Arizona hockey community honors Leighton Accardo’s legacy

PHOENIX — Leighton Accardo’s name will always be linked to the Arizona Coyotes. The Gilbert native captured the hearts of the Valley hockey community during her courageous, 18-month battle with cancer.

She was honored on Hockey Fights Cancer Night on Nov. 16, 2019, and signed an honorary one-day contract with the team that same night.

Three months after she died at age 9 on Nov. 24, 2020, Arizona Kachinas president and co-founder Lyndsey Fry launched Skatin’ for Leighton with a 96-mile skate across the Valley to raise awareness and funds for the Leighton Accardo Memorial Fund. And two months after that, the Coyotes inducted Accardo into their ring of honor, making her the only non-player or staff member inducted.

So, when the Coyotes relocated to Salt Lake City after the 2023-24 season, Accardo’s parents, Jeremy and Carly, had a concern.

“When they moved, it kind of felt like we were going to lose a little bit of the support,” Jeremy Accardo said.

“I was concerned that the event (Skatin’ for Leighton) would lose its support as well, but I was very wrong,” Carly Accardo added.

Thanks to the efforts of Fry, the Accardo family and the greater hockey community, Skatin’ for Leighton and Leighton’s legacy are alive and thriving.

Now in its sixth year, Skatin’ for Leighton will take place at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will feature a year-end celebration for the Kachinas, the all-girls youth hockey program for which Accardo played. It will also feature the usual skating portion, but Fry has added other elements as well.

There will be signed jerseys available for auction from NHL stars Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes, Macklin Celebrini, Clayton Keller and Alex Ovechkin. There will be a dunk tank, and the event will also have a significant baseball component. Participants at Skatin’ for Leighton can play stickball and get signatures from former MLB players J.J. Hardy, Jonny Gomes and Daniel Hudson.

“When Leighton was young and she was playing hockey, she was not only just a standout hockey player and a standout figure skater. She was also a standout baseball player,” said Jeremy Accardo, a Mesa High School graduate who pitched eight seasons in the majors and is now the pitching coach at Arizona State.

“So it’s more than just hockey. I think last year our entire ASU baseball team came out. Guys that I played with in pro ball came out.”

Skatin’ for Leighton’s central focus is to honor Leighton’s legacy while fundraising for girls youth hockey, but the way that looks has changed dramatically.

“The first year was just Lyndsey skating 96 miles across the Valley, hitting every single rink and I was bringing in sponsorship and donations,” Carly Accardo said. “Once we took the event and included the public, we started including the bigger auction items and other ways to raise money.”

Skatin’ for Leighton takes significant time and energy to plan between finding a venue, coordinating schedules, finding sponsors, contracting vendors, holding an auction and more. The Coyotes used to provide much of this support, but with the organization leaving for Utah, there was uncertainty regarding the future of Skatin’ for Leighton.

“Frankly, without the Coyotes and just access to staffing and access to, you know, those things that were kind of donated in kind by the Coyotes and by the foundation, it takes a lot of volunteer work,” Fry said.

For Fry, uncertainty is no longer a concern.

“Not having the NHL team here has actually, I think, elevated the event in the sense that now that it’s not just like one team that we have rally around us,” Fry said. “We’re getting support from teams all over the country.”

The continued support from the hockey community makes the effort worthwhile and rewarding for all involved. 

“It still kind of means something for us to have that as a platform to tell her story, to get more people into hockey, to give kids opportunities to play and just grow as human beings,” Jeremy Accardo said.

As the event expands its footprint into youth hockey and baseball, so does the buy-in from these communities. Skatin’ for Leighton has attracted up to 180 participants in a single year.

“It raises money for the Leighton Accardo (Memorial) Fund, and that scholarship fund helps put girls that might not be able to pay for hockey through the Kachinas program,” Carly Accardo said. “It’s no secret that hockey is expensive. It’s borderline silly expensive, and we don’t want financials to be the reason that a girl can’t play this amazing game of hockey.”

The more people show up for Skatin’ for Leighton, the more the Accardo family and Fry are assured that Leighton’s name will live on.

“We will never not honor her and everything that she kind of represented for our community,” Fry said.

While Skatin’ for Leighton aims to benefit as many girls as possible, the Accardo family has one goal they strive for every year, inspired, of course, by Leighton.

“I always like the goal, just because Leighton’s number was 49, of (raising) $49,000,” Carly Accardo said.As more funds are raised, more girls will have the opportunity to write their own story in the sport of hockey.

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