USHL brings hockey back to Prescott Valley in western expansion push

Prescott Valley got another shot at junior hockey when the USHL named the city one of six West Coast markets in its western expansion plan, with Justin Reynolds identified as the local ownership partner and the Findlay Toyota Center lined up as the club’s home. The league targeted a 2027-28 debut for a market that already knows what hockey can look like in this building, and this time the pitch was built around a clearer developmental lane, a stronger arena fit, and a long runway for a fan base that once showed it could fill seats.

That arena matters. Findlay Toyota Center is a $35 million multipurpose facility in Prescott Valley and seats about 5,100 for hockey, giving the new franchise a compact building that can feel full without needing a giant metro footprint. Prescott Valley’s population was 46,785 in the 2020 census, which makes the venue size especially important: the club will have to draw well beyond a narrow core if it is going to work as a long-term USHL market rather than a one-off launch.

The league’s case for the market leaned heavily on what the USHL is selling everywhere in its western push. USA Hockey says the USHL is the only Tier I junior hockey league in the United States, and junior hockey is designed for players ages 16 to 20 who are moving toward college or pro hockey. The USHL says more than 50% of NCAA Division I men’s hockey players and nearly 25% of NHL players have USHL experience, with a player-first model built around a 2:1 practice-to-game ratio and 90% of games on weekends. For Prescott Valley, that is the difference between another entertainment experiment and a direct route into elite junior hockey.

The market’s history gives the idea real weight. The Arizona Sundogs played in Prescott Valley from 2006 to 2014 and reached their high point in 2007-08, when they drew 137,943 fans, averaged 4,311 per home date and won the Central Hockey League’s Ray Miron President’s Cup. That is the proof-of-concept the USHL is trying to revive: not just nostalgia, but evidence that hockey can travel here if the product is right and the building is right.

Local interest was already visible before the league announcement. A Prescott Valley town work session in April drew a strong turnout of hockey fans to discuss a possible Tier I return, and Brad Fain and Ron Fain backed the idea on economic and community grounds. The USHL said incoming ownership groups were scheduled to meet league personnel in July to sort out venues, leases and branding, while the team began the process of choosing a name through a fan vote. For Prescott Valley, the next test is no longer whether hockey can return, but whether it can stay.