Kachinas at Home with A Rink of Their Own

They finally have a rink to call their own. Thursday night, the Arizona Kachinas skate on home ice for the first time.
The Coyotes Community Ice Center officially opened its doors Thursday morning as the Kachinas' new home, with ribbon cutting by Lyndsey Fry, Kachinas President.
Leighton Accardo, 8, was the ceremony's guest of honor. Leighton is a player in the Kachinas Association fighting stage IV cancer. She participated remotely in the ceremony from her room at the Phoenix Children's Hospital with the assistance of an OhmniLabs robot. She provided the official ribbon-cutting countdown.

The rink, owned by Eddie Hill and Kelly Olson of "Hill Hockey", will be a training and game facility for the Kachinas' girls and women's hockey program. Currently five elite Kachinas teams travel cross-country for games and tournaments. An additional four development teams compete in the Valley. More than 150 girls are registered to play.
"This is the first time in Arizona's history that a rink has been fully dedicated to girls' hockey," Fry said. "Since I've been a young kid here, we never really ever had a place to call our own, we never had a home to hang our banners. So, to be able to have a place these kids can go, feel proud of, and know they belong, is something really special."

Fry, who played on the United States' women's national team, grew up playing hockey in the Valley and later at Division I Harvard University. She knows a home rink is critical to the growth of girls' hockey in Arizona.
"This is huge for the girls," Fry continued. "But not just for the girls who are playing hockey now, but for the girls who are going to be playing for the next 10-15-20 years. We've never had a home that's exclusively dedicated to girls' hockey. So, for them to have that, to be able to have the resources to train and have consistent ice time, it's huge."
It was not uncommon for Kachinas teams to be spread over three or more rinks in the Valley. The Coyotes Community Ice Center will drastically improve the association's scheduling logistics, as well as providing a central location for the program to thrive.
"Anybody in the Valley, if they have a daughter that wants to play, they now know to go to the Coyotes Community Ice Center," Fry said. "For people to know that we're here, I think that's going to be a game changer with getting more girls involved."
Fry was joined Thursday by Coyotes General Manager Bill Armstrong and Coyotes forward Clayton Keller.

The ceremony hit home for Armstrong, who said community rinks were an essential part of his childhood. Armstrong's daughter grew up playing hockey and he's thrilled to see a rink dedicated to girls' hockey in the Valley.
"When I see someone open a rink like this, especially for girls' hockey, it's extraordinary," Armstrong said. "But also, think about the current times and how hard this was to get done in the middle of a pandemic. So, hats off to the builders of this beautiful rink. It's given the Valley another ice sheet for people to play hockey on while growing this beautiful game in the state of Arizona.
Armstrong stressed the improved access added by the new facility.

"Well, somebody in this neighborhood is going to become an NHL player simply by this ice sheet being created," Armstrong said. "That's usually what happens. There's some family that will stroll in here - maybe not necessarily hockey people - and their kid will just gravitate toward it. The next thing you know, there's an ice hockey player that's coming from Arizona that's playing in the National Hockey League. That's a special thing, and that's all based on this ice we're standing on today."
Keller, too, can relate to rink accessibility.
"Honestly, that was the biggest thing for me growing up," Keller said. "The closest rink to me at the time was 45 minutes away. And then they built a new one that was like 10 minutes from my house. Stick and pucks, drop-ins, stuff like that that I could always go to. I think that's the huge part of having rinks, having somewhere you can call home.
"It's huge for girls' hockey here in Arizona to have their first full-time rink. And to be led by Lyndsey Fry, it's going to be an awesome spot here."

Fry accented the importance of having Leighton Accardo involved in the ceremony. The youngster continues to undergo chemotherapy. She has responded well.
"We're super proud of everything that Leighton's done," Fry said. "It's obviously been a crazy journey for her, and a difficult one. The fact that she still shows up, even virtually, to be here today, just speaks to her grit, her determination, and just the type of kid she is. You can't ask for a better player in your association, playing for one of your teams. We're really excited to get her back on the ice playing in that super cool green Kachina jersey."

All three Kachinas 12U Elite teams christened the Coyotes Community Ice Center with practices Thursday night.
For Fry, the girls' reactions will be her fondest memory.
"For me, it's going to be seeing all of these kids come in here for the first time," Fry said. "For them to see their logo on the ice, we've never had that. For them to just process how cool this really is, that's what I'm most excited about, just that moment when they all get to come in here and check it out. Seeing the excitement in their eyes."

Photo Credit [All]: Norm Hall - Arizona Coyotes