The Utah Hockey Club’s bid for a permanent nickname took another twist Thursday.
Wednesday, the Salt Lake City-based NHL team announced that the popular Utah Yeti name was out of the running because it couldn’t reach a co-existence agreement with YETI Coolers, LLC and that it was putting Utah Wasatch (a new option) and previous choices Utah Hockey Club and Utah Mammoth up for an in-person fan vote.
Though the Wasatch mountain range towers over the Utah capital region, the name apparently fell flat with fans in the first night of voting. So, Utah Outlaws is back in the mix.
‘Hey Utah hockey fans!’ the team posted on social media. ‘We listened to your feedback and dug into all the Qualtrics data from last night’s survey. For the team name, it’s clear that Outlaws should be in the mix instead of Wasatch, so we’re swapping it out.’
Utah Hockey Club, Outlaws and Mammoth were on the list of six names (along with Yeti, Blizzard and Venom) that survived the original 20 suggestions that were put up for an online fan vote. Wasatch, which the team said was ‘designed to honor the idea of a mythical snow creature,’ wasn’t on that first list.
To summarize, the current choices are:
Utah Hockey Club: The current temporary nickname that could become permanent if enough fans support it.
Utah Mammoth: Mammoths lived in Utah along the shores of the ancient Lake Bonneville that covered a big portion of the state. Remains have been found in the area.
Utah Outlaws: Butch Cassidy was born in Utah and his Wild Bunch gang sometimes holed up in the so-called Robbers Roost in southeastern Utah.
Fans have three more home games to vote in person at the Delta Center. The name, logo and jersey are scheduled to be ready for the 2025-26 season.
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