Category: Utah Hockey Club

Utah Mammoth wrap up: Mammoth Rattles Sabres 5-2 To Sweep Season Series

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By Tom Walker

 JJ Peterka #77 of the Utah Mammoth skates with the puck as Peyton Krebs #19 and Beck Malenstyn #29 of the Buffalo Sabres defend in the third period of a game at Delta Center on Wednesday November 12, 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Eli Rehmer/NHLI via Getty Images)

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah defeated Buffalo 5-2 for the second time in eight days to sweep the season series, improving to 5-1-0 at home.

The Utah Mammoth (9-7-0) returned to Delta Center for a two game homestand on Wednesday night, having played eight of their previous nine games on the road.  Former Utah Hockey Club favorites Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring, who were traded to Buffalo in the offseason for JJ Peterka, were recognized on the Jumbotron for the visiting Sabres (5-6-4) who lost to the Mammoth 2-1 in overtime on their home ice a week ago.

Buffalo forward Isak Rosen gave the Sabres the early lead at 5:33 of the first period with his second goal of the season, a deflection, assisted by Jack Quinn and Bowen Byram.  Buffalo netminder Colten Ellis turned away all 12 shots he faced in the frame, while Utah’s Karel Vejmelka stopped seven of eight.

Rosen hit the scoreboard again at 6:42 of the second period with a slap shot which got past Vejmelka, assisted by Noah Ostlund.  Utah forward Nick DeSimone, a native of the Buffalo area, trimmed the deficit to 2-1 at 10:42 of the period with his first goal of the season, a slap shot one-timer on a carom off the boards which Michael Carcone had shot from behind the net, with the additional assist going to Nate Schmidt. As the buzzer sounded to end the period, Ellis had saved ten of 11 Mammoth shots while Vejmelka again turned away seven of eight.

Less than a minute into the third period, JJ Peterka tied things up against his former team, smashing a sweet snap shot past Ellis for his fifth goal of the season, assisted by John Marino and Mikhail Sergachev.  Just a couple of minutes later Peterka fed a pass to Lawson Crouse who launched a sharp angle shot over the shoulder of Ellis to give Utah its first lead of the game, 3-2. 

Jack McBain picked up the additional assist on Crouse’s fourth goal of the season. Halfway into the period, Mammoth forwards Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz battled hard for the puck in the offensive zone.

Keller came up with the puck behind the net and found Schmaltz in front who netted the third Utah goal in a ten minute span for his tenth of the season, giving the Mammoth a 4-2 lead. Keller has assisted on seven of Schmaltz’s goals this season.

With Ellis pulled for an extra attacker, Schmaltz returned the favor, feeding Keller the puck for an easy empty net goal, his seventh of the season, icing the game at 5-2 with 26.6 seconds remaining. Logan Cooley recorded an additional assist on the play.  On the ensuing faceoff both teams dropped the gloves resulting in game misconduct penalties to Josh Dunne and Peyton Krebs of the Sabres, and Barrett Hayton of the Mammoth.

In the lively winning locker room, JJ Peterka commented on the team’s comeback. “I think just how much belief there is in each other. Never giving up. We know how good we can be offensively. We know even when we’re trailing, we can easily come back. So I think just the belief in each other here.” With regard to DeSimone’s goal, Peterka said, “It’s awesome, especially him being from Buffalo makes it even better. Since he came into the lineup, he has done a heck of a job for us. Played super solid. So, obviously, super nice to see him score.”

DeSimone weighed in on the team’s turnaround after surrendering the first two goals. “That obviously was not our best start. We stuck with it and kept trying to play our game. We kept working on it, and we fought through a little adversity, and then we found a couple of shifts in a row and got rewarded for it. It just kept rolling after that.” When asked what the team learned about themselves with the comeback, DeSimone added, “It is big for us to go through this fight of adversity and kind of claw our way back into one and end up getting a win. It is definitely a learning moment for us, and it shows a lot of maturity in our group.” Many considered his second period goal to be the turning point in the game, and DeSimone walked the media through what happened. “Bear (André Tourigny) called that time out, and we hit a reset button there. Everyone was trying to do the right thing and get us going, but for whatever reason, it just reset us. It’s fortunate enough that it goes in and gets us going. It could have been a hit; it could have been just getting a puck deep, just little things kept getting us going as well.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny entered the media room with a bit of pep in his step. “I think we played good, I won’t say all game; obviously we could feel the nerves a little bit the first two periods. I think JJ Peterka broke the game down when he scored that big goal. From there, there was a boost of confidence and we knew we were playing well. I think that the tweak in the lines helped a little bit for everybody. I’m really happy about the way JJ responded in the third. (Lawson Crouse) and (Jack McBain) played unbelievable again. That’s about it.” Speaking of what contributed to the successful third period, Tourigny said, “We addressed it this week. One thing our team is really good at is defending. We defend with a lot of pace and we force opponents to execute quickly. That’s a strength of ours. Lately in the third period, we’ve not had the same pace and same pressure. That was allowing our opponents to execute and create offense. The last three games, more than 50% of the offense we gave up was in the third period–because we were trailing, chasing, not defending hard enough. Tonight, we gave up zero grade A and zero grade B (chances). We defended hard and we played good with the puck…Everybody was engaged. Everybody was detailed, resilient, relentless. That was fun to see.”

The Mammoth (10-7-0) wrap up their brief homestand on Friday night against the New York Islanders (8-6-2) before hitting the road again for a brief California swing through Anaheim and San Jose.

Utah Mammoth post game wrap: Lighting Strikes Mammoth 4-2 To End Home Winning Streak

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Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Brandon Hagel (38) moves the puck against the Utah Mammoth right win Nick Schmaltz (8) in the first period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sun Nov 2, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Tampa Bay’s Jake Guentzel breaks the tie with under eight minutes remaining beating Utah 4-2 at the Delta Center on Sunday night.

The Utah Mammoth took a four-game winning streak on the road with them following a 4-3 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche on October 21. Since then the Mammoth have remained hot, winning three of four away from Delta Center, while locking up another key member of their young core for eight years.

It all began on October 23 in St. Louis with a 7-4 routing of the Blues. After assisting on an early first period goal by defenseman Ian Cole, Utah forward Logan Cooley scored his first natural hat trick in a four minute 48 second span as the Mammoth never looked back while extending their winning streak to five.

Two days later in Minnesota, Cooley lit the lamp twice in the first three and a half minutes as Utah defeated the Wild 6-2 while upping their streak to six. The next day Utah would make it seven, cooling the Jets in Winnipeg with a 3-2 victory over last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners. The Mammoth wrapped up their four-game road trip in Edmonton where the Oilers halted the streak, defeating Utah 6-3.

Upon returning to Salt Lake City, Logan Cooley and the Mammoth agreed on an eight year, $80 million contract extension which will keep the team’s dynamic young core together for the next several years.

After four days off to recover from the road trip, Utah (8-3-0) welcomed the Tampa Bay Lightning (5-4-2) to Delta Center on Sunday afternoon for a one-game homestand.

It is still difficult to look at the Lightning lineup without Steven Stamkos who is now in his second season with the Nashville Predators after 16 seasons in Tampa Bay. It was a milestone game for two Utah players as Nick Schmaltz played his 600th career game while Kevin Stenlund appeared in his 300th.

Mammoth forward Lawson Crouse gave Utah the first lead of the game at 5:55 of the first period when defenseman Ian Cole fed him the puck on a breakaway for his second goal of the season. Lightning netminder Jonas Johansson had no chance as Crouse fired a perfect top shelf corner strike over Johannson’s right shoulder.

At 15:17 of the frame, just seconds after killing off a bench minor for too many men on the ice, Tampa Bay forward Yanni Gourde evened the score at 1-1 with his third goal of the season, assisted by Emil Lilleberg and Zemgus Girgensons who had just emerged from the box after serving the penalty. Utah netminder Karel Vejmelka would finish the period turning away 8 of 9 shots while Johansson stopped 5 of 6 for the Lightning.

Tampa Bay forward Anthony Cirelli gave the Lightning their first lead of the game at 2:47 of the second period, his 7th of the season, assisted by Jake Guentzel and Victor Hedman. Other than that, the two goalies held their respective ground in the frame with Johansson turning away all 9 shots faced in the period and Vejmelka stopping 9 of 10.

At 2:21 of the third period, Utah forward Kailer Yamamoto tied things up again with his first goal of the season, with defenseman Ian Cole picking up his 2nd assist of the night. Coming less than 24 hours after another Yamamoto – Yoshinobu Yamamoto of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers – picked up his 3rd World Series victory against the Toronto Blue Jays along with series MVP honors, one could wonder whether a Mammoth comeback was in store with Yamamoto figuring in the headline, but it wasn’t to be.

With just under 8 minutes remaining in the period, Jake Guentzel put the puck past Vejmelka for his fifth of the season, unassisted. With Vejmelka pulled for the extra attacker, Lightning forward knocked his fourth goal of the season into the empty net to secure the victory and to end the Mammoth home win streak at four. Utah could never get its power play going, falling to 8-for-41 (19.5%) on the season.

In the home locker room, Ian Cole was asked about the team’s poor start in the second period. “Yeah, I think you could argue it was probably average all the way through. They’re a good hockey team, and we did too many things to shoot ourselves in the foot today. We’ll have to obviously look at the game and assess it and hopefully bring a better game against Buffalo.” Cole didn’t think where were any particular takeaways from the game. “I don’t think there’s one glaring thing necessarily,” Cole said, “but there are little things all over the ice. There’s puck battles for one, and I think reloads for two. They’re beating guys up the ice, and our neutral zone wasn’t great. There’s a lot of things where we can improve. Nothing was glaringly horrible, but not good enough to beat a very skilled, very good hockey team.” Commenting on Tampa Bay’s aggressive play, Cole added, “They have played the same way for maybe 10 years now. So nothing they did was shocking, and there was nothing they did that we were unprepared for, or shouldn’t have been prepared for. This wasn’t our best game, and we know that. Now we have to respond. We can’t let two (losses) turn into three, turn to four, turn to five. That’s how you find yourself out of a playoff spot. So we have to fix this right away.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny tried to put things in perspective. “I think it was a good game. I think Tampa is a really good team. If you look at their metrics, they are number one offensively in the league, number three defensively in every underlying number. We knew it would be a good test. I think we were toe-to-toe with them. They scored with seven to go, but we were pretty close. Just would love to have us going in the other direction. I think we can be a little bit more physical in our forecheck and a little bit better in our forecheck.” Making a similar observation as Cole, Tourigny said, “They play heavy. They make good plays on the breakout. They hold on to the puck. You have to go to work. You won’t surprise that team with just your skill. They have skill too. That’s the biggest thing when you play against Tampa, you always think of their skill. They have skill, but what they do is they work and they don’t give you time and space. You need to grind the game, and I’m really happy about the way Crouser’s line played. Really happy about the way Stenny’s line played. I think Yammy played a hell of a game. They showed up in that kind of a game, and that’s what you want.”

The Mammoth (8-4-0) go back on the road beginning Tuesday against the Sabres in Buffalo, followed by a swing through Canada against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, and Ottawa Senators before returning to Utah on November 12 for games against the Sabres and New York Rangers.

Tom Walker is a Utah Mammoth beat writer at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Mammoth Complete Hunt For Blue October With 4-3 OT Win Against League-Leading Avalanche

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The Utah Mammoth’s Makail Sergachev (98) yells in celebration after scoring a goal against the Colorado Avalanche for the win in overtime at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tue Oct 21, 2025 (AP News photo)

Utah completed the 4-0 sweep of their opening homestand in an overtime nailbiter against the NHL’s top team.
By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Mammoth (4-2-0) closed out its opening homestand on Tuesday night against the Central Division leading Colorado Avalanche (5-0-1), entering the matchup a perfect 3-0-0 at home with previous victories against the Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, and Boston Bruins. The Mammoth battled and came away with a 4-3 over the Avalanche at the Delta Center.

Less than 30 seconds into the contest, Utah forward Logan Cooley blasted a snap shot at Colorado netminder Scott Wedgewood at point blank range, but Wedgewood was able to turn it away. At 5:29 of the first, Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar gave Colorado the first lead of the game, putting the puck past Karel Vejmelka for his 3rd of the season, assisted by Parker Kelly and Zakhar Bardakov. Both teams exchanged several scoring opportunities throughout the period, but Wedgewood and Vejmelka stopped 10 and 12 shots respectively to keep the score at 1-0.

Forty-two seconds into the second period, Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog appeared to put his squad ahead 2-0 but Utah head coach André Tourigny challenged the goal for offsides. A video review confirmed that Colorado had not completed a line change when the puck initially crossed into their offensive zone, nullifying the goal. A few minutes later, Utah defenseman John Marino appeared to tie the score but his goal was also waived off as Mammoth forward Liam O’Brien brushed up against Wedgewood in the crease, though it appeared O’Brien was pushed into the Avalanche goaltender by a defender. At 8:49 of the period, Colorado forward Gavin Brindley was whistled for tripping against Clayton Keller. On the ensuing power play, Utah forward Nick Schmaltz continued his recent chemistry with Keller to score his 4th of the season with the second assist to defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, tying things up a 1-1. The pairing of Schmaltz and Keller have combined on 8 goals this season, second only to Mark Stone and Jack Eichel of the Vegas Golden Knights. A few minutes later, Mammoth associate captain Lawson Crouse put Utah ahead 2-1 with his first goal of the season, assisted by Kevin Stenlund and Michael Carcone. Vejmelka turned away all 7 Colorado shots in the frame, while Wedgewood stopped 14 of 16.

Colorado began the third period with 43 seconds remaining on a power play with Utah defenseman Dmitri Simashev in the penalty box for high-sticking against Valeri Nichushkin. Though the Mammoth were able to kill the penalty, they were unable to kill the Avalanche momentum as Jack Drury potted his first of the season at 1:10 of the 3rd, assisted by Ross Colton, to even the score at 2-2. At 5:20 of the period, Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev blasted a loose puck past Wedgewood for his first goal of the season, unassisted, to restore the one-goal Mammoth lead. It was technically the first goal by a Mammoth defenseman this season, though head coach André Tourigny made no bones in his post-game interview that the first goal from a defenseman should have gone to Marino earlier in the game. With a little more than two minutes remaining in regulation, Wedgewood skated to the bench for an extra attacker, but before he could make it to his bench, Martin Necas put the puck past Vejmelka, unassisted, to even the score at 3-3 and send the two squads to overtime.

The Avs began the overtime period taking the puck into their offensive zone, but Utah was able to recover the puck and streaked down the opposite end where Clayton Keller sent a pass slightly behind Dylan Guenther at the net. Guenther reached back to swat the puck on the backhand and into the net at the 33 second mark for back-to-back game-winning goals and his 3rd of the season. Sergachev picked up an additional assist on the goal to give him 3 points on the night (1G, 2A).

The Mammoth media relations team swiftly summarized Guenther’s offensive stats following the game. Tonight’s goal was his third game-winning goal and second overtime winner of the season, both of which are team highs. Guenther leads the NHL in both game-winning goals (9) and overtime goals (4) over his last 37 contests dating back to February. His 5 overtime goals over the past 2 seasons are more than every other Utah skater combined (Sergachev-2, Keller-1, Michael Kesselring-1).

The four-game sweep of the season opening homestand is the first sweep of a multi-game homestand in Utah franchise history, and they are the first NHL franchise since the 1925-26 Montreal Maroons to win its first four home games in either of its first two seasons.

Once the celebratory sounds of “Funky Town” in the Utah locker room subsided, Mikhail Sergachev met with the media. Asked about what it took for the team to get 2 points tonight, the alternate captain responded, “It didn’t matter if we were up or down; we kept the same mentality. They pushed in the third, and it was expected from them. Our goalie played his best, and we stayed with it. Blocked some shots. Obviously gave up a goal that no goalie can save. I just like that mentality of staying with it no matter what.” Sergachev downplayed recording a perfect 8 points on the homestand. “We don’t want to feel good. We want to improve every game. There are still a lot of areas where we should improve, especially in that third. When they pushed, we should do a better job of not letting them get in our zone and try to play in their zone a little bit more. Obviously, they got world-class players, but we’ve got to try to limit chances.” Nevertheless, he agreed that it is meaningful to beat a Stanley Cup contender. “It’s a measuring stick for us. They’re one of the best teams in the league. They’re showing it every year. They’re consistent. Their best players are consistent. We want to be that and we want to grow into that. Obviously, it’s nice to get a win, but it’s got to be on a consistent basis.”

Hero of the night, Dylan Guenther, addressed what it took to earn the victory. “Just resilience, obviously started really well and just kept with it throughout the whole game. So it was a big win, a good way to win too.” Responding to a question about the performance of Sergachev, Guenther responded, “He’s our horse back there. I think he’s a huge part of this team. And, you know, did a lot of good things to start and didn’t hit the sheet. It’s huge to get a guy like that going.” As for his back-to-back game winners, Guenther added, “I said it before, those little moments you want to play in. I didn’t think I played well throughout the whole game, just kind of fighting it all game. But just that next shift mentality. What can I do on the next shift to help this team? I think it’s just continuous repetition on that.”

At this point, defenseman Dmitri Simashev crashed the interview. “I have a question,” the Russian rookie asked. “What do you think about the last goal?” Guenther responded, “I think it was a good one,” and then jokingly added, “The pass [from Clayton Keller] was a little soft behind me, but …” as everyone in the locker room chuckled.

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny was pleased as he made his opening statement. “There’s so much to say about this game, other than the score. A tough matchup for Cooley to play against MacKinnon, started the game really well. They had some adversity, and the way they responded after, that was super positive for us. I’m glad they were able to regroup and finish the game really strong. A very strong game from Carcs [Michael Carcone]. Carcs and Crouser [Lawson Crouse] played really well. I really liked their game as well as Kells [Keller]. Kells’ line played well. We have a lot of guys, but I’ll have to talk about Sergy [Sergachev] as well. I think he was a force out there. Not just his production, his play was assertive. It was aggressive. He really played a solid game and that changed the game. The other thing is, as a team, I think our d-core played really solid. Colorado is a team that doesn’t give a lot of goals. They gave up only nine goals in six games before this game. I’m proud of the offense we created and the way we clogged the middle, especially from the second period on.” Tourigny’s praise was also extended to his goaltender. “I think the key moment was when we had our bumps, when the boat was rocking, a little Veggie came up big and made key saves at key moments. So it was when you look at it, the performance of a team, everybody chipping in.”

With the overtime loss, Colorado (5-0-2; 12 points) is tied for the overall NHL lead with Vegas which has the identical record. Having improved their overall record to 5-2-0, Utah joins 7 other teams in a league tie for 3rd with 10 points apiece.

The Mammoth face the St. Louis Blues on Thursday followed by tilts on the road against the Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets, and Edmonton Oilers before returning to the Delta Center on Sunday, November 2, for a single home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning before heading out for another four-game road trip.

Mammoth Beats Bruins 3-2 To Remain Undefeated At Home

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Utah Mammoth defenceman Nate Schmidt takes a shot against the Boston Bruins in the second period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sun Oct 19, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Dylan Guenther scored the third Period go-ahead goal and Vítek Vaněček locked down the net as the Utah Mammoth improves to 3-0-0 on their opening homestand beating the Boston Bruins at the Delta Center 3-2.

Coming off of back-to-back home wins at Delta Center to begin the 2025-2026 season, the Utah Mammoth (3-2-0) welcomed the Boston Bruins (3-3-0) to Salt Lake City on Sunday afternoon for the third of four games on the homestand.

At 3:30 of the first period, Boston’s Elias Lindholm was whistled for hooking against Dylan Guenther to put Utah on the power play. Nearly a minute later, Mammoth captain Clayton Keller found forward Nick Schmaltz in front of the net whose one-timer hit linemate Logan Cooley squarely in the back on the numbers, bouncing over his left shoulder and over the head of Bruins netminder Joonas Korpisalo, falling cleanly into the net to open the scoring.

Cooley was credited with his second goal of the season. Keller’s assist gave him an NHL-high 35 power play points (9G, 26A) over his last 61 games going back to December 8, 2024. Just past the halfway mark of the period, Mammoth forward Dylan Guenther was called for tripping against Morgan Geekie to give the Bruins the man advantage, which David Pastrnak cashed in for his 3rd of the season, assisted by Pavel Zacha and Charlie McAvoy, to tie things up. As the buzzer sounded, Korpisalo had stopped 11 of 12 shots in the frame while Vítek Vaněček turned away 9 of 10.

At 5:46 of the second period, Boston took its first lead of the game on a goal by David Pastrnak, his 4th of the season, assisted by Marat Khusnutdinov, as a vocal minority of yellow-clad cheering Bruins fans made their presence known. At 15:57, with Brandon Tanev and Nikita Zadorov serving offsetting roughing penalties, Keller put a rebound off a shot by Schmaltz past Korpisalo on the 4-on-4 for his second goal of the season with the additional assist going to Ian Cole. Keller and Schmaltz have combined on six goals over the past six periods. The period would end with the two squads knotted up at 2-2.

The two squads played to a draw in the first half of the third period until Dylan Guenther broke through at 10:37 of the frame with his 3rd goal on the season, assisted by JJ Peterka, to give Utah a 3-2 lead. Boston pulled Korpisalo with a minute and a half to go, but was unable to solve Vaněček who earned his first victory of the season, saving 24 of 26 shots. Guenther’s goal was his second game-winner of the season and an NHL-leading 8 over his last 36 games going back to February, putting him ahead of Sidney Crosby and Cole Caufield who have six each.

After the game, captain Clayton Keller addressed the team’s resilient third period. “We had a good third. For whatever reason, our second hasn’t been great, but we’ve been able to bounce back and play hard in the third, get back to our style of hockey, and I think we did a great job of that tonight.” Praising Vítek Vaněček’s performance in net, Keller added, “V was unreal all game, key saves at the right times, so it’s great to see him get a win here tonight at home. I’m sure that’s a huge confidence booster as well, making great stops and having an unbelievable game like that.”

Game-winning goal scorer Dylan Guenther spoke of scoring in front of his parents for the first time. “I mean it only took 25 years, so this might have been the last road trip if I hadn’t gotten one, but this one is special. Growing up as a kid always dreaming of playing in the NHL and getting to score with your family in the stands is pretty cool.” Speaking of the Mammoth playing calm in pressure situations, Guenther said, “We have a lot of leaders here, a lot of guys who have won. And heading into the third, you have to be comfortable in those situations and own it. That’s when you want to play when the game’s tied, you’re at home and the crowd is into it. I think it’s just a ton of fun. So if we embrace that, we continue to get better at it.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny was all smiles in the interview room. Speaking of the chemistry between Dylan Guenther and JJ Peterka, Tourigny said, “I liked their third period, and I talked to JJ after the second about using his speed in every phase and putting speed on their D and stuff like that. I really like the way he responded too, he attacked right in from the first shift in the third period, and he attacked with a lot of speed. He (Dylan Guenther) elevated this game in the third, and on the winning goal, he had a great reload, great strip, made a good pass, and obviously, Gunner took a really good shot. But I like that line in the third, and the way they responded.” What is it like to be undefeated at home to begin the season? “Trying not to get ahead of ourselves, in the sense that I don’t want to get too excited, but obviously we’re happy about how it happened so far. And we know we have 41games at home, and we want to take advantage of it. But so far, so good.”

Utah (4-2-0) concludes its homestand on Tuesday against the visiting Colorado Avalanche (5-0-1) who previously defeated the Mammoth on their October 9 home opener.

Mammoth Win 6-3 As Schmaltz Slays Sharks With Hat Trick

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Utah Mammoth center Liam O’Brien (38) celebrates his goal with left wing Brandon Tenev (13) against the San Jose Sharks in the second period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Fri Oct 17, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Nick Schmaltz recorded 3 goals and an assist and Liam O’Brien scored his first career Utah goal in a 6-3 victory over San Jose.

The Utah Mammoth (2-2-0) welcomed the San Jose Sharks (0-1-2) to Delta Center on Friday night for their first encounter of the season. All three games between the two teams last season were decided by a single goal, with San Jose winning their first matchup in Salt Lake City, overcoming a 4-1 deficit in the 3rd period and stealing the win in overtime, and Utah prevailing in the other two.

The Sharks put themselves in an early hole as tripping penalties a minute apart by Nick Leddy and Dmitry Orlov gave the Mammoth a 5-3 advantage. A half minute into the dual penalties, Utah forward Nick Schmaltz ripped a snap shot past San Jose netminder Yaroslav Askarov for his first goal of the season, assisted by Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller. At 13:31 of the first, Schmaltz made it 2-0 with another wicked shot, assisted again by Keller, which marks the fastest two goals in franchise history at 3:52 apart. It would be nearly 12 minutes into the game before the Sharks would record their first shot on goal. Karel Vejmelka turned away all 7 San Jose shots in the period, while Askarov stopped 10 of 12.

San Jose came out swinging in the second period with a burst of energy. At 4:33 Jack McBain was called for interference against Jeff Skinner, and on the ensuing power play Tyler Toffoli cut the Sharks deficit in half with his second goal of the season, assisted by Dmitry Orlov and Will Smith. Less than two minutes later, Jeff Skinner netted his third goal of the season, assisted by Macklin Celebrini and Vincent Desharnais, to tie things up 2-2. With just under four minutes remaining in the period, however, Mammoth forward Liam O’Brien scooped up a puck in front of the net and wrapped it past Askarov to reclaim Utah’s lead 3-2, with new acquisition Brandon Tanev recording his first point on the assist. For O’Brien, a feisty fan-favorite who missed the first four games of this season due to injury, it was his first career Utah goal having been kept out of the opposition net in 28 games during the team’s inaugural season.

Less than a minute into the third frame, Mammoth forward Nick Schmaltz put the puck past Askarov again for his second career hat trick, and the first of the season for the Utah Mammoth, to increase the lead to 4-2. Schmaltz noted after the game that his grandfather has seen him play twice in the NHL, and he scored a hat trick both times. The only other hat trick in Utah franchise history came last season by Barrett Hayton against the Los Angeles Kings on February 22, 2025. At 3:25 of the third, Mammoth forward Michael Carcone took advantage of an Alexander Wennberg giveaway to record his first goal of the season, assisted by Lawson Crouse, to put the Mammoth up 5-2. Utah wasn’t done, however. Just past the halfway mark of the period, Schmaltz returned the earlier favors, feeding captain Clayton Keller for his first goal of the season, with an additional assist by Barrett Hayton, to give the Mammoth a commanding 6-2 lead. At 16:51 of the third, with Dylan Guenther in the sin bin for cross-checking against Collin Graf, Macklin Celebrini scored his first goal of the season, assisted by Skinner and Wennberg, to bring the Sharks within three but there would be no 3rd period comeback this time as Utah claimed its third win of the season while San Jose falls to 0-2-2. Vejmelka finished the night turning away 18 of 21 shots for the win.

After the game in the visitor locker room, San Jose Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky addressed the third period meltdown. “We give up that one, Asky was the one behind out there, and then we just sat in our heels there a little bit in the third and that’s what good teams will do to you. … I thought there was good energy in the bench heading into the period. In the guys’ dressing room, we were saying the right things, but we have to start doing the right things.”

Sharks Defenseman Mario Ferraro echoed Warsofsky’s remarks. “We were back on our heels too early. We’ve got to start with the opposite and put them back on their heels. Obviously it’s a road game, but we’ve got to be even tighter in situations like that. I think just playing simple and getting pucks in and getting pucks out are really important. They put a lot of pressure on us, especially in the neutral zone. They came through the neutral zone with a lot of speed, so if we’re as tight as we can be next time in these road buildings to be tight and gapped up and not give them that time and space, maybe they’ll help us out a little bit. But for sure, our start wasn’t good enough tonight.”

It was no surprise that Nick Schmaltz and Liam O’Brien were selected to speak with the media in the winning locker room after the game. Talking about his hat trick, Schmaltz said, “Yeah, it was good. I feel like I’ve had a lot of chances early on in the season here and trying to shoot the puck more, take it to the net, be around the net more. A couple guys made some great plays by me in open areas, and it was fun to see a couple go in there. … It was awesome, especially in front of our home fans and shoutout to my grandpa, he’s been here. He’s watched me play two times now, in Arizona and here, and he’s seen a hat trick both times, so it’s pretty cool and special to have him here. Shout out to him.”

O’Brien talked about his emotions after scoring his first goal at Delta Center. “There’s a little sense of relief. Took longer than I wanted, but felt good, and I’m just happy we got the win too. … That second period was a little ugly for us. We didn’t like it, and we had a chat in between periods, and we fixed it. We came out and you see our top guys, turn it on like that, and you see how good those guys are. So, I thought we responded really well in that third period.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny addressed his team’s performance in his opening statement. “I liked the first and the third, obviously, wasn’t in love with the second, but extremely proud of the way the boys reacted in the third. There was a lot of maturity, a lot of focus, and we played it right away. We put the puck behind, and we got a reward early, great play by Kells’ line, putting the puck deep and going on the forecheck. So that’s good” Commenting on Nick Schmaltz’s performance, Tourigny commented, “Honestly since the start of the season he’s been playing really good. You know, he had a lot of opportunities. He reloaded really well on both sides of the puck. He’s a trap. He’s inside a lot. Has a lot of opportunities inside. So it was a matter of time. I had a chat with him yesterday, saying, yeah, just do the right thing when you have those numbers and scoring chances, it’s because you’re doing the right thing, and it will come. Today was the day.” He was particularly pleased with the offensive effort of his squad. “I like the way we have generated offense lately, or the last two games I should say, you know, I have a ton of trust in our team. I know if we do the right thing and we go inside goals will come. I think what’s important is the win, six goals is always great. But more importantly, the way we responded in the third period and we left no doubt, that’s the way.”

Utah (3-2-0) will go for its third straight home victory to open the season on Sunday as they face off against the Boston Bruins (3-2-0).

Mammoth Extinguish Flames 3-1 In Home Opener

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Utah Mammoth center Barrett Hayton (27) scores against the Calgary Flames in the second period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wed Oct 15, 2025 (AP News photo)

Mammoth Extinguish Flames 3-1 In Home Opener

JJ Peterka nets game-winner in Delta Center debut as Karel Vejmelka locks down the Utah net.

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Mammoth returned to Salt Lake City Wednesday night for their home opener following a 1-2-0 road trip through Colorado, Nashville, and Chicago to begin the 2025-2026 NHL season. For the second straight year, Utah forward Dylan Guenther scored the team’s first goal of the season, this time in a 2-1 loss to the Avalanche on October 9.

Before the puck drop at Delta Center, Tusky the Mountain Blue mammoth made its mascot debut, officially ending the double duties of Jazz Bear from the city’s NBA squad.

At 7:21 of the first period, Mammoth defenseman Mikhail Sergachev went to the sin bin for high-sticking Blake Coleman. Just over a minute later, Calgary’s Rasmus Andersson cashed it in to give the Flames an early 1-0 lead, assisted by Morgan Frost and Nazem Kadri. Calgary netminder Devin Cooley, no relation to Utah’s Logan Cooley, turned away all ten shots he faced in the opening frame while Karel Vejmelka stopped four of the five shots he faced.

It didn’t take long in the second period for Utah to even the score. At 1:16 of the period, Mammoth forward Barrett Hayton found the back of the Calgary net for his first goal of the season, assisted by Nick Schmaltz and John Marino. Three minutes later, JJ Peterka took advantage of a giveaway by Brayden Pachal and flew the full length of the ice before beating Devin Cooley unassisted for his second goal of the season and a new entry into the Mammoth highlight reels to give Utah the 2-1 lead. The second period was all Mammoth as the home squad put 18 shots on goal to Calgary’s three.

The Flames fought back in the third period, outshooting Utah 12-4, but both netminders held the line until Devin Cooley got pulled to give Calgary a 6-5 offensive advantage. The Flames peppered Karel Vejmelka with shots in the closing minutes, but Utah forward Kevin Stenlund banked a rebound off the dasher boards and into the empty Calgary net for his first goal of the season to put the game away.

New acquired forward JJ Peterka faced the media in the locker room for the first time after the game. Describing his first home opener as a Mammoth, Peterka said, “The crowd throughout the whole game was unbelievable. Started with the anthem in the warmups, with how many kids and how many fans came out. Just throughout the whole game, when we needed energy, we for sure got it from the crowd.” As for the game itself, the winger added, “I think that was a tough game, but we stuck to our game plan throughout the whole 60 minutes. We knew they were going to make a push and throw everything in there, and I think Veggie was unbelievable throughout the whole game, but especially in the third, he made some huge stops to secure the win.” With regard to Calgary’s third period push, Peterka commented, “We kind of played a little bit more defensively, made sure we are in the shot lanes and in passing lanes, and outweighed them because we knew they come pretty hot out of the locker room.”

Winning goaltender Karel Vejmelka was asked about getting that first W at home. “Obviously, first home game of the season, so we wanted to play a good game and we did. We found a way to win. It wasn’t an easy game. But like I said, we found a way.” Having faced only 8 shots combined in the first two periods, Vejmelka was asked about staying focused while being largely uncontested for much of the game. He responded, “You know, it’s all about staying sharp and mentally focused. It wasn’t easy for us in the first period, but [there was] pressure in the third and we played a really good job defensively, but I needed to make a couple of good saves. It’s a big team win. As for the energy of the fans on opening night, the Utah netminder said, “Well, it’s always fun to play again in front of our fans. It’s so much fun and I enjoy every minute on the ice. It’s really special to be back home, and really appreciated all of that.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny began the postgame interview with a statement. “It was a positive outing, and lots of opportunities. Unfortunately, we could not convert, but it was a positive outing. And then the third, they had a really good push, but I liked the way we managed it defensively. We turned the puck over a little bit too much when we were protecting the lead, a little bit too safe. But our game in general, when it comes to the physicality, balancing, the hits, and trying not to draw penalties.” Talking about giving up Calgary’s early goal, Tourigny commented, “I think we reacted well after the first. In the first, it was a war, maybe a little bit too into it. But after we reacted really well. I really like the mental strength of our team, and even when they had the push, we still played well. When you dominate the way we dominate for two periods, and you arrive in the third, and they have a push, I didn’t feel any panic. The guys were trying to do the right thing, not necessarily having success at it, but we’re doing the right thing, and we defended really hard. So that’s tough for them to get to our net front, but when they did, Veggie came up big.” Overall, Tourigny was satisfied with his team’s performance for the night. “Our forecheck was big, and I think that when we’re on top of our opponent and we skate the way we did in the first two periods, we are tough to play against, and we drew a lot of penalties. That’s a really good game for us. … Part of playing good defense is that you need to be able to break out the puck a little bit better than we did in the third. It was a strength of ours in the first two periods. In the third, it was a little bit tougher. And they obviously pressed a bit differently than they did in other situations. So it put us in a little bit of some adversity, which is something we will talk more about and improve, but the way we played without the puck was really good, and much more comfortable.”

The Mammoth return to action at the Delta Center on Friday against the San Jose Sharks, continuing with games next week against the Boston Bruins and Colorado Avalanche to conclude the season opening homestand.

Utah Mammoth Close Out Preseason With 6-4 Victory Over The San Jose Sharks

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Utah Mammoth celebrate and defeat the San Jose Sharks at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City in pre season action on Sat Oct 4, 2025 (photo from the NHL)

Utah Mammoth Close Out Preseason With 6-4 Victory Over The San Jose Sharks

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY– The Utah Mammoth dropped its first of five preseason contests before winning the final two at the newly renovated Delta Center defeating the San Jose Sharks 6-4 on Saturday night.

The Utah Mammoth welcomed the San Jose Sharks to the Delta Center on Saturday night as both teams wrapped up their preseason schedule. On Thursday, Utah defeated the Los Angeles Kings for their first preseason win after dropping their first five. San Jose entered Saturday’s game with a 2-3-0 preseason record.

Just 28 seconds into the first period, the Sharks went on the power play as Mammoth defenseman John Marino was called for tripping against Adam Gaudette. Utah killed off the penalty and Marino had a breakaway when he was sprung from the box, but San Jose netminder Yaroslav Askarov turned it away as his teammates then took the puck up the ice with Adam Gaudette finding the back of the net with a backhand shot, assisted by Shakir Mukhamadullin and Jeff Skinner.

At 7:03 of the first, Mammoth defenseman Mikhail Sergachev converted a snap shot, assisted by Dylan Guenther and JJ Peterka, to tie things up. Less than 90 seconds later, Vincent Desharnais gave Utah its first power play of the evening with a tripping penalty against Jack McBain.

The Mammoth wasted no time converting the man advantage to claim a 2-1 lead as forward Dylan Guenther blasted a perfect pass from Mikhail Sergachev past Askarov with the additional assist to Clayton Keller. At 11:44 of the frame, Askarov turned away a shot from Utah forward JJ Peterka, but a diving Andrew Agozzino knocked in the rebound to put the Mammoth up 3-1.

Less than two minutes later, Utah forward Kailer Yamamoto tipped in a shot from Nate Schmidt to send the home team to the locker room sporting a commanding 4-1 lead.

Less than two minutes into the second period, San Jose’s Tyler Toffoli cut the deficit in half on a snap shot goal assisted by Alexander Wennberg. Barely a minute later, Barclay Goodrow made it a 1-goal game on a goal assisted by Adam Gaudette and Shakir Mukhamadullin.

At 13:39 of the period, with Utah forward JJ Peterka in the sin bin for slashing against Ethan Cardwell, Will Smith brought the Sharks all the way back with his first goal of the preseason, assisted by Macklin Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli. The two squads went to their locker rooms at the period intermission knotted up at 4 apiece.

Last October during the regular season, Utah coughed up a 4-1 lead and lost to San Jose in overtime, so there was a certain feeling of déjà vu heading into the third period. This time, however, Mammoth captain Clayton Keller ensured a different outcome.

At 4:55 of the third, Keller put the puck past Askarov to reclaim the lead, assisted by Sean Durzi and Nate Schmidt. At 11:11, newly acquired Utah forward Brandon Tanev put the game away for good with a backhand shot on a breakaway, unassisted, to give the home team a 6-4 victory to close out the preseason schedule with a 2-5-0 record. The Sharks finished the preseason at 2-4-0.

After the game, San Jose forward Macklin Celebrini talked about his rhythm and timing in his first game back. “It was good to just kind of get out there with our systems and with the guys and kind of just work through some stuff.”

On his assist to Will Smith, Celebrini added, “I mean, we practice a lot of different stuff on the entries, and I think you just kind of start to know where guys are going to be.” With regard to the second period comeback, he said, “I think our puck battles, the way we were able to kill plays in the defensive zone. I think that was the biggest part. They have some really skilled players on their team, and when they get going in the (offensive) zone, it’s tough to stop. So I think just cutting plays and getting out of our zone as quick as possible kind of led to that.”

Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky, when asked whether the second-period turnaround was more coach- or player-driven, responded, “I think and I hope it’s both, to be honest with you. I had a message, and I am sure that when I left, some of our leadership group had a message as well. So we did have a turnaround in the second period. I liked the second; we did some good things, but obviously we have some things to work on.” Speaking of his goaltender, Warsofsky commented, “I thought he battled. I have to give him credit. He battled. Probably wasn’t the start he wanted, and I think he hung in there and he battled.”

In the home locker room, Mammoth forward Brandon Tanev gave his first post-game interview in his new home. “Yeah, we of course loved our first period. A lot of good things to take away from it, but things got away from us in the second there. But ultimately, we dug down, and we understood what we were doing was wrong, then we had a great third period. There’s a lot of stuff that we liked and that we didn’t like, and it’s improvements throughout camp. You play the preseason, and there are a lot of games, moving bodies, a lot of things, and it’s understanding each other, how to play and how to play the right way. … Getting your legs back, getting your understanding of what you’re supposed to be doing on the ice, where you’re supposed to be, and playing as a team. Ultimately, I think we did that, especially in the third there.” What did he think about playing at Delta Center? “Yeah, it’s great. I mean, the fans here are unbelievable, the passion and energy. It’s definitely a hockey town, and I think we’re very fortunate to be playing in this arena in front of these fans, so we love it every game. And it’s been great so far, so we can’t wait for the regular season.”

Utah captain Clayton Keller talked about the team’s progress throughout preseason. “Yeah, it’s been good. We’ve gotten better each game and each day, we had a lot of guys banged up so we had some different line combinations. But I think the last two games and getting most of our roster together, trying to get that chemistry to get your wind. I thought we did a good job tonight.”

Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny got straight to the point in his postgame remarks. “I obviously was really happy about the way we played for most of the game. I did not like the second period. I think it’s a good opportunity for us to learn. We were not as fast in the second period. We were not on our toes, and that cost us. I think we learned from there, and I really like the way we respond in the third.” Talking about the second period where Utah surrendered 3 goals to San Jose, Tourigny said, “There’s a timeline between being smart in your decision and being passive. You have to be patient, but you cannot be passive; we were trying to be patient in the second, and instead of being patient, we became passive. We take our best asset out of the game, which is our pace, our speed, our aggression on the forecheck, aggression on the track, and aggression on the way we close the neutral zone. So I think it was a good teaching moment for us to draw the line between passive and patient.” All things considered, Tourigny was happy with the outcome. “It’s business. The coach can arrive here and say I didn’t like the second period, but we only gave up 13 shots, as a team with our full lineup in our barn, and we scored six goals. So, if I’m not happy about that, I might have a problem and I need to see the doc right away.”

Utah begins the regular season October 9 on the road with games against Colorado, Nashville, and Chicago before returning to Salt Lake City on October 15 for their home opener against the Calgary Flames. San Jose will open their season October 9 at home against Las Vegas, Anaheim, and Carolina before returning to Utah for their first road game on October 17.

Mammoth Stomps Kings in Delta Center Preseason Home Opener; Lawson Crouse scores goal and assist in beating L.A. 2-1

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Mammoth Stomps Kings in Delta Center Preseason Home Opener Lawson Crouse scored a goal and an assist to beat L.A. 2-1

Delta Center Arena scoreboard shows the Los Angeles Kings at Utah Mammoth before the first pre season home game on Thu Oct 2, 2025 (photo by author Tom Walker)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Mammoth made their first appearance of the preseason at Delta Center on Thursday night edging the Los Angeles Kings 2-1. Construction crews seemingly worked around the clock to clear away the debris from major offseason reconstruction of the lower bowl of the arena which improved sight lines and brought fans closer to the action. Utah entered the game looking for their first preseason win having lost all five previous contests.

Mammoth forward Kevin Stenlund gave Utah the first lead of the game at 15:12 of the first period with a tip in goal, assisted by Lawson Crouse and Kailer Yamamoto. Newly acquired goaltender Vítek Vaněček turned away all nine Kings shots in the frame.

Kings forward Alex Turcotte tied things up at 3:09 of the second period with a snap shot, assisted by Samuel Helenius. Lawson Crouse regained the Mammoth lead three minutes later with a snap shot of his own, assisted by John Marino and Mikhail Sergachev.

Vaněček went on to shut down the Kings the rest of the way, stopping 32 of 33 shots overall for the 2-1 victory.

For the sake of practice, the two teams participated in a seven-round shootout. Kevin Stenlund gave Utah the early lead, but Kings netminder Anton Forsberg turned away the remaining six Mammoth shooters. Kevin Fiala and Warren Foegele each scored for Los Angeles to give them the 2-1 edge in the exhibition.

Following the game, Lawson Crouse addressed the team’s overall performance. “Yeah, just urgency. I think being comfortable with the lead, five minutes left. I think just the maturity of the group. Obviously, they put some pressure on us, but we believed in each other and got the job done.” When asked if the victory helped bring confidence, Crouse added, “Yeah, it’s preseason, but at this point, everyone is just trying to round out their game and get into the best position they can for opening night. Now we got one more [preseason game] and whatever you have to do to get there, we’re going to do it.”

Vítek Vaněček was asked about his first game inside Delta Center. “I mean, it was great. The people are loud and I think it’ll be even better when we play the first game.” Commenting on his teammates blocking shots early in the game, the Czech goalie added, “I mean, the couple shots in the first period always help and then, you’re feeling better after that. The guys helped me and blocked the shots and then cleaned the pack, so that is a big help for me.”

Head Coach André Tourigny wrapped up the postgame comments with his thoughts. “Great job by Vanny. I think he was rock solid. Gave us the opportunity to win. I like the way we played on the PK. I like the way we’re matured at the end of the game. Obviously, there’s still some stuff to clean up, especially on our breakout. I felt our slot was a little bit too open, but for the rest, we’re happy.” Tourigny went on to talk about the impact of Kevin Stenlund. “He’s a guy who you can count on in a big moment. He was on the ice in game seven of the Stanley Cup when they were protecting a lead and were short a man. You play him against Kopitar all night long. He goes out there, and just produced, and he played really well defensively. He is a stabilizing force for us.”

The Mammoth will wrap up their preseason schedule on Saturday at home against the San Jose Sharks with a 7:00pm PT face off.

Utah Hockey Club’s Mammoth Summer

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Utah Hockey Club’s practice facility Wed Oct 1, 2025 (photo by Tom Walker)

By Tom Walker

Utah Hockey Club’s Mammoth Summer

SALT LAKE CITY–From a new name and logo to the fourth pick in the NHL Draft to roster moves to stadium renovation to a new practice facility, Utah has had an active offseason.

It has been nearly five months since the Utah Hockey Club celebrated its NHL Draft Lottery win which catapulted them to the fourth overall pick from the 14th slot. Two days later the team announced the results of fan voting for naming the franchise, with Mammoth the clear winner over the Outlaws or retaining the Utah Hockey Club moniker, the popular Yeti option having been eliminated due to a trademark conflict with the Yeti coolers company.

No sooner did the NHL and NBA regular seasons draw to a close, Smith Entertainment Group embarked upon a major Delta Center renovation to the lower bowl area of the arena in order to improve sight lines for hockey. More on that later.

Six Utah Mammoth players represented their nations in the 2025 IIHF World Championship tournament which took place in May, with captain Clayton Keller and forward Logan Cooley leading Team USA to its first gold medal in 92 years. Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan also represented the Americans while Barrett Hayton skated for Team Canada and Karel Vejmelka handled netminding duties for Czechia.

On June 25, Utah made a splash in the trade market, sending Kesselring and Doan to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for JJ Peterka. The 23-year-old German forward who had been a restricted free agent immediately signed a five year contract extension worth $7.7 million/year.

Peterka has already scored 30 goals twice in his NHL career and is expected to provide added punch to a young lineup which already features Keller, Cooley, and sniper Dylan Guenther.

On June 27, the Mammoth selected center Caleb Desnoyers of the QMJHL Moncton Wildcats with the fourth overall pick in the NHL draft. The Wildcats won the 2025 QMJHL championship with Desnoyers picking up the Guy Lafleur trophy as playoff MVP, having scored 30 points in the playoffs.

Anticipating which players might be selected in the top thre, Utah covertly brought Desnoyers to Salt Lake City as he was en route to Los Angeles for the draft, hosting a dinner for him at the home of General Manager Bill Armstrong together with the team’s scouting staff. In August, Desnoyers underwent an expected wrist surgery which should keep him out of action through December.

On September 10, the Mammoth unveiled its new world class practice facility in Sandy, Utah, located about 20 minutes drive south of Salt Lake City. Though construction is not 100% completed, the facility was sufficiently ready for rookie camp and will be the envy of the league.

In January it will open to the public and be used for community hockey and other ice sports. Brogan Houston of the Deseret News described it as “basically a private rec center.” Houston wrote, “It’s got two ice sheets, an 8,000-square-foot gym, a pool, hot tub, cold tub, sauna, steam room and a top-of-the-line recovery/therapy room.”

The assembled local sports media experienced conflicting emotions while covering the new rink and rookie camp as reports of the shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University just 24 miles away began to spread like wildfire.

On a personal note, I take the University Parkway onramp to northbound Interstate 15 when driving to the Mammoth practice facility and Delta Center, and that morning observed a very large police presence at UVU as I entered the freeway.

At the time I assumed it was just crowd control for the Turning Point USA event which was hosted at the university. Tragically it was something far worse as we came to learn while covering rookie camp. The next day local residents placed 92 American flags all along both sides of the University Parkway overpass in a touching display of community.

On Tuesday this week, local media were invited to a sneak preview of Mammoth and Jazz gear for the new NHL and NBA seasons, and to taste a sampling of the 38 new food items which will make their debut on Thursday as fans attend the first pre-season game at the renovated Delta Center versus the Los Angeles Kings.

The Mammoth pretzel with cheese sauce is amazing! The San Diablo Churro Banana Split is divine! Unfortunately the Thor’s Hammer hickory smoked beef shank was for display only but looked tantalizing. The media toured the ongoing construction inside the arena where the floor has been raised two feet and new modular seating has been constructed in the lower bowl which will be configured differently for hockey and basketball. Somehow or another we were assured that everything will be ready to drop the puck on Thursday night. Continuing modifications to Delta Center will take place next offseason.

Summer has come and gone. The Mammoth are ready to stampede into the 2025-2026 NHL season.

Utah Mammoth Offseason Transactions

April 29 – Jaxson Stauber (G) signed to a 2-year contract

May 28 – Dmitri Simashev (D) signed to a 3-year contract

May 28 – Daniil But (D) signed to a 3-year contract

May 29 – Nick DeSimone (D) signed to a 1-year contract

May 30 – Gabe Smith (C) signed to a 3-year contract

June 11 – Ben McCartney (LW) signed to a 2-year contract

June 25 – Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan traded to Buffalo Sabres for JJ Peterka (C)

June 25 – JJ Peterka (C) signed to a 5-year contract extension

June 30 – Matias Maccelli (LW) traded to Toronto Maple Leafs for a conditional 2027 3rd round pick.

June 30 – Montana Onyebuchi (D) signed to a 2-year contract July 1 – Kailer Yamamoto (RW) signed to a 1-year contract

July 1 – Scott Perunovich (D) signed to a 1-year contract

July 1 – Brandon Tanev (LW) signed to a 3-year contract

July 1 – Nate Schmidt (D) signed to a 3-year contract

July 1 – Vitek Vanecek (G) signed to a 1-year contract

July 7 – Jack McBain (C) signed to a 5-year contract

July 7 – Michael Carcone (C) signed to a 1-year contract

July 16 – Cameron Hebig (C) signed to a 2-year contract

September 25 – Kevin Connauton (D) placed on waivers

September 25 – Connor Ingram (G) placed on waivers

October 1 – Connor Ingram (G) traded to Edmonton Oilers for future considerations.

October 1 – Jaxson Stauber (G) placed on waivers

“Never Tell Me The Odds” – Utah Hockey Club Wins Revenge Of The Fifth

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Utah General Manager Bill Armstrong was all smiles following the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery which saw his team steal the 4th pick in the June 27 draft. (photo from the author Tom Walker)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–In Monday’s first round of the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery which was broadcast live on ESPN, the New York Islanders with their 3.5% chance of winning came out on top, leapfrogging from the 10th position over the San Jose Sharks (18.5%) and Chicago Blackhawks (13.5%) which had respectively won the previous two draft lotteries.

It remains unknown if Utah Hockey Club General Manager Bill Armstrong tapped into the power of the Dark Side of the Force to influence the second round of the lottery, but in the aftermath of “May the Fourth” which is informally recognized as Star Wars Day, Utah owned “Revenge of the Fifth” when the final ping pong ball enabled the team which had just 1.5% chance of improving its position to move up the maximum possible distance to 4th from 14.

Last week Utah accidentally leaked that it might soon adopt the “Mammoth” nickname next season, but following their heist in the draft lottery, perhaps the “Outlaws” deserve renewed consideration.

Moments following the selection process, Utah General Manager Bill Armstrong held a Zoom call with local media to discuss the outcome.

Armstrong was exuberant in his opening remarks.  “To pick at four … A couple of seconds ago we were just like ten back, so it still hasn’t sunk in – but what a great opportunity for us to be able to move up that far in the draft, and now we’re right up at the top of the draft.  This is an exciting moment for us.  It’s a game changer for us.  I can’t wait to huddle with the scouts tomorrow and go over it.  Obviously we’ve been studying the players that were available to us, where we thought they’d fall.  Now we’re going to leap up a little bit and it’s going to be exciting times.  Just great stuff for the franchise.  I can’t express in words on the excitement of when that happened, and the opportunity in front of us.”

How does the new draft position change things?  “Your mind just totally switches to who’s available that you can get at four.  …  It’s gonna be a great challenge for us to kind of go back and look at some of the players that are available at that spot and go to work.”

Armstrong talked about the typical mindset going into the draft of teams which fall out of contention with weeks to go in the season  Utah remained mathematically viable until the final days of the regular season, and did not expect to be in this position looking forward to the draft.  Armstrong said, “We were a pretty good team that chased it down the stretch playing meaningful games and chasing a playoff spot, and we’re getting to that point where we’re becoming a really good team that’s gonna have a chance to get into the playoffs, and so not only knowing that we have that in front of us with a really good team and some really good prospects coming, but the fact that we’re picking at four again and going into free agency, these are exciting times for Utah.”

For situations like this, Armstrong emphasized the importance of everyone on the staff.  “This is why you pay your amateur staff, because now you’re switching spots and you’re having to draft higher, and they’ve been looking, coming down the stretch, they’ve been kind of seeing where we’re going to place and chasing those type of players.  Now it’s in motion, we’re going to switch and go into a new world of looking at the top end of the draft and seeing what’s going to slide our way at four.  The good news for us is that we’ve done it before.  We’ve picked in that range in the last few years, so that’s gonna help us prepare for it.  And I think the simple fact that our staff’s pretty good at always keeping an eye on what’s up there, and has done some great work during the year, and now we’re gonna go dissect it and get down to business tomorrow.”

Speaking of previous drafts, Armstrong said, “Normally you sit in these things and sometimes nobody moves and you go home unhappy or you got bumped down a spot and you go home unhappy, but we’ll never forget this moment. This is truly a great moment in the franchise.”

When asked about the depth of this year’s draft, Armstrong responded, “It’s a good draft. I think when you’re picking up top you get a chance to get a real game changer, a top-two line guy that can be a difference maker on your team.  You still have to pick well.  If you go back to the 2012 draft, take a look at the top four that went off the board, and they all never worked out for them in the NHL, so you still gotta be a savvy staff that gets down to business and ignores all the critics, all the hype, and who’s supposed to go, and this and that, and really get down to it.  I think our staff’s done an amazing job over the years of just kind of ignoring all the noise and getting down to hockey players.  And you probably saw that the year that Cooley was picked.  There was a lot of hype about a lot of different players and we just stuck to our guns and drafted what we thought was the best player in the draft.”

For those who were wondering, the top four in 2012 were Nail Yakupov (Edmonton), Ryan Murray (Columbus), Alex Galchenyuk (Montreal), and Griffin Reinhart (NY Islanders).  Yakupov would play 350 games with 3 teams over 6 seasons in the NHL (62 G, 74 A,-136 Pts) before moving on to the KHL for the rest of his career.  Murray played 10 years in the NHL, registering 445 games with 4 teams (15 G, 116 A, 131 Pts).  Galchenyuk played 11 seasons in the NHL with 654 games (146 G, 208 A, 354 Pts).  Lastly, Reinhart would play just 37 games in parts of four seasons in the NHL (0 G, 2 A, 2 Pts).

When asked his draft strategy, whether Utah is looking for a particular type of player to fill a specific need, or if they will pick the best available player, Armstrong replied, “We really look at the best player available.  We’ve always done that as a staff.  Like I said, we kind of ignore all the hype and the noise around it, and all the bloggers and all the great things that they write about players – ‘and don’t draft this guy’ –  and our staff’s really good about just digging into hockey players. … It really comes down for the best player for us.  We always keep track of how many D-men we’ve drafted every year, and obviously as you get down into the later rounds, but when we’re picking up top we’re going to take the best player.”

When asked if he expects his phone to be ringing with teams making offers for the pick, and whether he would entertain such offers, Armstrong responded, “I think that’s something that obviously we’ll always talk about.  We’ll never shut that door.  That’s always been an avenue for us to get players, and we’re at the position right now as a team where we’re trying to make that next step, so we’ll always look at that.  That’s part of the process.  The amateur guys will be looking at the guy to pick – they don’t want to hear anything about trades!  But yes, the phone will be ringing.”

The final media question had to do with how the team might involve the community on draft day.  “Because we’ll be picking so high, it’ll cause a little bit excitement in the community and into our fan base,” Armstrong said.  “I think they’ll be really excited.  They’ll get into it.  They just have to remember that it’s not like basketball – the guy doesn’t play right away.  So I think that’s the big difference we’ve tried to explain to people.  It’s like, ‘They go back to Junior and sometimes they’re three and even more years away from playing, so it takes a little bit longer,’ but I think last year when we drafted a lot of the people thought, ‘hey, they’re coming in right away to play,’ and I’m like, ‘no, it takes some time.’  But truly an incredible day for us here and we’re gonna to have the opportunity to pick a real good player high in the draft and take a big swing here.  It’s gonna be exciting.”

Now the big question is whether the June 27 draft pick will be wearing a sweater featuring a Mammoth, an Outlaw, or something else.

Tom Walker is a Utah Hockey Club beat writer at http://www.sportsradioservice.com