Sandy Hocul left his mark on the Roadrunners franchise as a defensive standout and two-time head coach.

The story of the Phoenix Roadrunners doesn’t begin in the Valley of the Sun, but rather some 900 miles to the northeast. The team originally took the ice as the Denver Invaders during the Western Hockey League’s 1963-64 season, before relocating to Canada the very next year as the Victoria Maple Leafs. Three quick seasons passed and the team was on the move once again, this time migrating south to become Arizona’s first professional sports team. The Phoenix Roadrunners were officially born in 1967, becoming the state’s first foray into professional hockey.

Setting up permanent shop at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the boys in copper and turquoise (later blue and gold) opened up their inaugural 1967-68 WHL season with a 28-40-4 record. Even with that fourth-place finish, it was good enough to earn them a small taste of the postseason.

With defensive standouts Sandy Hocul, Jim Murray and Harry Shaw patrolling the blueline, those early Roadrunners built a reputation as a physical team. Now it took them until 1970-71 to break .500 for a season, but once they did, they never dipped below the mark again as a member of the WHL.

The Roadrunners captured the WHL championship in both 1973 and 1974.

In addition to producing two Rookie-of-the-Year winners during its seven-year WHL existence (Walt McKechnie in 1968 and Bobby Whitlock in 1972), the Roadrunners also won a couple of championships. The team claimed its first Patrick Cup in 1972-73 and raised the trophy as the league’s best team once again the following year.

With many of the WHL’s prime venues being taken by both the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association, subsequent financial problems forced the league to disband following the 1973-74 season. The news didn’t mean much to Phoenix, however, since the Roadrunners had already announced their intention of withdrawing from the league to enter the WHA for the 1974-75 campaign.

The Roadrunners went on to reach the postseason in their first two years in the WHA, but were bounced out both times with first-round losses. Their third and final season in the league saw the team return to unfamiliar territory – a 28-48-4 record.

Phoenix favorite Robbie Ftorek was named MVP of the WHA in 1976-77.

Coached by their former defender Hocul (his second stint at the helm), the Roadrunners featured the likes of Murray Keogan, Dennis Sobchuk and Robbie Ftorek on the ice. Despite the worst record in the league for 1976-77, Ftorek made history when he was named league MVP, becoming the first American-born player to ever win the award. The center, who went on to a coaching career himself, is still tops in career franchise assists with 180.

With lower than expected ticket sales and no playoff berth, the team’s financial troubles forced them to fold during the 1977 offseason. But the Roadrunners would not be gone long. The franchise was back on the ice within months, in fact, as it dropped a level in talent and salary structure by joining the five-team Central Hockey League for the 1977-78 season. The relationship soured quickly, however, and Phoenix left midseason to join the upstart Pacific Hockey League, where they experienced a brief, yet successful, two-year stay.

The "most prolific scorer in Roadrunners history," Frank Hughes collected 325 points in two stints with the club.

The team’s 24 wins in their first PHL season tied them for the best record in the league, with much of the credit going to returning winger Frank Hughes. En route to becoming the franchise’s most prolific scorer (147 goals) and all-time points leader (325), he tied for the team lead in goals (33) and fittingly paced the club in points (74) that partial season.

The next year, the Roadrunners led the league with 37 wins. Jim Boyd and Don Borgeson provided much of the offense, but the biggest name was probably Jeff Carlson, who originally found fame as one of the bespectacled Hanson brothers in the Paul Newman hockey film, “Slap Shot.” He played right wing for the Roadrunners in both PHL seasons before the league ceased operations in 1979.

After a 10-year hiatus in the Valley, the International Hockey League announced that the sport was returning to Phoenix in 1989. This edition of Roadrunners made its debut as an independent team, finishing the season with the third-highest attendance in the league. The following season, however, brought an affiliate deal with the NHL’s L.A. Kings.

Injuries and the inevitable roster changes associated with the constant flow of players to and from a parent NHL club hindered the Roadrunners in the IHL standings, but there were still plenty of bright spots. The IHL Roadrunners featured franchise’s goals-against-average leader Jamie Storr (3.08) between the pipes, as well as David Goverde, Phoenix’s all-time goaltending leader in games (153), minutes (8319), saves (4204), wins (55) and shutouts (3). Defenseman Kevin MacDonald racked up 855 career penalty minutes, easily setting the team’s all-time mark, while Sylvain Couturier became the team’s first 50-goal scorer.

Even with a stronger-than-ever fan base, it wasn’t meant to be for the IHL Roadrunners. With the Arizona arrival of the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996, competing against an NHL team was not a viable or attractive option for team owner Lyle Abraham, so the Phoenix Roadrunners once again vacated their Valley home. That is, until everything changed nine years later.

On Feb. 1, 2005, the same ownership group that owns the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Rattlers and Phoenix Mercury, announced that it had purchased the rights to a hockey franchise in the ECHL. Suns Legacy Partners, led by Suns Chairman and CEO Jerry Colangelo and Vice Chairman and Managing Partner Robert Sarver, also revealed that they had purchased the rights to the familiar hockey name and logos for play in their new home at US Aiways Center.

Since October 2005, RoadRunners hockey has graced the ice in Phoenix. Back in the Valley where it belongs.