'Hockey is for Everyone' Night Set for Feb. 26

GLENDALE, ARIZONA ---The Arizona Coyotes announced today that the team will celebrate the National Hockey League's Hockey is for Everyone™ initiative on Sunday, Feb. 26 when the Coyotes take on the Buffalo Sabres. Start time for the game is 6:30 p.m.
For the 19th year, the NHL has designated February as Hockey is for Everyone™ Month to celebrate grassroots hockey and the game's growing diversity. The program offers children of all backgrounds opportunities to play hockey and leverages the sport of hockey as a catalyst to teach essential life skills and the core values of hockey: commitment, perseverance and teamwork. In addition, the initiative supports hockey programs that assist disabled military personnel in returning to their mainstream lifestyles. Various local Valley youth hockey teams will be participating in Hockey is for Everyone™ Night along with players from girls' teams, sled hockey teams and special needs teams.

As part of the evening, the Coyotes will also celebrate the "You Can Play" project. You Can Play is dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation and/or gender identity. You Can Play works to guarantee that athletes are given a fair opportunity to compete, judged by other athletes and fans alike, and only by what they contribute to the sport or their team's success. You Can Play seeks to challenge the culture of locker rooms and spectator areas by focusing only on an athlete's skills, work ethic and competitive spirit. Coyotes' Assistant Captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson is the team's ambassador for this initiative.

Following the game, the Coyotes are inviting all fans in attendance to stay to watch a private screening of the new movie Soul on Ice on the arena videoboard. Soul On Ice: Past, Present, and Future presents and retells the virtually unknown contributions of black athletes in ice hockey. For decades, hockey was seen as a homogeneous sport - exciting to watch but played by one kind of player. Soul On Ice presents the exploits of athletes who dared to stand out, and dared to make the sport their own. These Black athletes dared to give their sport soul.

Some of today's top NHL stars and former players join us on our journey through history, through in-depth personal interviews. Wayne Simmonds, Joel Ward, Trevor Daley, Mike Marson, Tony McKegney and five-time NHL Stanley Cup winner Grant Fuhr are just a few of the players and contributors who share their experience that helps bring the story to life. We also connect with the next generation of stars, including Joshua Ho Sang, Jaden Lindo and Malcolm Subban.

About Hockey Is For Everyone
Hockey is for Everyone™ (HIFE) is the official youth development program of the National Hockey League (NHL) and a component of The Biggest Assist Happens off the Ice™, the NHL's social responsibility program that builds on the League's long-standing tradition of addressing important social issues in North America and around the world. HIFE provides support and unique programing to non-profit youth hockey organizations across North America that are committed to offering children of all backgrounds opportunities to play hockey. For more information, visit hockeyisforeveryone.NHL.com.
For Coyotes ticket information, please visit ArizonaCoyotes.com or call 480-563-PUCK (7825).