Tucson Junior Roadrunners navigate challenges of sharing a single ice sheet

PHOENIX – Each winter, one of Tucson’s busiest events forces the city’s youth hockey scene to hit pause. From Jan. 28 to Feb. 15, the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show takes over Tucson Arena, the city’s lone ice arena.

The event is estimated to include more than 50 individual shows, attract over 113,000 attendees, feature approximately 6,700 vendors and produce an economic impact of about $286 million.

It’s a boon for the city, but not for the Tucson Junior Roadrunners, the city’s premier youth hockey association, as they search for available ice. Junior Roadrunners sightings are common at rinks as far away as Chandler, Gilbert, Tempe, Scottsdale, Peoria and even Flagstaff.

“As we’re trying to develop kids, a lot of times when you have a three-week break it’s kind of two steps forward, two steps back, especially for the younger kids,” Junior Roadrunners president David Honecker said. “It really hurts the program to have breaks like that.”

The timing doesn’t help either. Former coaching director Ryan DeJoe said the playoffs arrive shortly after the temporary closure. By the time the ice returns, schedules compress. The American Hockey League’s Tucson Roadrunners begin hosting home games, leaving youth practices and games crammed into limited ice slots just as postseason play begins.

“We really enjoy losing one-goal playoff games late because we haven’t skated, so it’s great,” DeJoe said, sarcastically. “There’s just no substitute for skating endurance. The consistency for athletic development, especially using those muscles and your anaerobic system, has to work together to play hockey. It’s unique. You cannot replicate that with anything else.”

Coaches try to condense schedules whenever possible, stacking multiple games into single trips to minimize such travel. Even then, families often spend upwards of four to six hours on the road for one weekend of hockey. For many parents, the sacrifice becomes part of the sport itself.

The Tucson Junior Roadrunners go to great lengths to find available ice time, traveling as far as Chandler, Tempe and even Flagstaff. Use the arrows to travel from rink to rink.

Dan Van Houten understands that commitment well. His son, Ben Van Houten, first played roller hockey locally in Tucson before transitioning to ice hockey in Phoenix – a move that required commuting several times per week.

“It was basically four hours of driving for one hour of practice,” Van Houten said. “It was brutal, but you do it because your kid loves the game. It really wears on you but that’s what you do.”

Ben returned to Tucson to play for the Junior Roadrunners, a decision that brought financial and logistical stability.

“Being local is really cool,” Dan Van Houten said. “I’ve been really impressed with how they’ve been able to juggle all the teams that play at the convention center. They have one sheet of ice, and it’s crazy – basically nonstop for the club and the Roadrunners.”

The Junior Roadrunners operate travel teams across multiple age levels and run house leagues designed to introduce new players to the sport. The travel teams compete against organizations with greater resources and more ice availability in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Despite myriad challenges and adversity, the Junior Roadrunners are keeping hockey thriving in southern Arizona. Participation numbers continue to grow, year over year, and Shott’s Tots, a learn-to-play program, recently launched in Tucson to keep new generations skating. 

“We’re just the avenue for kids in this part of the world to play ice hockey,” DeJoe said. “As an all-volunteer staff, we really believe in the game of hockey and what it does to help make better-adjusted young men and women, and to provide a team atmosphere.”

Tucson once had additional ice facilities, but those rinks have closed over time, leaving Tucson Arena as the city’s only sheet of ice and creating the current challenges for youth hockey development.

Tucson Arena does not maintain ice year-round, removing the surface each summer after the Tucson Roadrunners’ season ends to accommodate concerts, conventions and other events.

The Arizona Coyotes relocated the Roadrunners, their AHL affiliate, to Tucson for the 2016-17 season, increasing the sport’s visibility in the city. However, the Coyotes made little effort to build additional ice facilities during the franchise’s Arizona tenure, leaving youth hockey programs in Tucson to continue operating with limited rink availability.

To compensate for that shortage, practices often combine multiple age groups on the ice simultaneously, using station-based drills to maximize touches.

“We focus more on ice touches than space on the ice,” Honecker said. “You’ve got your 15 travel kids, and then you’ve got 30 to 40 house kids all on the same sheet of ice for practice. It’s not an ideal situation, and there are a lot of parents who don’t like that, but sometimes it’s what we’re forced to do. Ideally, I’d like to keep those numbers lower.”

Fortunately for the 350-plus players enrolled with the Junior Roadrunners, help is on the way. 

Plans for the Mosaic Quarter Iceplex, a facility connected to the University of Arizona hockey program, could dramatically reshape the landscape of the sport in southern Arizona. The complex would include three sheets of ice, significantly expanding available practice and game time for all levels of hockey.

For the Junior Roadrunners, it could be a game changer. 

“It’s obviously going to help immensely with the number of sheets that are there,” DeJoe said. “When you’re talking about the summer here, when it’s really too hot to do anything, to be able to have our kids skate more and really enjoy summers here is huge. 

“It’s going to be one of the best facilities in the country. We’ve kind of hit our heads against the ceiling with how many kids we can put on the ice at one time and how many hours we have with the rink. There’s no ceiling to that anymore.”

The Mosaic Quarter is projected to be completed by spring 2027. Until it arrives, the Tucson Junior Roadrunners continue operating in a system defined by adaptation. 

Each February, when gemstones replace ice inside Tucson Arena, the pause in play reminds families of hockey’s fragile presence in the desert.

For Van Houten, watching his son grow through the game outweighs every obstacle — from long drives to limited ice and annual midseason stoppages.

“It’s the best to watch him play and learn,” Van Houten said. “Over the years, it’s been awesome. It just makes you happy—it puts a smile on your face.”

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