New Utah NHL Team
As the weather grows colder, so do hockey fans when they start to enter the rinks again in October, preparing themselves with jackets, warm socks, and foam fingers for the season until it ends in April. However, for residents of Salt Lake City, UT, this has never been an option until this year, when the state introduced the newest addition to the NHL: the Utah Hockey Club, with their mascot being the Jazz Bear, shared with the Utah Jazz. This makes the 32nd team in the NHL, after the Vegas Golden Knights (2017) and the Seattle Kraken (2021).
Winning their first ever game against the Chicago Blackhawks, Utah ended the game at 5-2, marking the start of many exciting upcoming games to come from the new club. Out of the four total games that they’ve played, the Utah Hockey Club has won three, with the final scores being 5-4, 6-5, and the latest versus the New Jersey Devils at 0-3, making the first loss of the club so far. Although the season is off to a great start, these scores make up only a tiny part of the 82 league games that the Utah Hockey Club is going to play in the approaching season, in addition to several pre-season games. In total, 41 home games and 41 away games will be played, which is made according to the tradition of the NHL game schedule.
“Today is a monumental day for the state of Utah as we officially close on the establishment of a new NHL franchise,” said the governor and co-founder of the Utah Hockey Club, Ryan Smith (Utah Hockey Club website). As more teams join the many leagues present in the U.S. (and Canada, for the NHL), this not only sparks a chance for more players to make their big breaks, it also enables thousands more fans to experience the excitement and anticipation of watching their favorite teams and players, without forcing them to travel to another state. The addition of the Utah Hockey Club to the NHL will hopefully have a huge positive impact on players and fans all across Utah, and North America.