Utah NHL team selects official name but Coloradans have heard it before

The newly moved team started in its new home, Salt Lake City, as the Utah Hockey Club during the 2024-25 season. However, as the NHL season approaches its end, the team is due for one more change — …

DENVER (KDVR) — An NHL team now located in Utah has gone through some massive changes over the years, initially starting out as the Phoenix Coyotes, then the Arizona Coyotes before packing up and relocating to Utah altogether.

This Colorado water park was named the second best in the US

The newly moved team started in its new home, Salt Lake City, as the Utah Hockey Club during the 2024-25 season. However, as the end of the NHL season approaches, the team is due for one more change — the official name selection for the team, which will now be known as the Utah Mammoth.

Nexstar affiliate station ABC4 in Salt Lake City posted the update on Wednesday morning.

The Smith Entertainment Group used four rounds of voting in an over-year-long process that saw upwards of 850,000 fans vote to select the permanent name of their new hockey team.

“We couldn’t be more excited to launch the official name and marks for Utah’s NHL hockey team,” said Ryan and Ashley Smith in a joint statement. “When it came to naming the team, we did something unprecedented – going through four rounds of community voting, including getting feedback not only on potential names but also potential logos. We love the passion of the people of Utah and the way they showed up for the team during its inaugural season and the energy they brought to voting on its permanent identity.”

While the news may be breaking in Utah, Coloradans might have heard the name somewhere else in their own state.

Lacrosse is a fast-growing sport and may not have as much popularity as football, baseball or basketball yet, but it has been a staple for professional sports in Colorado since 2003, the year the Colorado Mammoth were officially introduced as the newest franchise in downtown Denver.

April Schofield, a senior lecturer of marketing at Metropolitan State University Denver, as well as an avid Denver sports fan, told FOX31’s Greg Nieto that the pair of names “presents a fascinating case of identity and differentiation.”

She says the same name and logo can create some brand confusion with social media, merchandising and digital spaces.

“For sports branding, fan identity is everything,” Schofield told Nieto. “Sports teams are selling a lot more than tickets and merchandise … they’re selling pride and emotional connection.”

After hearing of the Utah NHL team’s name change, the Colorado Mammoth threw a playful jab at the Utah Mammoth in a post on X.

The Utah Mammoth posted on X, “A new Ice Age Dawns. Introducing Utah Mammoth.” The statement was accompanied by a video and the hashtag #TusksUp.

The Colorado Mammoth quoted the post and in its own post said, “Mammoth since 2003.” The post included the hashtag #TuskUp, a singular tusk as opposed to Utah’s plural, a hashtag that has been used in the team’s social posts for a long period of time.

The Colorado Mammoth won the National Lacrosse League championship twice during the team’s time in Denver, during the 2006 and 2022 seasons.

While it’s not an ideal situation for a team’s identity, shared names have popped up in professional sports many times. Some of those teams include:

Rangers — NHL: New York, MLB: Texas
Giants — MLB: San Francisco, NFL: New York
Panthers — NFL: Carolina, NHL: Florida
Kings — NBA: Sacamento, NHL: Los Angeles
Jets — NHL: Winnipeg, NFL: New York
Cardinals — MLB: St. Louis, NFL: Arizona

Fan sues NFL for $100M after Shedeur Sanders’ late draft pick

NHL teams across the league, including the Colorado Avalanche, responded to the Utah Mammoth’s post on X with fun memes and GIFs involving mammoths.

The Avalanche responded with “Cold environments,” followed by a handshake emoji.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.

Source: Utah News