The Jets defeated the Coyotes in overtime. There is a time and a place for this.
The NHL team's first game in their temporary home at Arizona State University was a loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
In front of a small but enthusiastic crowd of 4,600 fans, the Jets won in overtime thanks to a goal by Wheeler at 32 seconds of the extra period.
It's tough to end it. The forward had two goals in the loss. The crowd was loud and energetic. Guys that have been here for a long time have been missing. The fans are supporting us. We don't care about anything else. It is a small rink.
After 18 years in the city, the team's lease at Desert Diamond Arena expired and they needed a new place to call home. TheCoyotes have a contract to play the next three seasons and possibly a fourth atASU while they hope for a new arena to be built The vote will be taken by the city council.
The SunDevils men's hockey team will have their logo painted on the center ice of the arena. The ceremonial first puck was dropped by a father and son.
The Arizona coach said there was a lot of energy. The crowd was into it and it was good to be in front of them. It was cool to see what the atmosphere would be. You could get calories from the fans.
Some seats were reserved for visiting media and television broadcasts. Fans dressed in costumes from the show "Squid Game" helped generate the majority of the game's chants. The college flavor was added by a drum line. Every fan in the building was given a Coyotes shirt and a mullet, with blonde hair cascading down from a headband.
Arizona played its entire preseason and the first six games of the regular season on the road as construction on Mullett Arena, which is named for a family who helped the SunDevils reach NCAA Division I status, was completed.
A 15,000 gross- square-foot annex is being built next to the arena, which will house NHL quality locker rooms and training facilities for both the Coyotes and away teams. The first four visiting opponents must use a temporary locker room built atop a community rink because the annex will not be ready until December.
It isn't the same. The ground is not warm from being on the ice. When you take your shoes off, it's cold. We knew it would be short-lived. We were aware of what we were about to get into. It's different. Being the first team to ever be involved in this is pretty cool. It is strange. It's nice.
After playing three more home games, the Coyotes hit the road for 14 straight road games as the annex is finished.
There were two goals at the arena. The first goal of the game was scored by Fischer at 15:28 of the first period, but the second goal was scored by Perfetti 26 seconds later.
The Jets tied the score at 8:34 of the third period on a goal by Mark Scheifele.
The mullet-wearing crowd was happy with the performance of the Arizona goalie, who made 32 saves in the loss.
It will be our home for at least three years. It will be a difficult place to play if we embrace it. This could be used to our advantage. You hear a lot of things that teams don't want to do here. That would be good for us. Use that as motivation to make it hard to play here.
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