For years, as the Arizona Coyotes wandered the Phoenix area in search of a permanent place to lay down their ice amid an unforgiving desert, their fans had a tradition. When each night’s rendition of the national anthem reached “Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,” they would join in for those last two words. They were still there, despite it all: three stadiums, two of which being wholly unsuitable for top-level professional hockey; seven ownership groups since the team arrived in Arizona from Winnipeg in 1996; and very little success.