Coyote prospect eyes return to AHL Tucson
Ben McCartney has scored at every level of hockey he’s played, and even a brief call up to AHL Tucson after his Western Hockey League junior season ended, his performance resulted in the now 20-year-old forward scoring points.
McCartney, whom the Coyotes chose in the seventh and final round of last year’s NHL Entry Draft, had a goal and assist in his first game as a Roadrunner on May 8. His four-game regular-season stint with Tucson ended with five points, and he played in the team’s lone playoff game after that.
The Tucson jump came on the heels of a COVID-shortened WHL season with the Brandon Wheat Kings, where McCartney scored 13 goals with 24 assists along with 29 penalty minutes in just 24 games.
“I feel like I had a really good Brandon season my last year and I was lucky enough to get invited up to Tucson at the end of the season,” McCartney said. “I feel like I earned it, and getting the chance to play a little bit of a pro game before the summer of training was a cool experience and something I really took advantage of.”
On Monday night, McCartney — whom the Coyotes signed to a threeyear entry level contract on May 27 — suited up to take part in the Coyotes’ prospect development camp scrimmage. He’s also on the roster for the Rookie Faceoff, a series of games the Coyotes will play beginning this weekend against other NHL teams’ prospects at rinks here in the Valley.
There’s hope, and data, that are on the side of players like McCartney who were drafted late and dream of NHL careers.
“To make the NHL it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” Coyotes head coach André Tourigny said. “You need to be driven and work at your craft and be resilient. Some guys are God-gifted, they make it really quick. But the other guys, they need to have that character and that resilience and be relentless, and there’s a lot of those in the NHL.”
After COVID wrecked so many sports’ seasons last year and for some, into this one, about all McCartney could do was play on outdoor rinks. Then he went to Regina, Saskatchewan for the WHL’s East Division “bubble” and a season that started in March.
He felt fortunate to even play in games in the WHL, and his production landed him in Tucson.
There, he got to see how the professionals went about their business, calling it an “eye opener” to see how his teammates took care of their bodies with good nutrition off the ice, and how they approached every day.
“It’s bigger, stronger, faster. Guys are out their for a living,” McCartney said.
McCartney said knowing how low he was drafted (204th) is something he thinks about, but that at the end of the day, he has to prove himself no matter what round he was chosen.
Coyotes hire assistant coach
The Coyotes announced Tourigny’s assistant coaches for this season. Returning are Phil Housley and Cory Stillman, who were on former coach Rick Tocchet’s staff, as well as goaltending coach Corey Schwab. The newest assistant is Mario Duhamel, who was an associate coach under Tourigny with the Ottawa 67s of Canada’s Ontario Hockey League since the 2017-18 season.