What’s next for Utah HC?

It’s just not fair. After blowing the roof off the Delta Center in their first-ever home game, Utah Hockey Club fans have to wait three days to watch their team play again, and a week and a half to see another home game.

Fans can’t be too mad, though. They waited this long to get a team, what’s another three days?

Here’s what Utah HC’s schedule looks like the rest of the week.

Vegas, baby

First, Utah makes the quick flight out to Las Vegas for a game against the Golden Knights on Friday. It starts at 8 p.m. Utah time and will be streamed on Utah HC+ and Utah 16 .

The Golden Knights are coming off a disappointing season by their standards, losing to the Dallas Stars in game seven of the first round of the playoffs.

They lost some key pieces in the offseason, including Jonathan Marchessault and Logan Thompson. Replacing them are Akira Schmid, Ilya Samsonov and Alexander Holtz, among others.

While the Golden Knights seem to have taken a step back, they are still an elite team. They won the Stanley Cup in 2023 and they took a very good team to game seven last year, even though it was the first round. Don’t count them out.

Vegas plays a heavy, physical game. Utah showed on Monday that it can match that style of play.

Mile-high hockey

The team will meet the Colorado Avalanche in Denver on Sunday for a 5 p.m. matchup. It will be streamed on Utah HC+ but not on cable TV.

The Avalanche won the Cup the year before the Golden Knights did, so it goes without saying that Utah HC has their work cut out for them.

The Golden Knights boast this year’s second-highest-paid player, Nathan MacKinnon. Ironically, it can be argued that MacKinnon isn’t even the best player on the team, as he shares the ice with superstar defenseman Cale Makar. Either way, this is a good hockey team.

It was a routine offseason for the Avalanche, losing a few depth guys and replacing them with equivalent depth guys. Key subtractions include Sean Walker, Yakov Trenin and Brandon Duhaime, but they added Oliver Kylington, Erik Brannstrom and Matthew Phillips, so they shouldn’t be too affected by the departures.

Like the Golden Knights, the Avalanche are a physical team. That’s the way you have to play to have playoff success in the NHL, and those two teams are great examples of that.

Utah HC will see the Avalanche again this preseason in a one-off game at the Maverik Center on Oct. 5.