PHOENIX (AP) — NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman sat next to the former Arizona Coyotes owner in a downtown Phoenix hotel meeting room, trying to put a positive spin on the funeral for a franchise.
Late Friday afternoon, Bettman will sit next to the new Coyotes owner in Salt Lake City to bask in the excitement of the league’s newest city and a fan base that had been itching for another team to join the NBA’s Utah Jazz.
One day, two drastically different news conferences for the same hockey team.
“If you look back from the perspective over the last three decades, the NHL support for hockey in Arizona has been unwavering, to say the least,” Bettman said Friday in Phoenix. “And for anybody who’s been on that journey with us, there have been countless times when we could have made another decision and we didn’t. And so I hope everybody understands that this is a place that we believe hockey works.”
Miles Russell is 15. He sets Korn Ferry Tour record as the youngest player to make the cut
VOX POPULI: Early spring fills us with regret at missing out on winter’s charms
Boeing tells pilots to check seats after LATAM plane incident
In pictures: Auckland's Ramadan Night Markets in New Lynn
Christchurch man jailed for 14 years over role in US porn videos
Coronavirus China update: China's funeral homes overcrowded amid COVID
A man gets 19 years for a downtown St. Louis crash that cost a teen volleyball player her legs
New video of 'human bear' waving emerges as expert weighs in with verdict
Tory Susan Hall closes the gap on Sadiq Khan with a fortnight until London mayoral election
China coronavirus update: More than 88 million COVID