Twenty years to the month after a groundbreaking ceremony on the then-new home of the Arizona Coyotes in Glendale, the NHL team this week will skate in its very last game in the city.
Back on April 3, 2002, the ceremony to break ground on the future Gila River Arena drew the likes of Wayne Gretzky, plus NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman as well as then-Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs, the Glendale City Council and Coyotes’ players and staff.
About a week later, the team would clinch a berth in that year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.
