RAPID CITY - The Arizona Sundogs have been the prototype on how to build a successful Central Hockey League franchise. Just three years into their existence, the Sundogs have already been to the top of the CHL ladder.

"I think it is just believing in the product that you are doing," said Arizona Sundogs head coach Marco Pietroniro. "You go to a new town and in our case we didn't have a lot of hockey fans. Arizona had some hockey influence in Phoenix with the Coyotes, but mostly people were new to the game."

Pietroniro said he and the team were impressed by the support the Rush are receiving from the fans and he believes Rapid City is on the right track.

The Rushmore Plaza Civic Center was sold out for the second time this season Friday night during the Sundogs' 3-0 win over the Rush in front of 5,119 fans.

"It was fantastic tonight to see a big crowd," said Pietroniro. "It was a lot of fun playing in this building. Once the community is behind it, you're going to be successful. The Rush did it the right way coming in 12 months ahead of time, we did the same. It's about believing what you're selling and what you're selling is good entertainment."

Arizona moved from expansion team to league champion during the 2007-2008 campaign, the team's second season in the league. After finishing the regular season with a 39-19-6 record, the Sundogs went on to capture the 2008 CHL Ray Miron Presidents Cup, sweeping the defending champion Colorado Eagles in four games.

"Did we expect to win so quickly? No. Absolutely not. There are a lot of different components that go into winning, but we wanted to be there in year one," Pietroniro said. "We set out from day one to compete, and win or lose we wanted to compete every night. Last year was the fruition of a lot of hard work. The whole team upstairs and downstairs, needs to work together."

During their inaugural season in 2006-2007, the Sundogs skated to a 34-28-2 record. In Pietroniro's first season as head coach and general manager he guided the expansion team to the second round of the playoffs before falling in a deciding seventh game.

"What we decided to do is move forward as a group. The goal was to establish ourselves and bring good family entertainment," Pietroniro said. "We told people not to worry if they didn't know hockey, it was about letting them know that we needed their support every night."

His advice for the Rush and Rapid City is pretty simple - support from the fans will build a winner.

"You guys have Joe Ferras here and he is a good guy and he knows what he is doing," Pietroniro said.

"All around if you believe in something the guys on the ice will respond."