Gila River Arena memories: It wasn’t all bad for Coyotes
It might not feel much like it these days, but the Arizona Coyotes have tasted some success at Gila River Arena.
It could be hard to get past all of the off-ice drama the organization has gone through since moving from what is now Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix to Gila River Arena in Glendale.
But there have been good times. Emotion-filled ceremonies and heartwarming moments to remember, along with a few postseason appearances, including and out-of-the blue trip to the Western Conference finals when the organization was operated by the NHL.
The Glendale chapter of an organization now trying to fully rebuild, and learn from and put behind mistakes past and present, comes to an end with Friday’s final game at the 19-year-old building. Coyotes past, present and perhaps future got to reflect on their memories of times at Gila River Arena.
When it opened right after Christmas in 2003, the place then known as Glendale Arena was the Coyotes’ very own home the organization had sought since moving from Winnipeg in mid-1996. From then until 2002 when ground broke in Glendale, the Coyotes played in Phoenix at an arena not designed for NHL rink specifications and a less-than-ideal seating configuration.
On Friday, eight months since the city of Glendale announced it would not renew a short-term lease with the Coyotes to allow them to continue to play at Gila River Arena, the team plays its final game at the building before moving to Arizona State’s under-construction multipurpose arena on a temporary basis starting with the 2022-23 season.
From club legend Shane Doan to his son Josh, even an NHL superstar from another team, players have had moments to remember at the building that has also been known as Jobing.com Arena.
No look back on the Coyotes’ Gila River Arena era would be complete without Doan, the franchise record holder for career points, goals and games played, among other marks. And one of the alltime great moments at the arena came on February 24, 2019, when his No. 19 was lifted to the rafters and retired for all time.
Doan, who was a Coyote from Day 1 when the team first came to Arizona from Winnipeg, still spends many days at Gila River Arena as Chief Hockey Development Officer for the club.
“My family came to almost every game. My boy would sit in the exact same seat, every time. It became like a home for us,” Doan said. “My kids knew all the staff, and they became part of our family as we’d come to the game and they’d be up the stairs and people would be talking to them. Even now, when I walk around, they (arena staff) ask me ‘Hey, how’s Josh? How’s Karys? (son and daughter). They (kids) grew up with it and this was their place . ... I was here so long and when your kids grow up in a place, you always seem to be a little bit more attached to it.”
Aside from the night with his family on the ice when his jersey number was retired, Doan’s most unforgettable moments are a playoff win over Nashville in Game 5 of their series on May 7, 2012, to advance to the Western Conference finals for the only time in franchise history, and the first game at the arena on Dec. 27, 2003. His 1,500th game was against Toronto at home.
The Coyotes’ traditional playoff “White-Outs,” when everyone in the crowd wore white playoff t-shirts that awaited them at their seats, were always a sight to see.
“The ‘White-Outs’ are crazy. It was so fun to be a part of that,” Doan said. His hat trick on Jan. 7, 2012 is another moment to remember at Gila River Arena and included a goal with .01 seconds left in the game.
Doan’s “office” in his playing days was always the trainer’s room, before, during and after games. It will be tough not going back there anymore, he said.
Josh Doan’s childhood
Drafted by the Coyotes last summer with the 37th overall pick, Josh Doan recently finished his first season at Arizona State. After spending many nights of his youth at Coyotes games at Gila River Arena watching his dad, he’s on track to play next season at the ASU multipurpose arena and watch the Coyotes in the same building.
“I’ve been in that rink since I was a baby. Since it was open. A lot of good memories down there and I’m kind of upset to see it go,” Josh said last month, a few days before the end of the Sun Devils hockey season.
Josh said back then that he’d planned to go to as many Coyotes homes games as he could before time was up at Gila River Arena, “and finish what kind of was my childhood.”
Alex Ovechkin’s highlight goal
Goal No. 32 of the Russian superstar’s Hall-of-Fame NHL career — he’s now at
780 in his career, the third-most goals scored all time — happened at Gila River Arena on Jan. 16, 2006. Ovechkin, just 20 years old and a rookie, scored a highlight goal for the ages in a blowout win for the Washington Capitals over the Coyotes.
The NHL’s all-time goals leader, Wayne Gretzky, was on the bench as the Coyotes head coach.
“It was a highlight goal. Doing it in front of ‘The Great One’ was something special,” Ovechkin said. “If I had a chance right now to do the same, probably I’d break my back. But back then, it was a special moment, a great moment. It was great for hockey, great for our fans and great for me as well.”
Boucher’s record shutout streak
When the former Coyotes goaltender started playing for Arizona in 2002, the team was still playing at the former America West Arena with the Glendale facility under construction. Boucher recalls the excitement about moving west, and said he can’t believe the team is leaving Gila River Arena.
“It literally it feels like yesterday when we opened that building,” Boucher said. “I just remember it being an exciting time, and unfortunately, things didn’t really materialize into winning seasons there in Phoenix and maybe the west side of the valley really booming for hockey. It just seems like what was exciting at one time, ends with kind of a whimper.”
Boucher, now a hockey broadcaster living in Rhode Island, said many of the Coyotes’ moves to improve as a team didn’t work out during his time there. That’s one of the big disappointments for him, that the team didn’t make the playoffs while he was a Coyote.
“I know that I was brought in there to be a part of the solution and not the problem, and unfortunately, I didn’t help matters much,” he said.
Still, Boucher had one of the most memorable stretches of play in team history, with a five-game shutout streak that became an NHL modern record, lasting 332 minutes and one second. It ended in Glendale against the Atlanta Thrashers, now no longer an NHL franchise, and Boucher was given a warm round of cheers from the fans in recognition of his streak right after the Thrashers scored their only goal in a 1-1 tie on Jan. 11, 2004.
He wasn’t the only goalie with an arena moment for the ages. Mike Smith scored a goal from the opposite end of the ice, on which the puck crossed the goal line with .01 seconds left on Oct. 19, 2013.
Boucher said the location of Gila River Arena has always hurt the Coyotes, but that if the team was winning consistently, people would have been more willing to make the drive.
“The fans are there, you’ve just got to give them a reason to get excited,” Boucher said.
As far as the Ovechkin goal, Boucher recalls that it happened on his son’s third birthday, and he’d gotten a suite at Gila River Arena for his family and friends. But the Capitals won 6-1, and Ovechkin “put on a show and scored probably the most famous goal maybe we have seen in recently memory,” Boucher said.
“There’s probably a million other things I wish I would have done on that play, but if not, we wouldn’t have a goal for the ages,” Boucher said. “I guess I’m happy to be a part of Alex’s great history of scoring goals.
“There’s no shame in giving up one to him, that’s for sure.”
Boucher doesn’t see a lot of exCoyotes, even though a few still live in the Phoenix metro area, returning for the Gila River Arena finale.
“This is not like you’re closing Maple Leaf Gardens or the Boston Garden or the Montreal Forum,” Boucher said.
“It’s going to go out with a whimper, and it’s really sad when you think about it . ... In some wild way, I’m kind of looking forward to them playing in a smaller venue and wondering what that atmosphere is going to be like. Hopefully there’s a long-term solution for them in the Valley. It’s a great place to live. There’s so many positives with the team and for guys to be there.”
Christian Fischer: It’s the people
Fischer is one of the longest tenured Coyotes, despite having just turned 25 years old. On January 21, 2017, he made his NHL debut and scored the game-winning goal for Arizona in a win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Gila River Arena.
This season, he’s played in 53 games but has been out since March 22 with a lower-body injury. Fischer is skating again but might not be able to return and play in the Gila River Arena finale.
He has a photo of his family in the seats at his first game hanging in his home. Yet one of the first things Fischer thought of when asked about leaving Glendale was all of the parking lot attendants, door guards, elevator operators and arena staff he’s come across daily during the seasons he’s played.
“That’s always tough. You can ask any of them. They know time’s winding down. Every time you pull in or see them walking to the rink you always stop by and give them some time of your day,” Fischer said. “They’re obviously going to miss us, the everyday interactions. It’s going to be tough to leave that, and they’ve been around here a lot longer than I have. Listen, it’s a big change for everybody. But I think we as a Coyotes organization and myself personally, we’ve had some really fun times at that arena.”
Fischer joked he could be blindfolded and probably get from his parking spot to the locker room, as many times as he’s done it. It’s the moments off the ice at the building that stand out for him, like the day the team got to spend time with the late Leighton Accardo, who inspired the team through her brave battle against cancer.
There was also the night last season when her name was added to the team’s Ring of Honor, and the day earlier this year when the Coyotes held a memorial service for the late Matt Shott, a huge force behind the growth of youth hockey in the area who worked for the club.
“That’s a part of that building,” Fischer said.
“I still remember it to this day, watching the (Ring of Honor) ceremony and I think it was me and ‘Chickie’ (Jakob Chychrun), we were on the bench and I looked over and we were about to play a game, Leighton’s video’s playing, and we were both bawling our eyes out before puck drop.”
Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s captaincy
A captain for three seasons after Doan retired, “OEL” arrived at Coyotes training camp in 2010 and remained with the team until last offseason, when he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks.
He understood that the end of the Gila River Arena era was close when he returned with the Canucks for their only visit to Glendale earlier this month.
Ekman-Larsson looked back on the people and relationships he built in the area and working at the building for all of those years.
“We could probably sit here all day talking about it. Just the friendships over the years,” Ekman-Larsson said. “It’s a lot. I haven’t really thought about a couple of memories. Just the whole journey that I was a part of. As a young kid you dream about playing in the NHL and this organization made that happen and has been so good to me.”
The playoff run in 2012 stands out.