By Rory Archer
The Tucson Roadrunners circle center ice at the beginning of their 2025 home-opener. The team’s mascot, Dusty the Roadrunner, is seen hyping up the crowd in the center. Photo by Rory Archer.
TUCSON, ARIZ. — The Tucson Roadrunners won their season’s third game and home-opener with a final 5-4 in overtime on Saturday, Oct. 18th against the Calgary Wranglers.
The start of this season marks the tenth anniversary of the Tucson Roadrunners moving from Springfield, Mass., to Tucson, Ariz. The home-opener game started with its usual 4 p.m. tailgate and “red carpet” walk for players. Arena doors opened at 6 p.m., an hour before puck drop. There was an estimated 5,547 in attendance.
Several players were scratched from the game, including Roadrunners long-time star Robbie Russo, Ryan McGregor, Ty Tullio, and the Wrangler’s Turner Ottenbreit, David Silye, Étienne Morin, and Andrew Basha. Referees were Graedy Hamilton and Taylor Burzminski, with linesmen Rob Fay and Andrew Leonardo.
Before the Canadian and American national anthems, each of the Roadrunner players was announced, circling center ice together to celebrate the start of a new season. Tucson City Manager Tim Thomure performed the game’s ceremonial puck drop.
The game’s starting lineups consisted of Roadrunners’ assistant captain and forward Ben McCartney, center Cameron Hebig, team captain and right-winger Austin Poganski, defensemen Scott Perunovich and Artem Duda, with Matthew Villalta in net.
Calgary’s starting lineup had left-winger Matvei Gridin, center Clark Bishop, right-winger Martin Frk, defencemen Nick Cicek and Hunter Brzustewicz, accompanied by former Tucson Roadrunners goalie Ivan Prosvetov.
FIRST PERIOD
Credit: @roadrunnersahl on Instagram
Calgary Wrangler’s left winger Matvei Gridin scored his first goal with the team just 37 seconds into the game, assisted by Clark Bishop and Nick Cicek. Despite the omen Gridin’s early goal seemed to set for the game, the Roadrunners forced a heavy offense, making back-to-back shots on goal, until answering back 10 minutes later with a net-battle goal from Hebig, assisted by McCartney and Poganski, tying the game.
Credit: @roadrunnersahl on Instagram
With a renewed sense of energy, the Roadrunners continued their push, allowing forward Noel Nordh to dive to the side of the net and deflect the puck into the net, scoring his first AHL goal five minutes after the game was tied, assisted by new team forward Michal Kunc and former Calgary forward Kevin Rooney. Not even two minutes later, forward Daniil But also scored his first AHL goal, dekeing the puck above Prosvetov’s pads, with assists from Nordh and Duda. The first period ended with a score of 3-1, with Tucson doubling the number of shots on goal than its opponents, 14-7.
Credit: @roadrunnersahl on Instagram
SECOND PERIOD
Tensions seemed higher as the second period opened, as penalty calls increased. The period started with a roughing call on Wrangler’s left-winger Alex Gallant, and minutes later, an interference penalty on Roadrunner’s defenseman Max Szuber. With a strong wrist shot, Szuber went on to score the only goal of the second period, assisted by Nordh and defenseman Maveric Lamoureux.
Credit: @roadrunnersahl on Instagram
At this point, the Roadrunners led the game by three goals, a lead sometimes called “dangerous” by sports fans because it can give the leading team a false sense of security. While the Roadrunners kept this lead through the end of the second, they would find themselves entering the third period with time left over from Kunc’s holding penalty.
THIRD PERIOD
Taking advantage of the power play, the Calgary Wranglers yet again scored another goal within less than a minute of the period starting, this one scored by Brzustewicz, assisted by left-winger Dryden Hunt and center Sam Morton. Roadrunner’s Perunovich took a hooking penalty, resulting in another power-play goal for the Canadian visitors, scored by center Rory Kerkins and assisted by Brzustewicz.
The tides had suddenly turned in the Wrangler’s favor, outshooting the Roadrunners 18-5 in the third. The game became increasingly chippy, the Roadrunners at one point having a five-on-three advantage after Wrangler’s players Gallant and Hunt drew tripping and delay-of-game penalties, respectively. However, with only seconds left in the game, Kerins scored his second goal of the night, tying the game 4-4 with assists from Hunt and Frk, forcing overtime.
OVERTIME
Each team had two minutes to create a game plan for the five-minute three-on-three, sudden-death overtime. While the Wranglers had already taken their timeout minutes earlier, pulling their goalie for the six-on-five advantage that allowed Kerins his goal, the Roadrunners reserved their strategic timeout.
Hunt drew a high-sticking penalty 30 seconds into OT, giving the Roadrunners a four-on-three advantage, on which the Wranglers only managed one shot on goal. After the power play expired, the Roadrunners used their timeout and planned to end the game before it could go to a shootout. With 51 seconds remaining, Poganski and Hebig pushed into the Wrangler’s zone, and while Wrangler’s defensemen Jeremie Poirier blocked Hebig from receiving a pass, Poganski finished the game with a slapshot game-winning goal, assisted by Szuber and goaltender Villalta.
Credit: @roadrunnersahl on Instagram
The final score was 5-4, with all three stars of the game being Roadrunners players: Daniil But, who scored his first AHL goal, Noel Nordh, who also scored his first AHL goal and also garnered an assist, and the first star going to team captain, Austin Poganski, for his assist and game-winning goal.
WEEKEND RESULTS
The Roadrunners played their second game against the Wranglers the following day at 4 P.M., once again pushing the game to OT, only to lose 4-3. Despite the Sunday afternoon timing, this game also drew a significant crowd, drawing excitement for future games.
The next Roadrunners will be playing a majority of their upcoming games at home in Tucson. The next games will by Oct. 24 and 25 against the Bakersfield Condors, followed by a face-off against the Manitoba Moose on Oct. 28 and 29. Games can be watched on FloHockey, listened to on FOX Sports 1450 AM, or tickets can be purchased through the Roadrunners’ website.