Utah Hockey Club Exec: ‘It’s clear what our fans want the team to be called’

SALT LAKE CITY — Almost everyone has an opinion about what the eventual name of the Utah Hockey Club should be, but it appears that name has already been decided. But whether it actually becomes a reality is what executives from the Utah Hockey Club couldn’t yet reveal at Wednesday’s Utah Hockey Club Media Day.

“It’s been very clear to us what our fans would like us to be called,” Chris Armstrong, the president of hockey operations, said. “And so now it’s a matter of trying to explore exhaustively all avenues to try to deliver that to our fans. I’m not in a position of prepared to tell you what that is today, but you know, as we go through that process, we’ll have more to say about it for sure.”

While Armstrong didn’t even reveal timing, his comments are a new nugget in the team naming process — which is ultimately being decided by a fan survey that’s already been conducted.

“Through the input of our fans, using the surveys that we’ve conducted, we certainly have been able to take an understanding, a firm understanding of the sentiment and what our fan base would like us to be called. You can imagine it’s a complicated process from a legal and trademarking and intellectual property perspective. And so we’re in that process now of determining what is achievable in that realm,” he said.

Many online are speculating Yeti is the clear choice, and today’s comments by Armstrong have some thinking they’ve cracked the case.

General manager Bill Armstrong also couldn’t speak to when a decision might come.

“That’s above my pay grade,” he said, deferring to Chris Armstrong.

But Bill Armstrong talked about the recent Rookie tournament where the team wore their white jerseys for the first time.

“I have to be honest with you, we just played in a Rookie tournament. We put our white jerseys on. There was a simplicity with Utah across the front, and it was spectacular for us to put that jersey on. It meant a lot to our players to be the first to do that.”

Welcome to Utah has been ‘extraordinary’

The players, head coach, and executives at today’s event also talked about how welcoming Utahns have been since the team came just 5 months ago.

Forward Lawson Crouse said he loves his neighbors and neighborhood, and everywhere he goes people come up to him with excitement.

“I’ve, you know, been blown out of the water by the amount of support and love from everyone in the state,” he said.

Head Coach Andre Tourigny echoing that.

“People come up to us and say they’re really happy to have us and they’re excited about the season and everything, you know, that makes us feel good,” he said.

“That just makes you want to compete harder and work harder every single day to deliver the best possible product and experience for the people here in Utah,” Chris Armstrong said.

The team is also in the process of picking a captain and will reveal details on a streaming service “this week,” executives said.

Utah HC will hit the Delta Center on ice for the first time formally on Monday for a preseason game. The season opener is on October 8 against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Chris Armstrong said snow, yes snow, is planned for the opening night.

“Obviously it’s snowed in the mountains in the last 24 hours. As we’ve all come to appreciate. Appreciate the beauty of that driving here today. But what I would say is, if it hasn’t already snowed in the valley before October eight, there’s a chance the first snowfall may occur here inside the Delta Center.”