After five months without hockey in the Old Pueblo, Tucson Arena is about to get loud again.
The Roadrunners open their preseason this weekend by hosting the inaugural Southwest Showdown, a four-team AHL event that brings Tucson, the Colorado Eagles, the Henderson Silver Knights and the Texas Stars under one roof. The Roadrunners start where they left off last season, taking on Henderson at 7 p.m.
Saturday before closing out their preseason slate against Texas at 7 p.m. Sunday.
Each game is part of a doubleheader, with Colorado meeting Texas at 3 p.m. Saturday and Henderson at 3 p.m.
Sunday.
For Tucson, the weekend is the first chance to see what the roster looks like after a busy offseason from general manager John Ferguson. He brought back six players from last year’s team and added four newcomers to fill out the club’s free-agent class.
The returning core gives the Roadrunners plenty of familiar faces. Austin Poganski, who has worn the “C” for back-to-back seasons, signed on for two more years on the eve of July 1. Poganski is coming off a career year, posting personal bests in every major offensive category while leading Tucson with 56 points in 2025-26.
Kevin Rooney is back as well, returning for a second season in Tucson after signing a one-year AHL contract on July 2. He was limited to 44 games last season while bouncing between Tucson and the Mammoth, but he enters 2026-27 with the chance to play a full season on an AHL deal.
Sammy Walker is back for a third season after leading the Roadrunners with three overtime goals last year, tied for the second-most in the AHL. Ty Tullio and Jack Ricketts are also back for their second straight seasons in the desert, while veteran defenseman Robbie Russo returns for his third consecutive season with Tucson and fifth overall.
At 33, Russo remains a key piece on the blue line, and assistant coach John Slaney is counting on him to keep providing stability and leadership for a young defensive group.
There’s also fresh talent on the way from Utah’s system. The Mammoth opened free agency by adding defenseman Zac Jones and forward Joshua Roy, both AHL All-Stars with real scoring punch.
Jones, 25, signed a two-year, two-way contract after earning First Team AHL All-Star honors last season. He led the league in assists and all AHL defensemen in scoring with the Rochester Americans.
Roy arrived through a trade with the Montreal Canadiens, who sent him to Utah in exchange for prospect and former Roadrunners defenseman Max Szuber. The 23-year-old from Saint-Georges-de-Beauce, Quebec, then signed a one-year, two-way contract. Last season with the Laval Rocket, Montreal’s AHL affiliate, he put up 45 points in 57 games after earning AHL All-Star honors in 2025.
If Jones and Roy don’t begin the year in the NHL with Utah - or elsewhere if they’re claimed on waivers - they could give Tucson a major lift and quickly become two of the Roadrunners’ top offensive threats.
The prospect pipeline could make this preseason even more interesting. Utah has until Monday to set its opening-night roster, and several rookies are still in the mix, with some expected to play in the Mammoth’s final preseason game Saturday. Earlier this week, defenseman Gregor Biber, 20, and forward Vadim Moroz, 22, were assigned to Tucson.
Biber spent the last two seasons in the Swedish Hockey League with Rögle BK, while Moroz brings more than 200 career KHL games with Dinamo Minsk over the last four seasons.
They join rookie defensemen Cal Thomas, 23, and Brandon Holt, 25, who are both coming off strong college careers at Minnesota and Maine, respectively. Holt also appeared in five AHL games with Tucson late last season after joining the club on an amateur tryout.
The Southwest Showdown is only the second time in franchise history that the Roadrunners have hosted preseason games at Tucson Arena, and the first since 2021.
In Other News...
Former Coyotes Face Tough Roster Cuts As Utah Gets Closer To Opening Night
The Utah Mammoth took another step toward opening night with a practice at the Delta Center, where the focus was less on the spotlight of a renovated rink and more on the hard roster decisions that come with the final days of camp. With the preseason winding down and a final tuneup against the Colorado Avalanche ahead, the group kept its attention on refining systems and settling in for the regular season.
Several players were sent to the Tucson Roadrunners as the roster began to thin out, and the moves underscored how close Utah is to locking in its first group for the season. The team also put a handful of players on waivers with the goal of assigning them to Tucson, a reminder that the last cuts can be the toughest part of this stretch, especially for players trying to stay in the mix as opening night approaches. [Read more 🡒]