TEMPE, Ariz. — The Arizona High School Hockey Association (AHSHA) playoffs were held at the Ice Den in Scottsdale over the weekend and now thousands of people are expected to pack Mullett Arena in Tempe for the upcoming D1 State Championship featuring the Desert Vista Thunder and the Notre Dame Prep Saints.
AHSHA is in its 23rd season with more than 700 athletes and around 35 teams participating in a sport many people outside of Arizona would be surprised to see thriving in the Grand Canyon State.
The youth hockey programs in the Valley are top-notch, helping to develop talents like the NHL’s Auston Matthews and Olympic silver medalist Lyndsey Fry.
“I had dinner with a fellow from Minnesota who said if his son didn't play in Minnesota, it would either be Michigan, Massachusetts, or Arizona,” Notre Dame Prep head coach Charles Miscio said. “Gentlemen that played at high levels of hockey retired here. As their kids are coming up in age, they're giving back to the community and they're doing a great job in coaching young kids.”
Miscio’s Saints are five-time AHSHA D1 State Champions. Even though they’re a team from a small, Catholic high school in North Scottsdale, Miscio said his team can pack the house on game days.
In previous years, it's been standing room only at the Ice Den for AHSHA’S D1 State Championship Game but this year the top teams will be playing on the same ice as the Arizona Coyotes in Tempe. Since the Yotes arrived in Phoenix in 1996, the organization has been steadfast in growing the game and inspiring kids in State 48 to lace up their hockey skates.
“He grew up going to Coyotes games,” Jimmie Lister said of his son, Tygar, who’s a freshman on the Hamilton Huskies D1 team. “It’s something we didn't push him into. He loved skating and then, at one point, he said he wanted to get into hockey. So, it’s something he and I do together and, as a family, we love.”
It turns out the ice rink is a hotspot as hockey continues to grow in popularity among young people in the desert.
Desert Vista and Notre Dame Prep will compete in the AHSHA D1 State Championship Game on Saturday, Feb. 4, at Mullett Arena. The puck drops at 7 p.m.
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