Coyotes Open Fifth DEK Hockey Rink On GCU Campus

PHOENIX --The Coyotes on Thursday unveiled a fifth DEK hockey rink in Arizona, and this time one of the state's legendary sports icons helped drop the puck on the campus of Grand Canyon University.

"When you look at the marriage of GCU and the Coyotes organization, having this kind of an amenity for its purposes, it doesn't get much better than that," said Jerry Colangelo, an advisor to GCU and for whom its College of Business is named. Colangelo, of course, is a former owner of the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks, and helped bring the Coyotes to Phoenix from Winnipeg in 1996.

The Coyotes funded the construction of the rink at a cost of $150,000 in their continued efforts to help hockey become more popular around the state. The rink is part of the college's new Canyon Activities Complex.
"It's amazing getting out here and working with GCU," said Ahron Cohen, the team's President and CEO. "You can see the passion that the students have, and I know that they're going to program this rink day and night. It's fun seeing these kids play hockey and talking about the Coyotes. The sky is the limit for this relationship. I think that there's a whole lot more that we can continue to do with GCU."

Goalie Antti Raanta also attended the ceremony to open the rink.
"I think it's huge to get these types of rinks in the desert," Raanta said. "It's always beautiful outside, so why not put the hockey rink outside, and you can play there pretty much every day of the year. I think they will love this rink and it will be huge for the whole campus. It's great that we can help the sport grow and give other people a chance to play hockey."
Grand Canyon University, which was founded in 1949, is Arizona's premiere private Christian university.
The Coyotes have unveiled similar DEK hockey rinks in the past few years in El Mirage, Scottsdale, Tucson, and at Luke Air Force Base. More are being planned.
"This goes a long way to accomplishing our goal, which is to expose more people to hockey and get them playing hockey," Cohen said.