SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Hockey Club’s inaugural game is in the books — a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks — but there’s one issue remaining.
Will the brain trust behind the UHC pick a new name, like the Yeti? Or perhaps even the Mammoth?
Woolly or won’t they?
As a sports reporter, it’s annoying to keep writing “Utah Hockey Club” or “UHC” while resisting the urge to refer to their players by a particular nickname, like most North American teams use.
Clubbers, maybe?
Moments before puck drop at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, I approached two gentlemen in the main concourse dressed as woolly mammoths, so naturally I asked them, “Tell me why this thing should be called the Yeti?”
“Everyone’s been saying it, it’s not original,” smirked Nick Finlayson, a 45-year-old Salt Lake City resident who works in finance.
“We’re OK with Yeti, but we prefer Mammoths,” Finlayson said.
His buddy Richard Latimer said, “They can be the Mammoths because they stomp out the competition.”
Nick Finlayson (left) and Richard Latimer (right) show off their @utahhockeyclub goal celly.
“I’m so excited for hockey, it’s all I’ve been able to think about, since they announced it,” says Nick. pic.twitter.com/bDkrafGEZj
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) October 9, 2024
Latimer, a 47-year-old Salt Laker who also works in finance, struck me as someone who’d wear the mammoth costume even if he wasn’t at a game.
He and Finlayson broke out their goal celly where they clashed (mammoth?) bones together like swords and kicked their feet together.
“Go Hockey Club!” Latimer yelled.
Of course, that was after he and Finlayson went on a tangent — a diatribe really — about Michael Jordan, the archvillain who stole Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals by (allegedly) applying a not-so-helping hand to Utah Jazz guard Bryon Russell before sinking a title-clinching jumper.
Mind you, one of the Wi-Fi networks at the Delta Center is named “JordanPushedOff.”
One of the WiFi networks at the Delta Center is “JordanPushedOff” — oh they’re salty in Salt Lake City. #Bulls #Jazz #MichaelJordan #BryonRussell #Game6 pic.twitter.com/2zVWE2CHtn
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) October 9, 2024
“We hate the Bulls because they beat our Jazz,” Finlayson said. “And the ‘flu game’ is bogus.”
“What, you didn’t see the play?” Latimer asked. “Did he push off?”
Not touching that with a 10-foot mammoth bone.
“I love the pizza, but I don’t love your best basketball player that was ever there,” Latimer said of Chicago. “I’m not salty, I’m a realist. That’s a cheater move.”
Still, there’s no ill will toward Chicago. They’re jetting off to London for the Bears game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
If anyone’s an example of not holding a sports grudge, it’s 34-year-old Phoenix native Brayce Campagna, who was at the Delta Center with a friend’s daughter, Carlie Davis, to cheer on the home team.
The former Arizona Coyotes pulled up stakes in the offseason and transformed into the “new” franchise we know as the Utah Hockey Club.
“I’m excited because we just moved to (Vernal) Utah, so I love that there’s a team here now,” said Campagna, who was wearing a Jack McBain Coyotes jersey. “But, really, we were just talking about this in line, that we’re really sad.
“We feel like we’re cheating on the Coyotes by buying Utah stuff, but we’re excited to support the guys and be here for them.”
Davis, who still lives in Arizona, was just as diplomatic.
“I’m here to support them because they used to be my home team. I grew up with them for, like, my whole life, and I really just wanted to be here to support them,” she said.
“We feel like we’re cheating on the Coyotes by buying Utah stuff.”
—Brayce Campagna, who recently moved from Arizona to Utah, attended the game with Carlie Davis (second video) pic.twitter.com/iHIhXSZNpj
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) October 9, 2024
The concourse was dotted with fans wearing a wide range of NHL jerseys, including the Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs.
And plenty of Hawks jerseys.
Sam Penrose wore a Duncan Keith jersey and his girlfriend, Emma Gunn, wore a custom Hawks jersey with “Penrose” on the back
Penrose and Gunn, who work as pilots for competing airlines, were there to support the Hawks and celebrate Utah ushering in a historic night.
“I love Chicago sports, love the Blackhawks,” said Penrose, who grew up in Chicago and Long Grove, and now lives in Orem, Utah. “We saw that the first game the Utah team was going to be playing was my home team, so we had to come out and experience it.”
As a longtime Utah resident, “That’s pretty wild,” said Gunn, who also attended a rally in the Delta Center plaza, set against a mountain backdrop.
“I know he’s been way more into the whole hockey scene than me, but yeah, he’s telling me about how it’s crazy that a hockey team came here, but it’s awesome,” she said.
Which brings us back to that name quandary.
I understand there has been an official poll — a Smith Entertainment Group spokesperson said they received more than 750,000 votes — and Yeti and Mammoth are among the finalists, but let’s settle this already. As a representative of the most diehard sports town (eat your feelings, Philly), I feel like I can’t leave town in good conscience until we do.
If there was a consensus around the Delta Center, it’s “Yeti” — first, second and third place. Some people on the street are already calling them the Yeti.
That gets my vote, but I’m a sucker for alliteration: Utah Yeti.
But I respect others who have a different preference (except “Utah Venom,” that’s just dumb).
Latimer said, “Here’s the thing about the Hockey Club, we’re just so excited we have a hockey team. Call them whatever you want. … But we love that they’re here.”
Finlayson agreed.
“I’m so excited for hockey,” he said. “It’s all I’ve been able to think about since they announced it. Obviously (I’m a) big-time Jazz fan. But I think hockey might take over my fandom.
“No. 1 fandom.”