The 2 things Utah needs to grow hockey in this state

The Utah Hockey Club is officially playing in its new home state.

The organization kicked off a development camp Monday in Park City, featuring selections from last weekend’s 2024 NHL draft and top prospects in the system. General manager Bill Armstrong is also busy with re-signings and free-agent acquisitions, which have included bringing back last year’s top scoring defenseman, Sean Durzi; and signing free-agent forward Kevin Stenlund (Florida) and defenseman Ian Cole (Vancouver), both Stanley Cup winners.

Ryan Smith , who along with wife Ashley Smith purchased the Arizona Coyotes players and personnel earlier this year to create a new franchise in Salt Lake City, has said that Utah was a winter sports community in need of an NHL team. Now it’s here — and the green slopes of Park City were a perfect backdrop.

“Being here in Park City and feeling that cold air in the morning and at night, it’s just unreal,” Armstrong said during a press conference at the Hotel Park City alongside Durzi and head coach Andre Tourigny.

The state has welcomed the new franchise with a large turnout at an introductory event in April and more than 30,000 season ticket deposits . Smith told the media gathered in Las Vegas for the draft that the Delta Center will “be sold out” this year.

To grow the game in the NHL’s newest market, Armstrong said two things are required — ice rinks and wins.

“The No. 1 thing is, we can grow as a team and win,” Armstrong said. “That usually inspires them in masses. That’s the first part of it. Building rinks is probably the second part of it.”

Armstrong referenced the planned practice facility at The Shops at South Town in Sandy, which will “accommodate community hockey programming and offering ice time for youth and amateur hockey and recreation,” the team said in a news release.

“It’s going to have a massive impact on the community of hockey, just providing rinks,” he said. “When you build rinks and you bring an NHL team here, you’re going to inspire kids to play the game. And we’re all for that.

“The one great thing about hockey players is that 99% of them are just great people who love to give back to the community.”

Durzi, who joined Arizona after two years with the Los Angeles Kings, talked about growing up in Toronto and being inspired by something as simple as a fist bump from a hockey player coming off the ice.

“To take pride as a hockey player and a hockey team is really important to our group,” Durzi said. “Being in the community, inspiring young kids, inspiring people as a whole just to strive for greatness is really important. That part of it is going to be really cool to see transition over the next few years, to see how the state and the city react.”

Added Tourigny: “We have a chance to write history. You never have a second chance to have a good first impression, so we want to do it right.”

Utah Hockey Club Development Camp roster

The roster includes Utah’s two first-round draft picks from last week in Las Vegas (Tij Iginla and Cole Beaudoin), and first-round draft picks from previous years — Dmitriy Simashev and Daniil But (2023 draft) and Maveric Lamoureux (2022 draft).

A free, open-to-the-public scrimmage will be held at the Delta Center at 1 p.m. Friday.

Forwards: Owen Allard, Samu Bau, Cole Beaudoin, Daniil But, Jonathan Castagna, Will Gavin, Voltech Hradec, Tij Iginla, Sam Lipkin, Tanner Ludtke, Miko Matikka, Jacob Newcombe, Reggie Newman, Noel Nordh, Gabe Smith.

Defensemen: Gregor Biber, Alex Cech, Artem Duda, Terrell Goldsmith, Justin Kipkie, Maveric Lamoureux, Tomas Lavoie, Matthew Morden, Will Skahan, Dmitriy Simashev, Cal Thomas, Veeti Vaisanen.

Goaltenders: Michael Hrabal, Rasmus Korhonen, Carsen Musser, Melker Thelin, Anson Thornton.