SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, April 23, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Fans are invited to celebrate the NHL‘s arrival in Utah and meet their new team at a party Wednesday at the Delta Center.
The festivities get underway at 4 p.m. in the plaza outside the arena, with fans able to join in games of 4v4 street hockey (sticks and pucks provided), along with getting their faces painted and enjoying a live band.
Inside the Delta Center, fans can play an inflatable hockey shooting game, enjoy photo ops and even paint hockey pucks.
The first 5,000 attendees at the Delta Center will receive a ticket voucher redeemable for two seats to a 2024-25 preseason NHL or Utah Jazz game.
At 5:30 p.m., team owners Ryan and Ashley Smith will speak to the crowd and introduce former Arizona Coyotes head coach André Tourigny and players who will be on the new Utah team’s roster.
Complimentary J. Dawgs, Coca-Cola products and popcorn will be available at multiple locations on the main concourse (level 3).
Seating at the Delta Center will be first-come, first served, and fans will have a chance to win prizes throughout the event — including a pair of season tickets for the 2024-25 NHL season, a jersey signed by every player from the new team, and a trip to an away game during Utah’s inaugural NHL season.
“Show up here Wednesday. We’re going to welcome this team with the warmest arms to the fastest ice on earth,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said.
The NHL Board of Governors officially approved the Coyotes sale to the Smiths last week. Players, coaches and other hockey operations personnel are relocating to Utah, though the Coyotes’ name, logos and trademarks will remain with Arizona owner Alex Meruelo.
The new team will begin play in the 2024-25 season at the Delta Center, though the Smiths ultimately plan to renovate the shared arena with the Utah Jazz — which they also own — to make it more hockey-friendly.
Ryan Smith said the new team will have Utah in its name, though the mascot will be decided through a tournament-style bracket to be voted on by fans. Smith has contracted with Doubleday & Cartwright to work on the team’s branding, logo and mascot.
Bookies.com has set naming odds for the Utah NHL franchise, including five names that have been trademarked since the sale: Utah Blizzard, Utah Venom, Utah Fury, Utah HC and Utah Hockey Club.
It’s possible that Utah HC or Utah Hockey Club could be temporary names for the franchise, following in the footsteps of the Washington Football Team before the NFL franchise became the Commanders.
Here are the potential names and odds listed by Bookies.com for the Utah NHL team:
- Utah Blizzard, +275
- Utah Venom, +300
- Utah Fury, +500
- Utah Yetis, +700
- Utah Black Diamonds, +1,500
- Utah Shredders, +2,000
- Utah Stingers, +2,500
- Utah HC, +2,500
- Utah Hockey Club, +3,000
- Utah Golden Eagles, +3,000
“Look, I don’t think it’s a 24-month process,” Smith said of the team’s name. “It’s a placeholder, but it’s kind of not a placeholder, because we’re going to be ‘Utah’ either way, right? We have the first part of the name. We don’t have the last.”
No matter what they call the team, Utah fans have shown they’re eager to support it. More than 27,000 fans had placed $100 deposits for tickets for the NHL team’s inaugural season as of Monday, Smith said on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“Utah shows up,” he said.
