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The last time Sam met with his therapist, Scott Owen, the session was nothing more than an hour of Owen sexually abusing him, he told a Provo, Utah, courtroom this week. Sam remembers sitting in his car afterward, screaming as loud as he could.

“I could feel him all over my skin,” he said. “I could not believe this was happening.”

It was October 2017, and Sam had been seeing Owen for therapy for more than a year. A faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he was struggling with what he called “unwanted same-sex attraction.” Owen was a high-ranking leader in the LDS Church at that time, and Sam said Owen assured him that he had helped more than 200 men who felt similarly.

Instead, he said, Owen “meticulously leveraged” his two roles as a therapist and a church leader to assure him that the sexual touching during their sessions was key to helping him heal, learn how to accept intimacy and grow closer to God.

“He exploited my trust, he weaponized my faith and dismantled my confidence,” Sam told the courtroom. “What he did was not just unethical. It was calculated, predatory and destructive.”

Police began investigating Owen in 2023 only after The Salt Lake Tribune and ProPublica reported on a range of sex abuse allegations against Owen, who had built a reputation over his 20-year therapy career as a specialist who could help gay men who were members of the LDS Church. Some of the men who spoke to The Tribune said their bishop in the faith referred them to Owen and used church funds to pay for sessions where Owen allegedly also touched them inappropriately.

In February, Owen pleaded guilty to three charges, admitting he sexually abused Sam and a second patient who also said he sought Owen’s help because he was struggling with his sexuality and Latter-day Saints faith. Owen also pleaded no contest in another case, saying prosecutors likely had enough evidence to convict him at a trial on an allegation that he had groped a young girl during a therapy session.

But the number of people who say that Owen harmed them is much larger — and they filled a Provo courtroom on Monday as Owen was sentenced to spend at least 15 years in prison.

One by one, they stood at a podium in court and told Owen how he had hurt them. Most were his patients, like Sam, a pseudonym to protect his identity from his community.

One man told the court Owen had abused him when Owen was a leader of a young men’s group organized by the LDS Church.

“He had sleepovers at his house,” Mike Bahr said. “I was there once, and I have lived in a nightmare since.”

Also speaking were family members of a man who had died by suicide, including his brother who said his sibling disclosed to him that Owen had abused him just days before he took his life.

And there was one of Owen’s own family members, his cousin, who alleges that Owen molested him on a family trip when he was a kid. After becoming more public with his own abuse allegations several years ago, James Cooper has worked to gather others who say his cousin victimized them.

He spoke about the dynamics that allowed Owen to hurt others for so long without repercussions.

“Certainly, we know how charismatic he is, and what it’s like to be a victim of sexual assault. The shame you carry. The guilt you carry,” he said. “The fear of Scott. The fear of not being accepted by your family, your society, your church. All those things are enormous factors.”

One woman spoke about Owen touching her inappropriately during therapy when she was 13 years old, in 2007. During the hearing, the only woman to have publicly accused him said Owen had made her feel like something was wrong with her. Now, she added, “He no longer holds power over me.”

When Owen, 66, was given a chance to speak, he said there was no excuse or rationale for what he had done.

“I am so sorry,” he said. “All I have to offer is what’s left of my life. And I hope that in offering those years, justice will have been met in some small fashion, and those who I have hurt can disconnect from me and move forward with their healing.”

Defense attorney Earl Xaiz said Owen did not want leniency from the judge but mentioned in court that his client had been sexually abused himself as a child and had struggled with his sexuality.

Fourth District Judge Kraig Powell sentenced Owen on Monday to 15 years to life in prison. Given Owen’s age and the nature of his crimes, both prosecutors and the defense agreed it is likely he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Powell became emotional as he handed down the sentence, telling Owen that he harmed not only those who spoke publicly on Monday, but all of those therapists and church leaders who are ethical and working to help people.

“Thousands and thousands of these people, I fear, will be affected by this terrible, abhorrent case,” the judge said.

While Owen gave up his therapy license in 2018 after several patients complained to state licensors that he had touched them inappropriately, the allegations were never investigated by the police and were not widely known.

Under a negotiated settlement with Utah’s licensing division, Owen was able to surrender his license without admitting to any inappropriate conduct, and the sexual nature of his patients’ allegations is not referenced in the documents he signed when he gave up his license. He continued to have an active role in his therapy business, Canyon Counseling, until The Tribune and ProPublica published their investigation.

Police interviewed more than a dozen former patients of Owen’s, all of whom reported that he touched them in ways they felt were inappropriate during therapy sessions. But Owen faced charges in connection with only three patients, because the type of touching that the other men alleged fell under parts of the criminal code that had a shorter window of time for prosecutors to file a case, called the statute of limitations. The crimes that Owen was charged with are all felonies that have no statute of limitations.

Both state licensors and local leaders in the LDS Church knew of inappropriate touching allegations against Owen as early as 2016, reporting by The Tribune and ProPublica showed, but neither would say whether they ever reported Owen to the police.

The church said in response to that reporting that it takes all matters of sexual misconduct seriously, and that in 2019 it confidentially annotated internal records to alert bishops that Owen’s conduct had threatened the well-being of other people or the church.

The church also said it has no process in place to vet the therapists its church leaders recommend and pay for using member donations. It is up to individual members, a church spokesperson has said, to “make their own decisions” about whether to see a specific therapist that their bishop recommends.

For some who accused Owen of abuse, Monday’s sentencing was the only chance they had to address Owen because charges could not be brought in their cases. That includes Michael, who asked to be identified by only his first name. He said he saw Owen for therapy on and off for about a decade, starting when he was 14. He read a letter to his younger self in court on Monday.

“I just learned on Thursday that we are beyond our legal opportunity to fix this problem,” he said. “And it broke my heart to learn that I can’t pursue a court case for you. … You’ll have to be strong. It’s going to be so hard, but you’re going to make it through.”

Options — and obvious non-contenders — for Utah Hockey Club’s final name keep getting extended through the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

But why?

It seems that the Club’s owners do not want the public to discover their team’s new branding through the trademark applications on the open database.

While the three finalists for the hockey team’s future name are known — Smith Entertainment Group conducted fan voting on the names Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth and Utah Outlaws at four Delta Center games in late January and early February — extensions on nearly a dozen trademark applications have been filed in recent weeks.

The Utah Hockey Club logos used during the inaugural season were extended on Wednesday. So were applications for Utah Outlaws and Utah Yetis, even though SEG has said it has moved on from the latter as a possible name.

Utah Mammoth, Ice, Mountaineers, Swarm, Squall, Blast, Glaciers, Hockey Club and Caribou were all extended at the beginning of February. Utah Fury, Venom and Blizzard are the only remaining names under “Uyte LLC” that have not been extended. Fury and Venom’s non-final office action came on Jan. 9 and Blizzard’s came on Jan. 16 — the organization has 90 days from that date to extend, so the window is still open.

By paying to keep all of the trademark applications active, fans and media alike cannot tell which brand the team is actually choosing.

What is a non-final office action? Why is it important?

A non-final office action is a communication from a patent or trademark examiner that raises a legal problem about one’s application for the first time. The application owner is required to respond to the letter within three months (90 days) from the date it was received. In that situation, an optional three-month extension can be granted for a fee. That is what SEG has continued to do.

If the application owner’s response satisfies the initial inquiry from the USPTO, it proceeds toward registration. Even if the team is not going to use say Swarm or Glaciers for its name, SEG can pay to extend them to mask the chosen brand.

There seems to be another layer, though. All of the potential names thus far have been filed under the “Uyte, LLC” owner. However, the three logos that appeared on the fan survey – and were subsequently leaked to the public — are filed under “SEG Hockey, LLC.”

The new Utah Mammoth, Utah Hockey Club and Utah Outlaws logo applications were entered on Feb. 3 and have not received a non-final office action yet. It does suggest, however, that those remain the top three choices as they are the only names SEG has registered trademarked logos for, other than the inaugural ones used this season. While all the names under “Uyte, LLC” may keep getting extended until the official announcement, the logos under “SEG Hockey, LLC” would be the thing to keep an eye on.

The organization likely already knows the name and can finalize the trademarks after they announce it to the public — the timeline remains sometime in the summer before the 2025-26 season.

The Kings thrived against the best team in the NHL again and on Thursday they’ll have another opportunity to complete a season-series sweep when they travel to Salt Lake City for the third and final meeting with Utah HC.

After winning for a third time Tuesday against the league-leading Winnipeg Jets and outscoring them 10-3 in the process, they’ll face the NHL’s newest franchise – sort of, following an absurdly complicated relocation from Arizona – with a chance to add to prior victories on Oct. 26 and Feb. 22.

The Kings have accumulated more points in the standings than any other NHL team since March 8, the day after the trade deadline. Only scorching St. Louis and the perennially tenacious Carolina Hurricanes posted better points percentages in that span than the Kings. The Kings have also placed second in goals allowed per game (behind St. Louis), eighth in goals for, sixth in penalty-kill percentage and 11th in power-play conversion rate since the deadline.

Their lone acquisition at the deadline or at any point since the season started, Andrei Kuzmenko, has revitalized the top line with Anže Kopitar and Adrian Kempe. Most recently, his impact has gone beyond spacing or slotting players into the right spots in the lineup. Kuzmenko has five points in his past two games, and his pair against Winnipeg were masterful in terms of effort and deception.

He gave the appearance of a shooter only to deliver a lateral pass for Kopitar’s goal and then put up a playmaker’s facade before taking full advantage of the slightest bite from perhaps the best goalie on the planet today, Connor Hellebuyck. Kuzmenko erupted like he’d broken a late tie in a World Cup game.

“I like it, but I need more goals, more celebrations,” said Kuzmenko, whose English is a work in progress, but whose ebullience is well-established.

Kuzmenko’s effusive celebration was yet another testament to just how free he feels in what had been considered a restrictive and offensively limiting system all the way up until his arrival. Then, the Kings were in the midst of a season-worst losing streak that saw them score just eight goals in five games. They scored eight goals against San Jose and its shaky goaltending on Sunday alone.

Kuzmenko has always been an offensive-zone asset and one that could carve out space down low. He’s also recaptured some of the magic he showed off the rush with star linemates in Vancouver and Calgary. Yet both plays Tuesday came off takeaways by the 29-year-old Russian who’s competing in his third season in the NHL, having played for five different coaches already.

Not only has Kuzmenko fit in seamlessly in the Kings’ dressing room, he seems to have grasped the hierarchy quickly, avoiding disappointing the captain Kopitar.

“I can’t let him [down], I am respect too much, this guy, Kopitar, for several years. If I am a little bit lazy, not good back check, how I can see, [his] face is not good,” Kuzmenko said in his charming, piecemeal English.

In Utah, the Kings will see not only leading scorer Clayton Keller (80 points in 74 games), but an old chum in defenseman Sean Durzi.

The former King had an assist in his return to action following a lengthy absence (shoulder surgery) against his old club on Feb. 22. He also recorded the primary assist on the game-winning goal against Calgary on Tuesday in a matchup critical to the Western Conference wild-card race. Utah remained a longshot to qualify, but by prevailing 3-1, they put a significant dent in the Flames’ playoff aspirations.

KINGS AT UTAH

When: Thursday, 6 p.m. PT

Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City

TV: FDSN West

Two months.

That’s how long Utah’s public colleges and universities officially have to submit the first draft of their plans for slashing millions from their budgets.

“The timeline is frantic,” said Salt Lake Community College President Greg Peterson.

While the reductions have been talked about for months, the final details and approval of HB265 from the Utah Legislature didn’t come until the final days of the session in early March. Gov. Spencer Cox then signed the measure into law last week.

School leaders say they will have to rush to carry out the major action — and will have to circumvent some of the normal processes for feedback and approval to meet the quick deadline.

“Moving that much money that quickly can be difficult,” acknowledged Nate Talley, the deputy commissioner over higher education, last week.

The measure calls for the base budget of all eight public colleges in the state to be cut by $60.5 million. Only once that happens does it then allow schools to earn back their share back, by reallocating the funding to high-demand, high-wage programs — and away from “inefficient” majors — to be more job-focused.

The Utah Board of Higher Education moved quickly Thursday to approve the formal guidelines and a template for schools to use in making the budget cuts decisions. The guidance includes the different metrics each college and university can consider when trimming their costs, including graduation rates, program costs, trends and state demands for jobs like nursing, engineering and business.

The overarching Utah System of Higher Education has also provided several new dashboards — with one done in conjunction with the Utah Department of Workforce Services that tracks job outcomes — so institutions can make data-informed decisions. Another dataset compares the cost of instruction to the total amount of students in a program.

But the expedited timeline is causing heartburn from some university presidents.

Presidents must present their initial plans for reductions to the Utah Board of Higher Education in May, with a formal presentation on June 6. Those have to get the board’s final approval by June 30 and must account for at least 30% of the reductions for the first fiscal year.

The plans will then be presented to the Legislature’s Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee in August and the Executive Appropriations Committee in September for further scrutiny and final approval.

Salt Lake Community College will see a $5.2 million reduction. Peterson said he appreciates the new data resources, but even with them, he said, the short amount of time means the decisions will not be “as robust” as he would like.

“We’re doing the best we can with the information we have right now,” Peterson added.

Amanda Covington, the chair of the board, though, said there are “high expectations that we get it as right as we can in a short amount of time.”

Peterson encouraged the board members to give feedback over the next two months while the plans are being drafted and not to wait until the last minute, when it will be harder to make changes.

Brad Mortensen, the president of Weber State University, said his staff also worked to create their own dashboard. But he agreed with Peterson on the too-fast turnaround.

“To follow it, we’re going to have to change some of the procedures we normally follow on reducing programs or making organizational changes,” he said.

That means processes to consult students, faculty and the board of trustees will likely be condensed. Already, the Ogden school has decided to not fill a dean position over the College of Education and merge those programs with other departments to save money.

Mortensen said he is prioritizing making administrative changes “to preserve faculty positions.”

“But even with that, we know there are still going to be programmatic adjustments,” he said.

Weber’s share of the cut is $6.7 million. Mortensen said the decisions are difficult and will be worse if schools can’t show how they have justified the changes. Many professors have feared that the liberal arts will be the first on the chopping block under the market-focused metrics.

Colleges have wide flexibility to make the budget cuts wherever works best for them, though state leaders have encouraged reducing what they see as “administrative bloat” in higher education. The only real limits are that schools can’t cut from their required general education programs that all students go through, and they can’t make up the money by raising tuition, Talley said.

The University of Utah and Utah State University have both instructed faculty and staff to look at their departments and propose what could be trimmed from the budget. USU is also looking at voluntary resignations to get to its total of $12.6 million.

In a letter sent to staff Monday, interim USU President Alan L. Smith said the school will look to reduce the budget as much as possible through administrative restructuring before turning to discontinuing programs.

“Having said this, there will be no way to avoid job cuts — personnel are the primary cost of an institution like ours,” he added.

He also said, like Mortensen, the pace of the decisions will require superseding standing policies for normal approval; policies, as well, for tenure might “not be applied” under the circumstances. “This is necessary to meet the timeline and expectations of the legislation,” he added. “… Attending to everything before proceeding would be ideal, but this is a luxury we do not have.”

Snow College President Stacee McIff said the reductions are particularly difficult at her rural, two-year school where students earn associate degrees. There aren’t really “inefficient” programs to cut, she said. Snow College has the smallest budget decrease, with $1.7 million.

The Calgary Flames lost 3-1 to the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday night, being swept in their regular season series 3-0 with relative ease.

Here are my three takeaways from the game:

1)      Outclassed by Utah throughout the game AND season

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According to MoneyPuck, Calgary’s offense registered 2.02 expected goals, whereas Utah had 4.65 expected goals.

Let’s not have it confused, this team is talented and has a bunch of jewels in it. But the difference is evident when comparing the expected goals/actual goals between both Western Conference teams from all three games of the season.

Utah made Calgary’s offensive firepower look very diminutive.  The Flames’ best expected goals value (2.02) is nowhere NEAR Utah’s worst (3.64). That shows the Flames, simply put, have poor quality of shots.

Some changes will definitely be needed if the Flames hope to keep their playoff dreams alive.

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2)      Still no luck on the power play

Continuing off point one, the Flames offense had two opportunities on the man-advantage. On the other hand, the Utah Hockey Club went on the PP once. Both teams could not come away with a goal, which is not uncommon.

Here’s the kicker:

Calgary registered an expected goal value of 0.11 in their two power plays, LESS than the 0.21 Utah registered in their lone power play.

It’s one thing to not have quality shots at even strength, but when they don’t come by at man-advantage, what does that say about that team’s offense?

3)      Dustin Wolf as great as always

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It’s easy to see why Wolf is a bright spot on this roster. With shots raining down on him and a Goals Saved Above Expected value of 1.11, he held the fort as much as he can. He had a save percentage of 92.60 and conceded two goals, which is better than his season average of 90.9 and GAA of 2.66 respectively. He’s going places for sure.

The Calgary Flames will come back home to take on the Anaheim Ducks at 7:30 MDT/9:30 EDT on Thursday.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Kevin Stenlund and Barrett Hayton scored for the Utah Hockey Club in a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.

Clayton Keller had an empty-netter and Karel Vejmelka stopped 32 shots to help Utah get its second straight win.

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Rasmus Andersson scored for Calgary and Dustin Wolf finished with 25 saves. The Flames lost for the third time in four games (1-2-1).

Stenlund gave Utah a 1-0 lead with 2:14 left in the first period with a one-timer from the inside edge of the right circle off a pass from Alexander Kerfoot for his 12th of the season.

Hayton doubled the lead at 2:25 of the second on a give-and-go with Sean Durzi, finishing up with a backhander in close from the left side for his 18th.

Andersson got the Flames on the scoreboard with 7 minutes left in the middle period with his 11th.

Keller sealed it with an empty-net goal with 17.3 seconds remaining.

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Takeaways

Flames: Calgary dropped to 5-2-1 in its last eight games and fell to six points out of the second wild card in Western Conference.

Utah: Utah improved to 2-2-1 in its last five games and 6-4-3 in the last 13 to move to eight points out of a playoff spot with seven games remaining.

Key moment

In the final seconds of a Calgary power play in the third period, Vejmelka turned aside Joel Farabee at the side of the net to keep Utah ahead with seven minutes left.

Key stat

Andersson’s goal was his 11th of the season, matching his career high from 2022-23, and his 229th career point to pass Dion Phaneuf for eighth on Calgary’s franchise’s scoring list among defensemen.

Up next

Flames host Anaheim on Thursday, and Utah hosts Los Angeles.

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL