I remember clearly the day, as a high-school freshman, when I saw my first mid-semester report card. Oh, the anticipation: Was I as smart — or as dumb — as I thought I was that year?
That’s where we are now with the American Hockey League Tucson Roadrunners.
So how does the team rate at the mid-point this season? Let’s look at the team, the organization, and the business side, all rated with the traditional A to F scale.
THE TEAM: A-
Tucson started hot, vaulting to first place in the Pacific Division and then staying there for weeks. New hockey fans most certainly were spoiled by the almost impossibly good start, which seemed like a fairytale until November, when team captain Craig Cunningham collapsed on the ice. He is out of medical danger now, but has not returned to the ice.
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“I think the adversity that this team has gone through, and you talk about the Craig Cunningham situation – how the guys have fought, how they’ve stuck together, how Craig is still a big part of our team – I think that says volumes about this team,” head coach Mark Lamb said.
It is difficult to analyze an AHL team’s performance over many games, position by position, because the lineup fluctuates wildly. “You want to keep stressing the system that you are playing and keep getting better at it,” Lamb said. ”It’s a situation with what kind of team you have that day and how good you can play the system.”
That explains why Tucson’s playing strengths and weaknesses have alternated, depending on that day’s lineup. At times goaltending has been superb, at others less than ordinary. At times the offensive punch has been considerable, at other times anemic. That all goes with this league and how it operates, and every team goes through the same spurts of excellence and ho-hum play.
The Roadrunners are 20-13-5-0, good for fourth in the Pacific Division.
What would make me move that grade up to an A+ at the end of the season? Make the playoffs in your first year, baby, and I’ll brand this team all geniuses.
THE ORGANIZATION: B+
Players, coaches, managers, administrators all need to pull in the same direction for a new franchise to succeed. Bravo to the newborn Roadrunners organization.
“I would give our organization a B,” said general manager Doug Soetaert. “The players have stuck together through thick and thin, we got off to a great start. We lost players to the NHL but we continued to battle on a nightly basis, and I think we’re continuing to trend in the right direction in Tucson.”
That is no small thing – the Arizona Coyotes regularly mines the Roadrunners line-up for their best players. That is all part of the AHL – you’re here to develop talent for the NHL – but it wreaks havoc on an AHL team. Players come and go, almost daily, and the challenge to maintain a team-feel and sustained effort is monumental.
It’s up to the entire organization, not just the players, to maintain that team continuity.
“I’m not that usually that lenient, but with everything that’s gone on, we battle and compete on a nightly basis,” Soetaert said.
He’s right, so I’ll add a “plus” to Soetaert’s grade of B. They get some extra credit for their hard work.
THE BUSINESS: B
It’s always tricky when you ask bosses to evaluate their own staff. If they are too hard on their troops it can generate resentment, but if they heap too much praise then there’s nowhere to go but down.
“If I had to give them a grade, our staff, I’d give ourselves a solid B,” team president Bob Hoffman said. “We’ve had a lot of first-year challenges with our schedule this season.”
The playing schedule certainly isn’t ideal for the Roadrunners. It was set very late in the summer, and it had to work around not only other AHL teams but also the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, which takes away the ice for weeks each January and February. That meant there were more non-weekend games than desired, and the team will play many more road games in the second half of the season. They’ll finish up with a couple weeks on the road. Gulp!
“Our goal has been to infect people with the virus for Roadrunners hockey and I think so far we’ve done that,” Hoffman added.
The organization has performed well, especially when you consider how quickly all the puzzle pieces were thrown together.
“It feels to me to we’ve been here for a couple of years” Soetaert adds. “That’s how well things are going.”
Check back with me at season’s end, class. At this midway point there’s no way to guess how the final grades for the Roadrunners’ season will work out.
Hockey journalist and filmmaker Timothy Gassen explores the Arizona hockey scene and beyond in his weekly column. Send your Arizona hockey story ideas to AZpuckMan@gmail.com and follow AZpuckMan on Facebook and Twitter.
