Arizona State sophomore and son of former Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan scored the first goal at the Sun Devils’ brand new, state-of-the-art 5,000-seat facility on campus, pulling back from his own rebound in a 2-0 win over Colgate on Oct. 14.
Perhaps as early as next season, Doan will experience another arena first and become the first player to play a home game for his two active tenants, the Sun Devils and Coyotes.
The younger Doan was selected by Arizona in the second round (37th overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft.
“It’s the hope that one day later it would be a cool experience, but that’s a long way in the future,” Doan told NHL.com after the Sun Devils practiced here Wednesday. “We’ll see when that happens. Who knows. Patience is a virtue.”
It must be for Doan and the Coyotes, who are awaiting the fate of a nearly $2 billion development proposal that calls for the construction of an arena a mile from the ASU campus.
Negotiations for the Tempe Entertainment District are underway between the Tempe City Council and Bluebird LLC, a development company formed by Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo.
But starting Thursday, when the Coyotes first practice here, and for the foreseeable future, they will play their home games at the ASU Arena. They play their home opener against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday (10:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, HULU, TVAS, TSN3, SN NOW).
There are few people on campus more excited about being able to call Coyotes roommates than the players and coaches of Arizona State’s Division I men’s hockey program.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience for some guys here to have the opportunity to see guys like that skate and the opportunity to maybe get their brains out if you meet them,” Doan said. “Obviously they’re the highest of the best. That’s where everybody wants to end up, so if you get a chance to visualize, to see what they’re doing, that’s something we we have to take advantage.
“We’ve talked to our team about just enjoying the time of being in this facility and being able to use all the assets they have, and I think you have to consider that one of their greatest assets is being around them. NHL players.”
This is not limited to Coyotes. Players from the other 31 NHL teams will soon make their way into Mullett Arena.
“The moment the news broke that the Coyotes were coming to play at this rink, that was our first thought, just being able to see [Connor] McDavid Where [Sidney] Crosby or one of these guys comes to this rink for a morning skate or practice,” said ASU defenseman Jackson Niedermayer, son of the Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman. Scott Niedermayer. “It’s really exciting to know that all 32 teams are coming here, and hopefully we’ll see and talk to some of them and learn a lot from them.”
Niedermayer said he has friends at ASU who aren’t associated with the hockey program, but who look forward to NHL games on campus.
“There’s a buzz around campus with us and them moving in,” he said. “It’s kind of like a partnership.”
One that will benefit Arizona State and its men’s hockey program, coach Greg Powers said.
Powers touched on the fact that the entire ASU brand inside the arena will be visible on 41 television shows, which are available nationally through ESPN+.
“You can’t walk into this place without knowing you’re in the Arizona State arena because it’s our arena,” Powers said. “It absolutely helps us. I don’t see how it could hurt us.”
The Coyotes are building what they call the Annex, a two-story, 15,000 square foot building attached to Mullett Arena and will include all the amenities required for an NHL team, including home and visiting locker rooms, medical facilities, coaching offices and more.
This will remain when the NHL team leaves.
“We’re keeping it,” Powers said. “It’s ours. We own it.”
Powers said his goal was for ASU to eventually have a Division I women’s ice hockey team that could use the annex as a base and share a weight room with the men’s program. He said it would also allow ASU to host NCAA regional tournament games and USA Hockey events.
“We’re going to use this to our advantage in every way, because why wouldn’t we,” he said.
The schedule won’t be complete until Dec. 9, when the Coyotes host the Boston Bruins, after a 14-game road trip from Nov. 5-Dec. 3. 7. They are using the current visitors’ dressing room as their main room for their first four home games.
Their opponents – the Jets, New York Rangers, Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars – will use a makeshift locker room created for them on the rink at the Mountain America Community Iceplex, which is attached to Mullett Arena, unless of 50 steps. at the main rink.
Powers allowed Coyotes coach André Tourigny and his staff to use his office and the coaches’ lounge for the first four home games.
“I think some people are like, ‘Why don’t you let them use your dressing room? ‘” Powers said. “It’s our room. We don’t leave our room. Basically my whole directive with ASU as a coach was everything that moves our players that we don’t, but the staff and all the ways that we can help make that transition for them, we’re going to help. We want to make sure they have the best possible experience outside of here, because it’s the right thing to do.
The Coyotes had to upgrade the subfloor tubing below the playing surface to have NHL-quality ice, which Powers says is now the best in college hockey.
Technology upgrades to enable real-time video replay and statistics on the benches. They are working on extending the ribbons to allow full ads in the arena.
“All of these things we keep,” Powers said. “The trade deal for ASU is a no-brainer.”
And a slam dunk for the Sun Devils, Doan included, at least until he suits up here for the Coyotes.
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