Puck drop: Fans celebrate first-ever Utah Hockey Club game in Salt Lake City

The Utah Hockey Club’s inaugural season started with a Sha-bang.
Unseasonably warm October weather might have brought a touch of Arizona to the Beehive State, but inside the Delta Center it was all Utah. It even snowed, at least electronically.
Just 173 days after Ryan and Ashley Smith bought and moved the Arizona Coyotes to Utah, the team squared off against the Chicago Blackhawks, one of the NHL “Original Six,” in its first-ever regular season game Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
NHL-starved Utah hockey fans reveled in the sport unexpectedly making its way to the state — inside and outside the arena. The opening day party started on the plaza in the late afternoon and continued late into the night thanks to an 8 p.m MDT start on ESPN.
A sell-out crowd of 16,020, including 4,889 with an obstructed view, came to witness history. And they weren’t disappointed — off or on the ice.
“It was awesome. I mean, I wasn’t really sure what to expect coming into this. I’ve really only ever been to some (Utah) Grizzlies games. This was everything I could have hoped for and more. It was so cool. I got goose bumps when they did the opening video and watching everybody come out. I feel like it’s just a huge step for the state of Utah,” Marcus Zaccaria said after the game alongside his girlfriend Cameo Fautin.
A video shown just before the game started depicted the game puck being delivered from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s office in New York to Utah, including a ride on Delta Air Lines through Delicate Arch down an Olympic ski jump on the sticks of youth hockey players in the hands of golfer Tony Finau and Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler before Utah Hockey Club captain Clayton Keller carried it into the arena through a tunnel of fans.
Seven-foot Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen — on skates — finished the journey, handing the puck to Ryan and Ashley Smith at center ice.
“Let’s make this the loudest place to play in the NHL. Let’s go,” Ryan Smith said before the ceremonial face-off between Chicago captain Nick Foligno and Keller.
The crowd didn’t need encouragement.
Seconds into the game the rhythmic “Let’s go, Utah” chant rattled the arena. And it only took 4 minutes and 56 seconds for the roof to come off.
The crowd erupted in a rally towel-waving frenzy when right wing Dylan Guenther buried a one-timer into the back of the net for the Utah Hockey Club’s first-ever goal.
The place blew up again about 10 minutes later when Keller put one past Chicago goaltender Petr Mrazek after a Blackhawks’ turnover at the blue line.
Instant fan favorite Liam O’Brien, who endeared himself to Utah when the team arrived for welcome celebration back in April, got the crowd going after Mrazek gloved his slap shot and he mixed up with Blackhawk players behind the net in the second period. Chants of his nickname, “Spicy Tuna,” were just getting started when Barrett Hayton scored Utah’s third goal of the night.
Chicago goals in the second and third periods to pull within one made for some tense final minutes.
Guenther iced the game with an empty net goal in the third period, once again bringing the raucous towel-waving crowd to its feet. And a few seconds later, Lawson Crouse slipped another one past the goaltender, making the final score 5-2. Cue the after-party.
“If you’re not excited to root for this team, I don’t know that sports is for you,” Ryan Smith told a crowd outside the arena before the game.
Hockey fans are nothing if not passionate. They cheered wildly with each rush of the net or big hit — and every chugged beer pictured on the big screen, especially the guy who guzzled from a beat-up sneaker.
They lined up to get into the Utah Hockey Club team store and streamed out with bags of merch: $149 for a heavyweight hoodie, $58 for a T-shirt, $40 for a cap.
Thousands of Utahns, many in newly purchased Utah Hockey Club black-and-blue gear but others wearing jerseys from various NHL teams including the Coyotes and Blackhawks, jammed the plaza outside the Delta Center hours before the puck dropped for a pre-game party. They lined a blue carpet to welcome and cheer the players as they exited black SUVs and made their way to the arena. O’Brien stopped to sign autographs as the crowd serenaded him with “Spicy Tuna.”
Rising country music star Shaboozey wearing a Utah jersey put on an arm-raising, jump-up-and-down concert.
“Y’all going to beat Chicago?” he shouted between songs.
ESPN set up shop with a Game Day-style set for national coverage of the NHL’s opening night tripleheader. Steve Levy, along with analysts Mark Messier and P.K. Stubban, hosted live pregame, intermission and post-game analysis from Salt Lake City for all three games, including Utah’s game against the Blackhawks.
Michael Johnson and Joanna Sorensen were among the crowd decked in light blue Utah T-shirts and a sign welcoming the NHL to Salt Lake City. The Bountiful couple will be spending a lot of nights in the Delta Center over the next six months or so: They have season tickets to the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club. She’s the Jazz fan, he’s the hockey fan.
“Watching the players walk down the blue carpet, all of them had big smiles on their faces. They tried to have their game face on but their smiles were shining through. I’m just happy that they’re happy to be here,” Johnson said. “I never thought in my entire lifetime that there would be an NHL hockey team in Utah.”
Arizona native Will Owens’ parents put him in a Coyotes’ onesie on the day he was born in 2000. He has a photo on his cell phone to prove it. He wore an Arizona jersey to the game.
As a diehard fan from birth, he never thought the Coyotes would leave in his lifetime.
“I was devastated because I’d grown up in Arizona. I had been to every single playoff game. My parents had season tickets. I grew up playing Junior Coyotes,” he said, adding he played on a youth league team with Utah forward Josh Doan. His allegiance is now with the Utah Hockey Club and believes it can win a Stanley cup.
Ironically, Owens moved to Utah in June, just a couple of months after the Coyotes relocated. “I hope they know what they have in front of them,” he said of Utah fans as he headed to an upper bowl seat he paid more than $200 for. “I hope that they can respect the players, respect the league and I hope that they support them entirely.”
Before the team arrived, there were questions about whether Salt Lake City is or could be a hockey town.
“I think people overstate how much of a novice community this is. There’s been professional hockey, not at the NHL level, in Salt Lake City going back 50 years,” Bettman told reporters before the game. “Secondly, this is a place that’s known for winter sports and that includes us. I believe there’s a natural base of hockey fans and believe there’s a lot of sports fans once they get a chance to sample a game at the NHL level are going to fall in love with it.”
Seems like they already have.
Jake Bingham and his hockey-playing 17-year-old son, Gus, didn’t mind sitting in an obstructed view section high above one end of the rink where the goal isn’t visible.
“It’s a great party. It’s great to be here,” Jake Bingham said. “We’re gonna take care of these guys. They’re gonna be here for a long time.”