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Utah Hockey Club finds a temporary home until its Sandy practice facility is finished

The NHL hockey team will partner with the Olympic Oval for its practice facility.

Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune Skaters in the women's mass start, speed skating at the ISU World Cup, at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Sunday November 22, 2015.

The Utah Hockey Club may still be a ways away from building its permanent offices and practice facility in Sandy.

But for now, the club is moving into the Olympic Oval in Kearns and will be making some adjustments to the facility.

Team owner Ryan Smith has already begun remaking one of the Olympic-sized ice sheets into an NHL regulation rink for the team to practice on. He is also planning to build NHL locker rooms and office space for the team’s decision makers. New treatment areas will be added, too.

The Olympic Oval was built for Salt Lake City to host the 2002 Olympic Games. It currently has two ice sheets and a speed skating oval. US Speedskating still works out of the Kearns facility.

The project is expected to cost several million dollars, Smith Entertainment Group said in a news release.

“We look forward to partnering with Utah Hockey Club in creating a comprehensive training home for the players and staff,” the president of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, Colin Hilton, said in a prepared statement.