Fandom is personal.
It connects us to a core part of our evolution. Tribal instincts have dominated human behavior throughout our history, and being a fan of a sports team is no different. We wear the colors, we band together, we look out for each other, we create community, we bump heads with rival tribes.
The sudden removal of the source of that community bond is a betrayal that touches the depths of fundamental human emotion.
I keep wondering how we could all be so blindsided by an event that has been coming for 15 years. False promises, lies and misdirection are the likely culprits.
Heartbreak, anger and grief prevail as the overwhelming sentiments. It’s a deep, emotional pain because losing a fandom, a team, a community, is a loss of identity.
I became a Coyotes fan when I moved to Arizona in 2005. Compared to my birthplace of Toronto, Phoenix couldn’t be more drastically different. Mountains replaced skyscrapers, expanses of cacti replaced expanses of trees.
As I struggled to cling to any sort of familiarity as a 9-year-old in a new country, Coyotes games rooted me. I quickly identified with a team trying to find its way in an untraditional market.
I adopted the Coyotes as my favorite team. Hockey became my passion in a way that it might not have had I stayed in Canada, where loving hockey is not unique. I embraced following the Coyotes and I loved sharing that passion with people. I marveled, watching the impact of the team on the Valley, and I found great joy in watching others fall in love with the game.
The Coyotes became my North Star. The team was something to hold onto. No matter what was going on in my life, I would always have my fandom. Loving the Coyotes guided me to a career in journalism with the intention of eventually covering hockey. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would get to cover the team I grew up watching.
Through the Coyotes, I met new friends. I discovered a community of people who love the team as much as I do. I watched the passion for the sport grow around the Valley and even the state. For 19 years living here, I witnessed the impact of an NHL team in Arizona.
I went to Coyotes games with my dad when he would come to visit from Toronto. Talking about hockey connected us while we lived 2,000 miles apart. It was our thing to talk about until the day he died suddenly, six years ago.
When people ridicule, taunt, make fun of, and jest at the expense of a fanbase, it hurts. It hurts because fandom isn’t something you turn on at puck drop and turn off the moment that game ends. It’s something you live and breathe, something that shapes identity, friendships, families, communities, career paths.
Coyotes fandom has never been an easy ride. The selfishness, greed, ignorance, lack of caring and egregious mistakes by various ownership groups have led to where things are today.
But none of that should reflect on a fan base that has invested up to 28 years of time and energy and emotion and money. “Hockey the Hard Way” and “Scratchin’ and Clawin’” are all rallying cries rooted in a fundamental truth to the NHL experience here.
If the Coyotes leave, it’s at the expense of a lot of people who have supported this team through years of turmoil and bullshit just for the hope of it one day working out. It’s at the expense of the growth of the game, of youth hockey, and for a lot of people, an escape from the turmoil of everyday life.
Fandom is personal. And the sudden dissolution of that fandom is personal, too.
Will we be OK in the end? Probably. But we may not ever forgive, and we certainly won’t ever forget.
5 Comments
ehenry25
Well said, Leah. I’m not a desert native but I feel you capture the fandom and our diehards perfectly here. And now we work through the ongoing grieving process 🫶🏻
Robert
I agree and you guys did a great job……
I got here in 2011 and started my Coyotes journey.
I was so new to the sport and area, I found a web site called “ Five for Howling”. At the time and for a time afterwards, I thought that site was the official Coyotes web site.
I made observations on their message board about attendance and the fact that every game, night in and night out, Phoenix hockey fans were rooting for the opposing city’s team.
I was astonished to that although everyone who had eyes could see that, that was the problem, not only was the fact ridiculed and mocked, the arrogant responses were to “ ignore”, these problems.
I won’t go into detail, I could write a book and may.
We had shitty leadership and the current owners are pitiful but that is not why we lost this team.
The people who call themselves “ hockey fans” who live in Arizona, supported other cities teams and only attended one or two games a year lost this team for us.
Look at DISCORD.
You have “ fans” on there who ADMIT not attending Coyotes games who could tell you the lines of the Leningrad Igloostompers KHL team.
“ Legend” had a website called “ HF Boards”.. five or six years ago, he had a survey to see how many games his posters attended.
2. Me and some other fan.
This team should have succeeded in Glendale. It should make it ANYWHERE!!!!
It’s the most exciting sport in the world.
Those responsible for the Coyotes demise are the fans with the “ Kaner” shirts hanging in their closets.
The fans who yelled and screamed against the Coyotes then left Lot G in their vehicles with Arizona license plates….
So, arrogant they thought the team would never leave and it was so funny and so much fun teeing off on your city’s team and showing people where you used to be from!!!!
I was an outsider looking in who for a time adopted this team.
I saw it all.
Hockey fans in Phoenix cut their own throats.
I was right all along.
gfinney
Very well said! The only positive thing I can say about all this is that we have a good group of like-minded people to grieve with.
Lauriespics
When I moved to AZ in 1998 I didn’t know much about AZ hockey. I was a Blackhawks fan and in fact, days before my move from Chicago to AZ I went to a Hawks game with my friends. I thought that would be my last game for the foreseeable future. In early 1999 I had a friend come to visit and coincidentally Chicago was playing hockey against the Phoenix Coyotes at American West Arena. We went to the game and it was so awesome! I cheered for the Hawks but I knew the Coyotes were going to be my new favorite team! I bought my first Coyotes jersey at a game later that year. The coveted green Coyote head jersey! I became STMs in 2018. We loved going to the games but hated the drive to Glendale. We got to see OEL, Keller, Keumper, Garland, Crouse, Hjarmelsson, Raanta, etc. it was fun! We attended Shane Doan’s retirement ceremony. We met the players and had photos and autographs from them. They still didn’t win but they were our team. They were our boys.
In 2019, I moved to Montana but I still follow my team. I got the TV package my first year here so I could watch the games. I’ve been a Die Hard since the inception. I’ve tried to come down to AZ 1 time a season to catch our boys and my last game was 2/19 against Edmonton. I am a fan. I am a fan of the Arizona Coyotes. This whole thing has shaken me to my core. I have been through the anger and then bargaining stage. I’m sadly in the acceptance stage. But I will never forget what our team has meant to me and so many others. RIP Coyotes.
BABA 44
Welcome to the Salt Lake Cosmos. It will be great watching our young Yotes excel in a new environment. When Matthews contract comes up he will become the old face of a new Yotes team in Phoenix. Keller can also come back to play golf every day. 2027-28 should be a new beginning in the desert.