Starting a thread to Discuss all thing Utah Hockey Club for the season.

Last night was a great way to kick off the season. I really wish I could have seen it in person. Was anybody able to get tickets? I know Chicago isn't great by any means but it was good to get a win from the get go.

I think this team will be very fun to watch this season, they are certainly young and still have a lot of growing to do but they have energy and I love the aggressiveness I saw last night. I don't think a playoff bid is out of the question in the inaugural season.

They will score a lot of goals, which is fun. They may give up a lot of goals though. The defense is improved from last year's Coyotes team, but there isn't too much depth there.

Fun game last night!

I was there and really enjoyed it! We went to the pregame events, and Shaboozy sang his biggest hit (Bar Song) 3 times haha. They had food trucks, the player walk, and the flyover which was cool as always.

The lines for gear both inside and outside were super long, we waited for about 30 minutes to buy a few sweatshirts (there is lots of cool stuff). The environment was fun and there was lots of hype. I don't know if I would call in electric, but it was loud and exciting... especially the first goal! Lots of fun.

We were disappointed in the in-game entertainment (rather lack thereof). There wasn't any entertainment in the intermissions or timeouts which was surprising, especially for the opener. Overall, it was an exciting night. The lack of chants, cheers, and tradition is interesting and in some ways exciting... We saw one begin with Spicy Tuna last night, and it will be fun to see the many more to come.

Awesome for the state to have an NHL Team! In such a "wintry" state, it just makes sense.

Alot of people including myself are in the process of going from being a fan of another NHL team they picked to being a fan of the Utah team. I am a St. Louis Blues fan and will still be a fan of them as well, but living in Utah am warming up the Utah team as my other team, so I will be a fan of both teams. I have been at the preseason games they held there, and there were a number of people with jerseys of anyone else rather it was the Avalanche, Sharks, Kings, Penguins, Bruins, someone. It will obviously take years before we have a good core of fans who are ONLY fans of the Utah team. Like when all the kids in Utah pick Utah as their team, and are grown up with Utah as the only team they cheer for.

It's like how alot of people who lived in Seattle picked the Canucks as the closest NHL team, then transitioned to being Kraken fans. Or people in Las Vegas were fans of someone else before they had the Golden Knights.

Just more evidence a hockey team at Utah state is needed!

I’ll get off my soapbox

Bullnamed_gus wrote: ↑

October 10th, 2024, 7:43 am

Just more evidence a hockey team at Utah state is needed wanted by a few people who apparently don't care enough about USU's current sports enough to want them and their facilities fully funded before adding more to the payroll!

I’ll get off my soapbox

FIFY

josephconlin wrote: ↑

October 10th, 2024, 7:51 am

Bullnamed_gus wrote: ↑

October 10th, 2024, 7:43 am

Just more evidence a hockey team at Utah state is needed wanted by a few people who apparently don't care enough about USU's current sports enough to want them and their facilities fully funded before adding more to the payroll!

I’ll get off my soapbox

FIFY

People think that cause we are good at the club level, we can translate hockey to the NCAA level. And think it would be fun to have a good NCAA team, which it would be. But how enthusiastic would everyone be about watching an NCAA team while they are down. Like when they are causing frustration with how undisciplined they are. And have good players who show promise leave after their freshman year.

I know that the school has to sponsor a certain number of sports for NCAA and conference requirements, so this is unrealistic.
But, in a vacuum, I would trade pretty much all the men's Olympic sports (except basketball) for a hockey team.

3rdGenAggie wrote: ↑

October 10th, 2024, 8:52 am

I know that the school has to sponsor a certain number of sports for NCAA and conference requirements, so this is unrealistic.
But, in a vacuum, I would trade pretty much all the men's Olympic sports (except basketball) for a hockey team.

Get rid of Golf, Tennis and we’d be awfully close to
The scholarship amounts. Maybe replace men’s golf with Women’s golf and we would be right there.

Obviously the money is a fair concern. And it’s not the best strategy to spend money elsewhere when we’re going into a football conference we need to push money into to compete.

I am not an avid follower of many of USU's varsity sports, and I sometimes wish USU could have more sports that I care more about (before my time, USU had a well respected wrestling team as one example). I do appreciate that USU sponsors every single one of the varsity sports that it has, though. Every single one of them is required for USU to meet the NCAA requirements to play Division I FBS football, and meeting that requirement allows us to compete in the best football and men's basketball conferences / tournaments that USU can get into. Since football and men's basketball are my two favorite sports to watch, I appreciate all of the other sports helping with the NCAA requirements.

I also enjoy hearing about the successes of the other teams when they come even though they're not my favorites, so I get extra benefit from them when they do well. It has also increased my enjoyment and appreciation of cross country, track and field, soccer, and volleyball in particular, and I'm even paying more attention to women's basketball with the hire of Wes Brooks.

I was there and it was a lot of fun. Granted I was in a Hawks sweater so the outcome wasn’t what I was hoping but it wasn’t a total bummer. It’s been a rough last 8 years or so for the Hawks but hopefully they can keep rebuilding.

I hope they actually put in a goal horn and get an actual goal song.

I do anticipate Utah will compete the way Arizona did for a while (borderline playoff team but nothing serious) . Maybe they can develop some young players and get some free agents with better fan support than they had in Arizona.

Tonight's game was fantastic too. This is a really fun team to watch.

3-0! I’m one of those hockey fans that has a long established fandom for a different team but I’m really catching the enthusiasm for the Utah Hockey Club. It’s a bit surreal seeing the NHL in Salt Lake City.

Here’s a silly question for fun. Pretend UHC wins the Cup this year (highly unlikely but not impossible): would they still change the name?

usugoalie13 wrote: ↑

October 13th, 2024, 5:01 am

I am a born and raised Oiler fan. Being from Edmonton kind of does that. That will never change. But utah is my second choice now and will cheer for them as long as it's not against the oilers. Helps that I played hockey for USU and most of my wifes family lives in SLC. But as far as the name goes. Yes it needs to be changed. I'm still mad they didn't have a name to start this season. This isn't soccer.

We’ve had a team for four months, naming it the Utah Hockey Club is a win/win for Ryan Smith. He gets to put off naming the team and build the fan experience while essentially doubling merchandising revenue over the first two seasons.

The strategy seems to be working so far.

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/417 ... fans-goals

usugoalie13 wrote: ↑

October 13th, 2024, 9:06 am

Dwigt wrote: ↑

October 13th, 2024, 6:41 am

usugoalie13 wrote: ↑

October 13th, 2024, 5:01 am

I am a born and raised Oiler fan. Being from Edmonton kind of does that. That will never change. But utah is my second choice now and will cheer for them as long as it's not against the oilers. Helps that I played hockey for USU and most of my wifes family lives in SLC. But as far as the name goes. Yes it needs to be changed. I'm still mad they didn't have a name to start this season. This isn't soccer.

We’ve had a team for four months, naming it the Utah Hockey Club is a win/win for Ryan Smith. He gets to put off naming the team and build the fan experience while essentially doubling merchandising revenue over the first two seasons.

The strategy seems to be working so far.

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/417 ... fans-goals

He knew he was getting a team. It was just a matter of when. He has a name picked. I'm sure he's had it picked for a long time. If I'm a fan, I'm not wasting money on a soccer named team. I'm waiting for the actual merchandise. But it does seem very american to want to buy a teams jersey that won't be the same in 8 months.

I completely agree with you.
And I think the Utah Hockey Club merch will end up being used as a way for fans to say “I was a fan from the beginning.”

Sorry guys, I watched my first Utah HC game and it didn't go well.

Last two home games weren't so good. I'm trying to give it a shot. Going to a game on Nov 18. My son really seems to enjoy watching hockey. Don't know where that came from.

sam tingey wrote: ↑

October 24th, 2024, 10:05 pm

Last two home games weren't so good. I'm trying to give it a shot. Going to a game on Nov 18. My son really seems to enjoy watching hockey. Don't know where that came from.

I am saying this as someone who will plan on going to the games no matter how bad they are, but it will be interesting to see how long there is excitement about the fact that we have a team, rather than people caring how good or bad the team is.

I got tickets for my birthday for the game on Monday. Hoping they don’t have another similar performance. Considering it’s the sharks, I am expecting good things.

tysteve20 wrote: ↑

October 25th, 2024, 8:25 am

I got tickets for my birthday for the game on Monday. Hoping they don’t have another similar performance. Considering it’s the sharks, I am expecting good things.

I've been a sharks fan my whole life, and have watched every game this season. You have absolutely nothing to worry about.

AggieInTucson wrote: ↑

October 27th, 2024, 3:16 pm

tysteve20 wrote: ↑

October 25th, 2024, 8:25 am

I got tickets for my birthday for the game on Monday. Hoping they don’t have another similar performance. Considering it’s the sharks, I am expecting good things.

I've been a sharks fan my whole life, and have watched every game this season. You have absolutely nothing to worry about.

sooooo. that went well

tysteve20 wrote: ↑

October 29th, 2024, 9:23 am

AggieInTucson wrote: ↑

October 27th, 2024, 3:16 pm

tysteve20 wrote: ↑

October 25th, 2024, 8:25 am

I got tickets for my birthday for the game on Monday. Hoping they don’t have another similar performance. Considering it’s the sharks, I am expecting good things.

I've been a sharks fan my whole life, and have watched every game this season. You have absolutely nothing to worry about.

sooooo. that went well

I was at the game last night as well. First NHL game I’ve ever attended. Was awesome up until the last six minutes of the third period.

greggers1868 wrote: ↑

October 29th, 2024, 9:54 am

tysteve20 wrote: ↑

October 29th, 2024, 9:23 am

AggieInTucson wrote: ↑

October 27th, 2024, 3:16 pm

tysteve20 wrote: ↑

October 25th, 2024, 8:25 am

I got tickets for my birthday for the game on Monday. Hoping they don’t have another similar performance. Considering it’s the sharks, I am expecting good things.

I've been a sharks fan my whole life, and have watched every game this season. You have absolutely nothing to worry about.

sooooo. that went well

I was at the game last night as well. First NHL game I’ve ever attended. Was awesome up until the last six minutes of the third period.

If it makes you feel any better, the sharks had never won a game in their history trailing by 3 with less than 5 minutes to play. So you did witness a one-of-a-kind comeback