The Doan family just gets it

Tucson GM John Ferguson Jr. organized a spur-of-the-moment event for PHNX Diehards at the south end of Tucson Arena on Saturday. Dylan Guenther, Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan all signed memorabilia, posed for photos and chatted with fans. But when Kesselring and Guenther returned to their loge box to watch the second period, Doan lingered. It was eerily reminiscent of his dad.

— CRAIG MORGAN

Humility, humanity, leadership

Let me tell you a story about Josh Doan. It was Saturday night in Tucson. The Roadrunners were playing their season finale and they needed a win to secure second place in the Pacific Division (they did when Ontario lost on Sunday).

Doan, Dylan Guenther, Michael Kesselring, Aku Räty, Maksymilian Szuber, Matt Villalta, Jan Jeník and other key players were out of the lineup to keep them fresh and healthy for the playoffs, but the 'Runners still battled back to force OT and earn a key point..

After the first period, Tucson GM John Ferguson Jr. organized a spur-of-the-moment event for PHNX Diehards at the south end of the arena. Guenther, Kesselring and Doan all came up to sign jerseys, hats and T-shirts. They posed for photos and chatted with their most ardent fans. It was a spectacular gesture by the team. All three players remained until every Diehard had been satisfied.

But when Kesselring and Guenther returned to their loge box to watch the second period, Doan lingered, chatting with more fans, taking more pictures, and signing more memorabilia. I watched the entire second period with Doan and his cowboy hat from that vantage point. We talked about many things, past and present.

As the fans kept finding him on that isolated balcony, a security guard approached me and offered to intervene if people were bothering Doan. It was an honorable offer from a man who didn't understand the royal blood that flows through this kid's veins.

There were no obligations being fulfilled that evening. There was no "faking it" in those genuine interactions with fans who had all enjoyed a momentary brush with his father years ago — and never forgot it.

Josh engaged every one of them. It was a two-way conversation, just like the hundreds I had witnessed between fans and Shane. When each interaction ended, he returned to our conversation, never once considering escaping to the safety of that loge box — away from the attention of fans and media.

As I had done so many times with Shane, I finally cut off the interaction out of respect, letting him return to his teammates. As I walked back to the press seats for the third period, I smiled and shook my head in wonder. Nearly every one of my interactions with the Doan family has been like this, whether it was with Shane, with Andrea, with Gracie' on the PHNX Coyotes show alongside the family's French Bulldog, Theo, or with Josh.

Among the many mistakes the Meruelo ownership group made that culminated in the Coyotes' relocation to Salt Lake City, the loss of this family may sting the most. The Doans are the first family of Arizona hockey, and yet Shane is on the management team in Toronto and Josh will be playing with "Utah" blazoned across his chest. To add insult to injury, he'll probably wear No. 19 when he dons that jersey.

It took me back to his NHL debut, which is probably the most memorable moment of the 2023-24 season. Despite his early success — five goals and nine points in 11 games — Doan knew he wanted to return to Tucson for the playoffs.

“That is definitely something I want to be a part of and I’m not going to miss it,” he said. “Those are the guys that I’ve been with all year and we’ve grown together. I want to be there when we go into the playoffs.”

It was a stunning admission for a guy who had just achieved his dream of making it to the NHL. No player wants to go back down once they get called up.

Again, these were not words spoken for effect. They were spoken from the heart. The photos and autographs and conversations he offered fans on Saturday were not PR. They were genuine. They were reflexive.

What I witnessed on Saturday night at Tucson Arena was the same thing I witnessed for 20 seasons with Shane. It was humility, humanity and leadership rolled up into one impossibly impressive man.

Wouldn't it be something if that sort of leadership returned to the Valley hockey community some day — at all levels of the organization?