Coyotes invite Arizona State Sun Devils to Gila River Arena

There's some cross-promotion cooking in the Valley of the Sun.

The Arizona Coyotes have formed a partnership with the Arizona State Sun Devils hockey program, announcing they will host four regular season games at Gila River Arena in the Division I program's inaugural year.

Coyotes president and co-owner Anthony LeBlanc believes the partnership with the launching Tempe-based program is an important step for hockey in Arizona, speaking to the media Wednesday.

We met with (ASU Athletic Director) Ray Anderson last August and we just hit it off immediately. Both of us understood why it made sense for both organizations, and then it was just a matter of let's figure out how to do this. We did and we're thrilled. We run a building that hosts 40 to 50 hockey games a year so that means there are more than 300 nights where the building is available. ASU hockey games just makes a whole lot of sense for both entities. It's really all about just growing the game in Arizona.

Gila River Arena will also host the Desert Hockey Classic in January, which will pit Arizona State against Michigan Tech, UConn, and Yale in a four-team tournament.