Former NHL enforcer Zack Stortini to coach New Mexico Goatheads

Zack Stortini brings the New Mexico Goatheads more than a familiar hockey name. The first head coach in franchise history arrives with 14 professional seasons behind him, more than seven years of coaching experience and a résumé that suggests the Rio Rancho club wants substance as much as attention as it prepares for its inaugural 2026-27 ECHL season at the Rio Rancho Events Center.

The Colorado Avalanche announced the hire June 20, tying the Goatheads directly to an NHL pipeline as the franchise’s ECHL affiliate. REV Entertainment owns and operates the club, which will play in a 7,000-seat arena that the league and team have already cast as the center of professional hockey’s return to Sandoval County. The Goatheads will open their home schedule Oct. 16, 2026.

Stortini’s background fits the kind of team the Goatheads appear to be building. He spent the last four seasons as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners, and before that built coaching experience across the AHL and OHL. During his time with the Charlotte Checkers, he won the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award in 2019 for community involvement, a detail that matters in a market where a new team has to win over families, youth players and civic partners as much as it has to win games.

General manager Jared Johnson said Stortini’s leadership and locker-room energy stood out in the coaching search, and that is the sort of trait that can shape a franchise beyond the standings. In a market like Rio Rancho, the head coach will help define what game nights feel like, how young players see the pathway from local rinks to pro hockey, and whether the Goatheads become a durable community draw or just a short-lived novelty.

The franchise’s timing adds to the stakes. The ECHL approved Rio Rancho as its 31st member on May 2, 2025, and the team unveiled its name and branding Sept. 29, 2025. The Goatheads say professional hockey is returning to New Mexico for the first time since the New Mexico Scorpions ceased operations in 2009. Those Scorpions played at the Rio Rancho Events Center from 2006 to 2009, giving the building a past connection that Stortini and the new ownership group will now try to turn into a lasting one.

At a June 20 fan event at The Block in Rio Rancho, Stortini signed autographs and met supporters, offering an early look at the access and visibility the organization wants around the team. For a franchise trying to establish credibility quickly, that mix of NHL ties, coaching experience and community engagement is the kind of start that can build a local identity with staying power.