The NHL’s Coyotes struggle to fill their seats with home-town supporters, and to be fair, after a sellout crowd for Friday’s opening night, the Roadrunners drew just 2,071 fans on Wednesday. That they went up against a Cubs-Indians grand finale that will be the talk of baseball writers in 2216 didn’t help matters.

But that shouldn’t be a sign of things to come, or at least, I hope it’s not.

This team deserves a chance in Tucson. The sport deserves a chance.

And the Griegos, among others, are going to give it to them.

“I’ve been texting my friends – dude, you’ve got to get here,” Emanuel said. “This is high-level hockey for cheap. You can’t beat it. Half of the players will be in and out of the majors. You can’t see that for this close and that cheap.”

Griego is right – the AHL is on the doorstep of stardom, not simply trying to get through the fence.

AHL vice president of communications Jason Chaimovitch said as much on Wednesday as he took in the Roadrunners 4-3 overtime loss to the visiting Texas Stars: he put the number at 375 players among the 30-team league who suited up in at least one NHL game and one AHL game last season.