On Arizona Coyotes throwback night where the team will don their original Phoenix Coyotes black away jersey’s, its easy for fans to be taken right back to the era of the kachina logo and players like Roenick, Tkachuk, and Khabibulin and for Coyotes fan Zachary Isaacs, A colorado resident his fan story is one of a different sort.
“I grew up in New Mexico and moved to Germany in ’96. I started playing hockey with some kids in my area and I was hooked. I consciously decided hockey was going to be my sport,” Isaacs said in an email.
“Living in Germany, I used to get Sears catalogs from which I would order my clothes. For whatever reason, they featured the Kachina jersey and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I loved the southwest feel of it; it reminded me of home. They became my team.”
That southwest feel is indeed making its return to the ice tonight for the first time in more than 10 years and for a few players it will mark a homecoming of sorts as former Coyotes Greg Adams, Sean Burke, Keith Carney, Craig Janney and Nikolai Khabibulin are expected to be in attendance for the ceremonial puck drop.
” they featured the Kachina jersey and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I loved the southwest feel of it; it reminded me of home. They became my team.”
For Isaacs though wanting the to wear the Phoenix Coyotes unique colors didn’t start in Germany for his earliest Coyotes memory came from an old book.
“Most of my early love for the Coyotes was everything I could read and my imagination,” Isaacs said.
“I would walk to the bookshop and every year they would have stat books for that year in review. I read these stat books endlessly. No games came on where I lived, so it was these books and NHL Faceoff 98 and my endless drawings of goalie masks.”
For other Coyotes fans like Ben Varosky of Phoenix his earliest memories came from a t-shirt of a certain goalie.
“My earliest memory was going to a game during the 1996-97 playoffs, and I had this amazing Nikolai Khabibulin t-shirt that was white until the sun hit it.If you were outside, this great image of Khabibulin appeared where he was making a glove save,” Varosky said.
Puck Prose
Varosky also has a story that many fans can relate to, Many of you probably remember the date March 30, 2002. It may not ring a bell immediately but this video should help refresh your memory.
“My dad and I had lower-bowl seats for that Coyotes Vs Avalanche game in 2002 when Krys Kolanos beat Patrick Roy on a penalty shot and Roy lost it,” Varosky said.
“I remember my dad getting really excited because he’d never seen a penalty shot in person before, and we both stood up, along with everyone else. I can’t even compare how quiet the arena was then to anything else I’ve ever experienced. Until he scored. Then the place just erupted. I still stand during shootouts and penalty shots, like maybe I have some bearing on it.”
For others, like Austin Johnson of Gilbert they have a completely different memory of that moment that is etched into the minds of so many Coyotes fans.
“I converted my neighbor into a hockey fan and we started watching games at his house, Johnson said.
“The first game we ever watched at his house was the game against the Avalanche when Patrick Roy was ejected after giving up a goal on a penalty shot. It was a hugely important game for playoff standings and we were going crazy. The next week my neighbor bought hockey gear and we converted other neighbor kids into fans, and started having huge games in the street in front of our house. And it all started with that penalty shot.”
That moment did end up propelling the Coyotes into the playoffs that season so the whiteout returned to America West Arena. Bob Francis won the Jack Adams award that season and the Coyotes fell to the Sharks in five games in the first round of the playoffs. Unfortunately for fans it would be another eight seasons before they got another taste of the whiteout.
Of course America West Arena played host to the Phoenix Coyotes from their birth in 1996 until their move to glendale in 2003. The Coyotes original barn wasn’t built for hockey because it hosted the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. For fans of the team that were lucky enough to attend games there ( I never did with my first NHL game I attended being in 2008) they have quite the memories.
“I remember it always being loud and feeling a lot smaller than Gila River Arena, but it had more of that old-school hockey feel that you would get seeing the Roadrunners or Mustangs play at the Coliseum at the Arizona Fairgrounds,” Varosky said.
“Gila River is a definite upgrade in terms of the quality and sightlines, but it’s never had that same kind of “home” feel that America West did.”
Austin Johnson also has memories of attending games at America West,
“The arena wasn’t built for hockey and had some very poor sight lines in some sections, but that’s what my family could afford and the fans were crazy in the Dog House (obstructed view). GRA is one of the nicest arenas in the NHL, but America West had its own charm and was one of the loudest arenas in the league,” Johnson said.
The Phoenix Coyotes made a total of five playoff appearances during the era of America West Arena and the Kachina logo. While the playoffs are not a possibility this season fans are still excited to relive some memories of better days with the return of their original look on Thursday.
“I hope they bring back more than just the sweaters…I loved all the old organ music, the old howl, Werewolves of London, the videos they showed after fights and to pump the crowd up, etc,” Johnson said.
Ben Varosky will actually be in attendance for throwback night,
"“My brothers and I are going, and it’s going to have such a weird wave of nostalgia hanging over it. We’re going to be little kids again, watching the current guys dressed as the guys who we used to pretend to be when we were shooting pucks across the driveway or taking skating lessons. It’ll be nice to go for a night and remember when hockey was new in the valley, before the move to Glendale and the ownership drama and those abysmal days when Gretzky was grimacing behind the bench and you couldn’t buy a season over .500. It’ll be nice to celebrate the limited history the team has, and to hopefully get one last home win this season with the team in a jersey you remember them celebrating so much in,” Varosky said."
While the Coyotes of today will be donning their throwback jerseys it reminds me of how a lot of us are connected to the team we love. For many of us its the players, you can go buy a jersey and not only support your team but pretend to be your favorite player while at home so I asked all of the fans interviewed for this piece which player from the kachina era they would buy a jersey of,
Zachary Isaacs: Since I played goal, I was a huuuge Khabibulin fan. I used to collect (and still have) his action figures. I loved all the original guys. Watching Keith Tkachuk play was so fun. He just ruled people.
Ben Varosky: This is a tough one because there are so many names that meant a lot to me growing up, but either a Tkachuk or Numminen jersey. I just remember watching those guys play and being proud to cheer for Phoenix. They were absolute workhorses, and you see a lot of that in Shane Doan now, so I think it would be cool to have a jersey from one of the guys that kind of molded him into the captain he is now.
Austin Johnson: I’d have to go Teppo Numminen. He was just a really good, solid defenceman who showed leadership on the ice and off. He was a good character guy who paved the way for Shane Doan.
Matt Proctor: ts gotta be Khabibulin. Absolutely loved him as a kid. Somehow I still don’t own a Bulin Jersey. I’ve always idolized the last line of defense and he was really my first exposure to that.
For me I didn’t grow up a hockey fan so my memories of the early days of the Phoenix Coyotes are few and far between but I do remember a few things. First I remember watching highlights on the local news of the Coyotes games and hearing the voice of Kurt Keilback, whose name now adorns the press box at Gila River Arena calling Nikolai Khabibulin “The Bulin Wall”. I also remember always wanting to go to a game but my family were not hockey fans so I never got to go until the team moved to Glendale and from then on I was hooked.
My fondest memory though of the early years of the Phoenix Coyotes was playing an NHL video game I had for the computer, i can’t recall its name because it was a smaller title but I always played as the Coyotes and I always picked the green alternates to play in. I remember scoring a billion goals with Roenick and Tkachuk. I’m still mad they didn’t go green for the big throwback night.
Hockey is a sport that can get us away from the world and politics and religion and it picks us up when we are down. Tonight that gets a bump because we can all forgot about the lousy season the Coyotes are having for a night and recall the days of a young Shane Doan being taken under the wing of Tkachuk and Teppo, the days of the bulin wall and the days of the whiteout when the Coyotes actually wore white at home. We can remember Jeremy Roenick coming back from a broken jaw and playing in the playoffs only to come up short of winning another playoff series.
For one more fan he encapsulates what it means to be a Coyote fan in a cool way, Matt Proctor of Surprise recalled a story a decade in the making,
“My father bought me a puck during the first live game we attended. I was quickly obsessed with the hockey. The kachina Coyote on the front of the $20 souvenir puck almost instantly faded after being passed and shot along asphalt. My youth didn’t care about the price tag or the fact that I had 10 other blank pucks at home. This one was important,” Proctor said.
“Years later I found the puck. It was chipped and worn, but it reminded me of a time when I was young. Before I knew fear, or anxiety, or adulthood, I knew I loved this game and this team.”
Next: Shane Doan - Commitment To Team Or Cup
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