Utah Keeps Letting the Yeti Out of the Bag

The NHL season will arrive quite literally this weekend, and for Utah sport fans, it'll be the first season in which they have a representative take the ice.

To think that the whirlwind that was Ryan Smith buying the Arizona Coyotes in April has turned into the first ever official Utah Hockey Club Media Day today is an exciting thought.

With athletes in town and the team intact, training camp starts tomorrow soon to be followed by the teams first ever on ice appearance in Des Moines, Iowa for a neutral preseason clash with the St. Louis Blues.

Real life players on a real life team representing the real state of Utah against real NHL competition?

The idea can be hard to accept as reality until one see’s the team on the TV or attends the Delta Center to take in a game.

It may not feel real, but it is.

Except one tiny detail.

Utah still doesn’t have a “real” moniker.

Utah Hockey Club, the team's placeholder name is real in name alone, but is a one year deal as far as we know.

It isn't a matter of it Utah gets a new name but rather when they get a new name.

Expected in time for the 2025-2026 season the new name and mascot will be announced, but until then Utah gets this temporary fill in name for their inaugural season.

In the long run, the “Hockey Club” could hang around as it was selected as one of 6 final monikers for the newest NHL franchise.

But it still seems to lack the steam in which The other 5 names possess.

Those 5 names appear more likely and consist of:

UTAH YETI

UTAH MAMMOTH

UTAH BLIZZARD

UTAH OUTLAWS

UTAH VENOM

The ultimate call is up to the organization themselves to coin Utah’s name by next season.

However, If one spent all their time on Twitter or discussing potential names with co-workers three names would ring most prevalent.

Yeti, Mammoth and Outlaws.

Unofficially those have always been the heavy hitters.

But that’s all guesswork, spoken by the fans, driven by the fans.

Or is it?

With more media access to players and personnel with the upcoming season, multiple signs point toward the organization being well aware of what the fans want in a team name.

You can forget a big three, because people with and on the team think it’s down to just one.

Here’s Chris Armstrong, president of the Utah Hockey Club telling media that it’s “been very clear to us, what our fans would like us to be called.”

That was one of the first questions directed at Armstrong and although no clear answer was given, it seems pretty apparent a winning name has been selected.

Phrasing such as “a firm understanding of the sentiment” lead one to believe the UHC is already laying the ground work for a particular name most likely on the trademark front.

Now what name is that?

Here’s the GM of the “Hockey Club” Bill Armstrong discussing the 6^th overall pick and the teams first ever draft selection in Tij Iginla back in late June while name dropping “Yeti” in the process.

Armstong alluded to the voting system the Smith Entertainment Group had been utilizing to select the top voted names, seeming to acknowledge that the votes for “Yeti” have been predominate.

Utah’s highly anticipated scorer, Clayton Keller, was asked about this very topic a little less than a week ago and his answer only adds fuel to the Yeti fire.

“It sounds like it’s going to be the Yeti.” It looks like it’s going to be the Yeti, it feels like it’s going to be the Yeti.

Nothing is official, but Utah is either really atrocious at keeping secrets or really skilled at misleading the fanbase.

We can only hope to be Yeti in time for the official announcement whenever that may be.