The New Mexico Goatheads are keeping it close to home in their search for a major league hockey affiliate, as they announced on Saturday, Feb. 21, that they are partnering with the Colorado Avalanche to light a path for their future players to ascend the hockey ranks.
Goatheads General Manager Jared Johnson told the large crowd at The BLOCK, an outdoor food hall in Rio Rancho, that the Avalanche had been the ones to reach out to the Goatheads about a potential partnership.
“We had lunch right here across the street at Turtle Mountain (Brewing Company) that day, and for that first in-person chat, I knew we shared the same vision: grow the game in New Mexico and build something that lasts,” Johnson said.
Also unveiled on Saturday, flanked by the Avalanche’s Bernie the St. Bernard, was Billy the Goat, the Goatheads’ mascot.
When asked by the hosts of the event prior to the reveal about who they wanted to see as their affiliate, the loudest voices from those in attendance were far-and-away for the Utah Mammoth and Colorado, along with other west coast teams like Seattle and Las Vegas.
Leading up to the event, the Mammoth and Avalanche were seen as the two most likely options for the Goatheads, as they were either presently without an ECHL affiliate or had announced they were ending their previous partnership in the case of Colorado.
Johnson said his “pipe-dream” for the Goatheads, now that the Avalanche deal is finalized, would be getting the team to come down to Rio Rancho to hold a preseason or exhibition game, or even hold a training camp in New Mexico, similar to the long-standing tradition in Major League Baseball of hosting exhibitions and training in southern Arizona.
“We do have a lot of Avalanche fans as season ticket holders, but we have a lot of people that don’t have a team, but we’re going to have new people come to our games that have never seen hockey before,” Johnson said. “And that’s one thing the Avalanche were most excited about, is to really capitalize on not only this market, but all in New Mexico, and kind of make this ‘Avalanche Country’ too.”
With the Avalanche partnership, the Goatheads will also exchange players with the Colorado Eagles, the former’s American Hockey League affiliate, making New Mexico the bottom level on a three-rung ladder.
“We see the ECHL franchise here in New Mexico as a crucial development pathway for players to develop here, go to the American League, and then go play for the Colorado Avalanche, and we can’t wait to have the first guy graduate from New Mexico all the way to the Avalanche,” Avalanche Assistant General Manager Kevin McDonald said.
Unlike other sports leagues, the ECHL does not hold a special draft when adding expansion teams, forcing new organizations to get competitive for talent and in scouting.
When asked if the Goatheads would turn their focus for players inward, like towards the University of New Mexico’s club team or the New Mexico Ice Wolves junior hockey team, Johnson said they were “excited” to have those teams close to Rio Rancho but stressed the importance of love for the game in their search, regardless of where the players came from.
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“We obviously want the best team on the ice, but we also want good people too. That’s above and beyond the most important thing for us,” Johnson said.
Players from both the men’s and women’s Lobo club teams were in attendance on Saturday, the former of which recently took home the West Coast Hockey Conference title in Division II of the American Collegiate Hockey Association after joining the conference last season, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
Johnson emphasized the community aspect in his remarks to the crowd at The BLOCK, thanking Rio Rancho and the state at large for their show of support for the Goatheads that he said has already culminated in more than 1,200 season ticket deposits.
“If you know New Mexico, you know that when something belongs to this state, people rally behind it, they take ownership of it, and they make it their own. And that is exactly what everyone here has done with the Goatheads,” Johnson said.
Elliott Wood is the news editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @DailyLobo
