Mammoth 1st home playoff game ‘going to be awesome’

SALT LAKE CITY -- When the Vegas Golden Knights joined the NHL as an expansion team in 2017-18, owner Bill Foley envisioned them as “the team of the Rockies.” They held a bus tour to market themselves in faraway places that were part of their TV area at the time, traveling to Idaho, Montana and …

Utah.

The last event they staged was in Salt Lake City. Gerard Gallant, about to begin his first season as Vegas coach, signed autographs at an open skate. The Golden Knights gave away T-shirts with their logo.

Well, Utah has its own NHL team now. In their second season, the Utah Mammoth will host their first Stanley Cup Playoff game at Delta Center on Friday (9:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, Utah 16, SCRIPPS, TBS, TVAS2, SN360) in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round. Utah is tied 1-1 in the best-of-7 series with …

Vegas.

The team has invited fans to swap any official Golden Knights jersey for a new, home 2025-26 Mammoth jersey at no cost on the SeatGeek Plaza outside the arena, starting at 12 p.m. MT.

It’s a testament to the game’s growth in less than a decade, helped by the success of the Golden Knights, who have made the playoffs eight times in their nine seasons and won the Stanley Cup in 2023.

And it’s a sign of the transformation in Utah, where Delta Center will roar when the Mammoth take the ice Friday -- and where Rice-Eccles Stadium will fill for the 2027 Discover NHL Winter Classic against the Colorado Avalanche around New Year’s Day.

“It’s been incredible to see the way Utah has embraced this team from Day 1,” Utah owners Ryan and Ashley Smith said.

When the Arizona Coyotes couldn’t find a long-term solution to their arena situation, the NHL Board of Governors approved a new franchise in Utah on April 18, 2024, with the team to purchase Arizona’s hockey assets. Utah received about 22,700 season-ticket deposits in little more than 24 hours.

A week later, Utah flew some Arizona executives, coaches, players and staff members to Salt Lake City.

The Delta plane stopped on the tarmac in the morning, and hundreds of youth hockey players, parents and coaches waited in the hangar holding homemade signs. “WELCOME TO UTAH!” “UTAH (HEARTS) HOCKEY!” “WELCOME HOME!” One sign had a map of Utah, a star for Salt Lake City and directions: “You are here.”

With music rocking in the background, the kids chanted: “Let’s go, Utah! Let’s go!” The players disembarked in black hoodies with the NHL shield and “UTAH EST. 2024.” As they walked down the steps, they took in the scene and broke into smiles.

“Stepping off the plane was unbelievable,” center Clayton Keller said.

Delta Center hosted a welcome event in evening. So many fans showed up that the organizers had to turn away hundreds. The fans cheered and chanted before the players even arrived. First, it was a deafening “Utah!” Then it was, “Let’s go, Utah!”

Then the players walked in, dressed in suits, feeling like superstars. The lights were low, the spotlights shining. The music was pumping, the crowd buzzing. If you looked closely, you could see them failing to hide smiles as they walked onto the ice and up the middle of a crowd of people holding up their phones to record the moment. 

General manager Bill Armstrong told the fans, “We’re so looking forward to this being the loudest building in the NHL.” The fans responded by chanting rapidly, “Utah! Utah! Utah!” Coach Andre Tourigny said, “We cannot wait to feed off your energy next year.”

There wasn’t time for a full branding process, let alone full renovations of Delta Center, which was set up to maximize sightlines for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association. So, the team played its first season as the Utah Hockey Club. The arena had black walls in the end zones and hundreds of obstructed seats in the upper level.

Still, there was a party on the plaza, and the place was sold out for the inaugural game. Before the Smiths dropped the puck for the ceremonial face-off, Ryan Smith told the fans, “Let’s make this the loudest place to play in the NHL.” Then forward Dylan Guenther scored the first goal in Utah history at 4:56 of the first period, sparking a 5-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks.

It lived up to the hype -- the game, the team, the fans, all of it.

“The one moment that sticks to the top of my head is that opener, when we scored that first goal,” defenseman Ian Cole said. “A lot of people were unsure what to expect, what it’s going to be like, and then we score first, and it’s just, like, mayhem. Even with all the obstructed seats and everything, people would pack the barn.”

The team introduced a permanent brand identity as the Utah Mammoth this season. The second phase of ongoing renovations at Delta Center created steep stands for hockey in the end zones of the lower bowl. The fans are on top of the action unlike anywhere else in the NHL.

“It feels so close, and it’s amazing,” defenseman Mikhail Sergachev said.

The energy built as the Mammoth fought for a playoff spot and clinched the first wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.

“You could just feel the excitement coming down the stretch from the fans during the game,” Keller said. “They were involved. They kind of knew where we were at in the standings.”

A contingent of Utah fans traveled to Las Vegas to watch the Mammoth’s first two playoff games. They chanted before warmup of Game 1, drawing boos from Golden Knights fans.

“Even in the street, I was walking, talking with a lot of them,” Tourigny said. “I think the way our fans embrace our organization and embrace our team and our players is unbelievable. I often talk about the relationship between our fans and our players. It’s unreal.

“I think our players embrace the concept of being community-obsessed and being part of the community, and our community (does) an unbelievable job at making us feel special, so seeing them (in Las Vegas), that was great.”

All of that has led up to this.

Several Mammoth players have never experienced a home playoff crowd in the NHL, including Keller and forward Lawson Crouse. Before this series, they had played nine playoff games in their NHL careers, all for the Coyotes at Rogers Centre in Edmonton with no fans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m sure it’s going to be an amazing, amazing crowd,” Keller said. “I’ve said it so many times. Our support since Day 1, win or lose, they’ve always had our back. Whenever we see fans in the community, they couldn’t be nicer. A lot of them are new into hockey, and they love watching us play, so it’s going to be a great game for sure.”

There will be a party on the plaza. Fans can take pictures with the “Zammoth,” the Zamboni that has been turned into a Mammoth. They can listen to The Current, a Utah-based band, and enjoy interactive games, a beer garden and more.

Inside the arena, there will be rally towels, of course. But there also will be a pregame drumline, Mammoth dancers, surprise giveaways and special moments throughout the game.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Cole said. “It’s going to be very, very high energy. I mean, it’s going to be electric. It’s our fans’ and our community’s first taste of playoff hockey, and I think it’s something that they’re very excited for. … I think the excitement around our team and around our city is palpable. We’re very, very fortunate and grateful and excited to see how it’s going to be.”