I’m writing this, the Coyotes just took the lead.
And I love it.
Reach the columnist at justin.emerson@asu.edu
