The Arizona Coyotes honored the memory of Leighton Accardo before Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Blues. Back in November, Accardo passed away at age nine due to cancer.
To honor Leighton Accardo’s memory, the Coyotes added Accardo and her number 49 to their Ring of Honor on Saturday. The team notes that Accardo became the first person who’s not a player, broadcaster, or GM to be added to a team’s Ring of Honor in the entire NHL.
You can watch that tremendous ceremony in the video above this post’s headline.
Here’s what Leighton Accardo’s name and that number 49 looks like, as she joins the Coyotes’ Ring of Honor alongside the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Jeremy Roenick, and Keith Tkachuk.
It's perfect. pic.twitter.com/7b1hKOdZax
— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) April 17, 2021
Before the game, the Coyotes all wore number 49 and Leighton as their nameplates:
Our team will wear special warmup jerseys ahead of today's game in honor of Leighton. 💜💛
— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) April 17, 2021
You can bid on them now at https://t.co/Brgqfl7zqo. pic.twitter.com/76Se8looDY
“She is a part of the Coyotes, and she forever will be,” Team president Xavier Gutierrez said.
“This is a celebration of life,” Gutierrez continued. “This is a celebration of a young girl who touched our organization and will forever be remembered by this organization. I want to thank the entire Accardo family for allowing us this opportunity to honor not just a little girl and her memory, but to honor her spirit, to honor what she stood for, to honor the impact that she made.”
In November 2019, Leighton Accardo was part of the Coyotes’ Hockey Fights Cancer presentation. As you can see, she participated in the ceremonial first puck drop:
Read here for more about the Coyotes’ charitable efforts during Leighton Accardo’s battle with cancer, while this story covers more about what the organization is doing going forward.