Utah's NHL team reveals permanent name
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Courtesy: Smith Entertainment Group
Tusks up, hockey fans — Smith Entertainment Group (SEG) announced "Utah Mammoth" as the state's official NHL team name on Wednesday.
State of play: The announcement comes more than a year after SEG asked local fans to vote on the team's permanent name. More than 850,000 votes were collected over four rounds.
- Voters chose between three finalists: Utah Hockey Club (its temporary name), Utah Mammoth and Utah Outlaws.
What they're saying: "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 on potential logos," team owners Ryan and Ashley Smith said in a joint statement.
- "[Utah Mammoth] stands as a symbol of who we are, where we came from, and the unstoppable force we're building together," they said.
Zoom in: The team's logo features a ready-to-charge mammoth with snow-capped mountain peaks—a reference to the Wasatch Mountain Range. Its tusk is shaped like a "U."
- The team's color palette is "rock black," "salt white" and "mountain blue," representing nights in the mountains, snow and the Bonneville Salt Flats, winter sports recreation and clear skies, per a news release.
Flashback: The Ice Age giants roamed what is now Utah over 10,000 years ago, Carrie Levitt-Bussian, the paleontology collections manager at the Natural History Museum of Utah, recently told Axios.
- Their fossils have been found across Utah, including Bear Lake, Park City and Orem.
- The furry beasts weighed 22,000 pounds and stood over 14 feet tall.
- Similar to how players use their hockey sticks, mammoths used their tusks to move things and intimidate rivals, Levitt-Bussian noted.
Yes, but: The new name is not much of a surprise after fans last week pointed out that the team's YouTube account handle changed to "UtahMammoth" before being deactivated.
Catch up quick: In February, Axios Salt Lake City asked readers in a survey to choose their favorite name and mammoths won with about 43% of the vote.
- It represents "the massive size you would want the team to be," one survey taker told us.
What's next: Fans can begin purchasing first-run merchandise with the new team and logos starting at noon Wednesday at the team store in the Delta Center.
- Those interested in buying a home jersey can fill out a form.
- Hold on to your Utah Hockey Club merchandise. It could become more valuable.
Go deeper: From Ice Age to ice rink: Mammoth would be a nod to Utah's past