Arizona Coyotes fans trying to keep connection with franchise after its move to Utah

PHOENIX (AP) — The Mammoth have generated a buzz in Utah, igniting a new fan base with a trip to the playoffs in their second season.

The previous fan base back in the desert still feels a connection with the franchise once known as the Arizona Coyotes and the players who set the foundation for its current success.

But there’s also a strange detachment from seeing the team they once rooted for playing in a city more than 600 miles away under a different name.

“I’m a hockey fan and I’ve been cheering for them; most of those guys, that team, that organization were here,” Maricopa County Supervisor Tom Galvin said on Friday. “But in many ways, I feel disconnected from them. They’re playing in Utah, they have Utah fans, they play in a Utah arena.”

Galvin is trying to bring NHL hockey back to the Phoenix area.

Not long after the Coyotes left for Utah in 2024, he helped create an advisory committee that includes former Olympian Lyndsey Fry and Andrea Doan.

Fry, who grew up in the Phoenix area, has been a stalwart in Arizona youth hockey through various programs and spearheads community relations for the committee.

Doan has strong ties to hockey; her husband, Shane, was the longtime captain of the Coyotes and her son, Josh, is a current NHL player who started his career with the Coyotes. She works with Galvin on finding a potential owner for a potential NHL expansion team and possible sites for a new arena.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had repeatedly said the league would like to have a franchise in Arizona again — it owns the Coyotes name — but the right ownership and arena location have to be in place.

“We have to find a good and appropriate location for an arena — that has been an issue bedeviling the Coyotes for the better part of 25 years — and we need a billionaire to put up money to buy the team,” said Galvin, who works on the advisory committee on his own time. “So my joke is, if you know a billionaire, please let me know because there’s not that many around and that’s what it takes in professional sports these days.”

The Coyotes struggled during their 28-year run in Arizona, going through multiple owners and three different arenas.

The franchise had an arena plan for Tempe, but voters shot it down. Another proposal for an arena in Scottsdale fell through when previous owner Alex Meruelo couldn’t secure a land-rights deal, leading to the franchise’s move to Utah.

Coyotes fans have tried to keep a connection to the new version of the team, but it’s not quite the same from long distance.

“I’ve got to tell you, my enthusiasm for them really dropped off,” Galvin said. “But I do love watching hockey and enjoy watching great other teams.”

Galvin is doing his best to bring it back to Arizona in person.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

John Marshall, The Associated Press