Mikhail Sergachev Opens Scoring For Utah With Power Play Goal

Jan 30, 2025, 9:35 AM

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SALT LAKE CITY- Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins are in Salt Lake City for the first time, taking on Mikhail Sergachev and the Utah Hockey Club in a cross-conference matchup.

It was a slow start between the Hockey Club and the Penguins as it seemed the two teams were feeling each other out, and despite some shaky goaltending on both sides from Connor Ingram and Alex Nedeljkovic, the game remained scoreless for the better part of the first period.

Utah and Pittsburgh seemed bound to enter the intermission tied at zero, and then the Penguins committed the first infraction of the night, a hold by Blake Lizotte against Barrett Hayton.

Halfway through the power play, the puck was making its way around the Utah zone as the Hockey Club searched for an opening.

Clayton Keller dumped it to Logan Cooley in the near corner of the ice, and his possession occupied two Penguins defenders. Cooley sent the puck to Nick Schmaltz in the near circle, who then threw it behind his back to a wide-open Mikhail Sergachev who controlled the puck, found his opening, and fired a wrist shot past Nedelijkovic top shelf on his glove side.

After missing five games dating back to the middle of January, Mikhail Sergachev scored in his first game back to give the Utah Hockey Club a 1-0 lead.

What does the next stage of the Utah Hockey Club name process look like?

Over the next four Utah Hockey Club home games, fans in attendance will have an opportunity to vote on three names and logos.

  • Utah Mammoth
  • Utah Hockey Club
  • Utah Wasatch

iPad stations will be placed throughout the arena for fans to get an exclusive look at the potential names, logos and merchandise while submitting their votes.

In order to protect the imagery and new potential branding, fans will only be able to vote at Delta Center during these next four home games and will not be permitted to record or take any photos of the survey.

Once the data is collected, the Utah Hockey Club will analyze the results and determine whether or not they will have another round of voting.

Regardless, the Utah Hockey Club is on track to have all of their new branding completed by next season and will announce the new name at some point during the upcoming offseason.

Why won’t Utah Hockey Club name feature Yeti?

As arguably the most popular name since the franchise’s inception, the Utah Hockey Club worked vigorously with Yeti Coolers to come to an agreement. Yeti ultimately decided they did not want to enter in a coexistence agreement with the Utah Hockey Club.

“You’ll of course notice the absence of Yeti which has been popular amongst many fans and has been one of the leaders,” Smith Entertainment Group executive, Mike Maughan said.

“There’s nothing that came from the trademark office over the last week or so that was surprising to us in anyway…We have engaged with Yeti Coolers extensively. The NHL has also helped engage with us with them. At the end of the day, they have a trademark that allows them to print Yeti or Yeti’s on clothing…Without a coexistence agreement, we would not be able to print that.”

While the team has officially moved on from Yeti, Wasatch will serve as a replacement to appease fans that would prefer a mythical snow creature option as part of the logo.

The new potential Utah Hockey Club logo also features a similar mythical snow creature while Mammoth has its own.

“We’ve replaced the name Yeti with Wasatch. It still allows us to honor the mythical snow creature idea from that with a distinctly Utah appeal,” Maughan added.

Fans will ultimately determine the Utah Hockey Club name

Ultimately, the NHL’s newest franchise is going to heavily on their fanbase to determine the team’s new name.

While some have warned them of the risks of such an endeavor, SEG is embracing the challenge.

“Hockey is a community asset,” Maughan said. “They [Ryan and Ashley Smith] wanted to do something that’s never been done in the history of professional sports, which is invite fans to be part of this incredibly iterative and exciting process to help pick a name.”

“We have such faith in the fanbase here and the people of Utah.”

 

Cole Bagley is the Utah Hockey Club insider for KSL Sports. Keep up with him on X here. You can hear Cole break down the team on KSL Sports Zone and KSL 5 TV.
Tanner Tripp is a sports writer for KSL Sports covering all teams across the state of Utah. Follow him on X @tanner_tripp and Instagram @tanner.tripp here.

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Mikhail Sergachev Opens Scoring For Utah With Power Play Goal