Tuscon Roadrunners are officially unveiled as Arizona Coyotes AHL affiliate

A familiar identity is returning to the world of hockey in Arizona, as the Arizona Coyotes have made it official and revealed that their Tuscson AHL affiliate will be known as the Tucson Roadrunners. The Coyotes were widely expected to go with the Roadrunners nickname after word leaked out that they had trademarked the nickname (and also despite the fact that they tried to give everyone a bit of a swerve by trademarking a few other names as well), so seeing them go with this particular nickname isn’t too much of a surprise.

The main attraction here was the unveiling of their primary and secondary logos. Again, if you’re a fan of hockey in Arizona, then this logo should look very familiar to you.

From the official press release:

The Roadrunners name has a rich tradition in the state of Arizona. In 1967, the Phoenix Roadrunners of the Western Hockey League (WHL) became Arizona’s first professional sports team. They played hockey at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. The Roadrunners were the WHL champions in both 1973 and 1974. When the WHL disbanded in 1974, the Roadrunners became a part of the World Hockey Association (WHA), and subsequently the Pacific Hockey League (PHL) until 1979. Ten years later, in 1989, the Roadrunners were back as part of the International Hockey League (IHL) and remained in the Valley until 1997. The Roadrunners returned to Phoenix in 2005 as a member of the ECHL until 2009.

As you can see, the new Roadrunner has received a nice update and facelift, in addition to being decked out in the colors of the team’s parent club in the NHL. The same goes for the secondary logo as well.

I’d imagine that hockey fans in the Copper State are going to be very pleased with the fact that their AHL team has decided to stick with an identity that has a long history in Arizona, and I’d also imagine that fans of the old Looney Tunes series will probably enjoy the fact that the Coyotes and Roadrunners are actually working together now, instead of being at each other’s throats.

So, now that you’ve gotten a look at the new name and logos, what do you think? Thumbs up or down?