The Phoenix Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team that is based in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. Since December 2003, the Coyotes have played their home games at Jobing.com Arena after having spent the previous 7½ seasons at America West Arena (now US Airways Center) in downtown Phoenix.
The Coyotes were founded in 1972 as the original Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and were one of four franchises absorbed into the NHL when the WHA folded in 1979. The team moved to Phoenix on July 1, 1996.
The NHL has owned the Phoenix Coyotes franchise since 2009. Former owner Jerry Moyes had incurred massive financial losses since his purchase of the team in 2005 and later turned it over to the league after declaring bankruptcy. Moyes had previously attempted to privately sell the team to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, who wanted to relocate the team to Hamilton, Ontario (who had unsuccessfully tried to buy and move at least three other NHL franchises). However, the NHL protested that the attempted sale was a violation of league policy and a court agreed. The league has resisted selling the team to interests that would have moved the team (True North Sports and Entertainment's bid, which would have returned the team to Winnipeg, was rejected, leading the group to buy the Atlanta Thrashers instead), but the loss of financial subsidies from the city of Glendale and relatively low attendance figures have posed as a threat to the team's long-term viability in Arizona.
On May 7, 2012, the Coyotes defeated the Nashville Predators in 5 games to advance to the Conference Finals for the first time since the team's inception. They later lost in five games to the eventual champion Los Angeles Kings.
Read more about Phoenix Coyotes: Jerseys, Mascot, Season-by-season Record
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—John Skelton (1460?–1529)
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—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)