Phoenix Coyotes Officially Become the Arizona Coyotes This Week

The Phoenix Coyotes will officially become the Arizona Coyotes on Friday, more than 10 years after the team left Phoenix.

The name-change comes along with the new owners, and the change will take place as the Coyotes select their first-round draft pick on Friday, with the 12th overall pick.

Coyotes co-owner Anthony LeBlanc released the following statement explaining the change:

"Becoming the Arizona Coyotes makes sense for us since we play our games in Glendale and the city is such a great partner of ours. We also want to be recognized as not just the hockey team for Glendale or Phoenix, but the team for the entire state of Arizona and the Southwest. We hope that the name 'Arizona' will encourage more fans from all over the state, not just the valley, to embrace and support our team."

The team started playing at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, formerly known as Glendale Arena, in the 2003-04 season.

Before that, the team played at US Airways Center (then known as America West Arena) after moving to Phoenix from Winnipeg in 1996.

The team has already changed up the name on social-media accounts like Facebook and Twitter, and the new website will be ArizonaCoyotes.com starting on Friday.

The uniforms won't be changing, according to a statement from the team. The only different will be a patch on the shoulder of the jerseys, which is in the shape of Arizona, and says "PHX." It will now say "AZ."

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