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Hockey still has a ways to go before it catches on in popularity with the Latino community in greater Phoenix. Xavier Gutierrez and Vinnie Hinostroza took one step to try to change that Wednesday afternoon in west Phoenix.
Gutierrez, president and CEO of the Coyotes, met with staff and children at the Chicanos Por La Causa Community Center, continuing the team’s outreach to the Latino community that has become more a part of its mission since Gutierrez was hired in June.
Hinostroza, a Coyotes forward and one of a handful of players in the league with Latino heritage, helped with a short skills clinic for the children who go to the community center for remote learning. He showed the children how to stick handle and helped with drills, giving at least some of the kids their first real-life experience with an NHL player.
“Whenever you can get diversity in anything, it’s amazing, especially with what’s going on in the world right now,” Hinostroza said. “It’s awesome to be able to do whatever you want, no matter who you are. Hockey is one place where it should be a safe haven. Anyone should be able to go to the rink or go to the community center or go outside in the cul-de-sac and play street hockey.”
Arizona Coyotes President & CEO Xavier Gutierrez speaks to the media during a youth hockey clinic at Carl Hayden Community Center.
Arizona Republic
Hinostroza said the sport can only grow and become more diverse with such visits from the Coyotes, a franchise that isn’t known for being visible in local communities of color. But owner Alex Meruelo and Gutierrez, the former the first Latino majority owner and the latter the first president and CEO in NHL history, have begun to take steps toward a larger presence among Latinos, who made up 42.6 percent of Phoenix’s population in July of 2019, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
“For us, this means a lot. Not only because it’s Hispanic Heritage Month and this what we’re doing to reach out to this community, but it’s who we are as an organization,” Gutierrez said. “This is core to who we want to be. It is up to us to extend our hand, to open our doors to say ‘you are part of our fan base.’ We’re going to super-serve our rabid fan base, this is a hockey town and I’ve said this a number of times. But we’re going to go where the puck is going. We’re going to reach out to non-traditional communities that may not have been exposed to hockey.”
When Meruelo made his first public appearance as owner in August of 2019, he spoke of building the Latino fan base in the area, one that had been largely ignored in the previous 23 seasons in Arizona. The team held a “Noche De Los Yotes” event early last season to celebrate Hispanic heritage, and started a Spanish-language social media presence on Twitter.
“The biggest factor, I’ve said it over and over again, has been the pandemic. We haven’t been able to be out in public and in person, thanking people and introducing ourselves to them, showing them who we are,” Gutierrez said. “But slowly as we manage this health crisis, this is what we’re going to be doing. This won’t be the last event. Also there is other communities. We’re going to go after young people. We’re going to go after families. We’re going to go after female fans. It’s going to be very important for us.”
Get in touch with Jose Romero at [email protected]. Find him on Twitter at @RomeroJoseM.
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