Gordon Monson: The NHL loves Utah. There’s just one thing missing …

If I had 50 bucks for every time I heard or saw the words “history” and “historic” at the Delta Center on Tuesday night, I might have enough money to buy a decent seat for a single upcoming Utah Hockey Club game. Must have heard and seen those words a hundred times. Might even be able to buy a hamburger and a Coke.

And it was history-making and historic, in the sense that Utah has never had an NHL team of its own for which to cheer. It does now. No longer do hockey fans in and around Salt Lake City have to settle for adopting somebody else’s team, the Golden Knights or the Avalanche or pretend they actually care about whatever minor league the Grizzlies play in. And the sellout crowd on hand for the grand opener here cheered its guts out as UHC faced the Chicago Blackhawks, and won by a 5-2 count.

There was just one thing missing …

Can this outfit just land on a freaking name, embrace it, and dispose of all this Utah Hockey Club nonsense? That’s what it is — a load of kicked up, silly, unnecessary procrastination. Not that anyone around here should be overly concerned about what people outside of Utah think, but … Utah Hockey Club? Really? Folks are laughing at that. The NHL loves Utah, but every other team in the league has a name. This is no way or reason to stand out or be cute or special or different.

At present, it’s like watching an infant take its first step and you haven’t even fully filled out the birth certificate yet.

It’s not that complicated. Give this team what every other NHL team has. I don’t even care what it is … Outlaws, Venom, Blizzard, Magpies. Whatever. Just get on with it and give the players and fans the name, the identity they deserve.

Where were we? Oh, yeah, from the second the Hockey Club took the ice, people in the newly-reformed seating arrangement inside the Jazz’s home building swung towels around and made their joyful noise. They roared when What’s-His-Name, some skater from Canada, blasted the puck into Chicago’s net.

(See how awkward it is to not give something a proper name?)

It is going to take time to learn these guys’ names, let alone their games. Let’s see … there’s a Matias Maccelli from Finland, an Alexander Kerfoot from British Columbia, a Mikhail Sergachev from Russia, a Jusso Valimaki from Finland … um, now this is worthy of taking some time to get acclimated to and wholly acquainted.

I walked around the arena, talking to people decked out in fresh black and blue and white T-shirts, the ones with “Utah HC” plastered on them. I asked a random sampling if they are hockey fans. “I am now,” was a common response. I asked one guy dressed in a Coyotes sweater if he’s been able to handle switching from what was in Arizona to what is now in Utah and he said the whole of it was no big deal because he’s really a San Jose Sharks fan. Another individual in Utah gear said he’s still learning what the difference is between “icing” and “slashing.” I think he was kidding, not sure. Some, though, said they know and love and have always loved Bobby Hull’s game. Oops, those must have been Blackhawks fans.

Either way, this was a Night to Remember. Oops, again, wasn’t that the title of an old book and film about the sinking of the Titanic? The ice on this occasion was much kinder.

The Club’s players performed well for their new, enthused crowd, sensing the enormity of the moment, likely pleased to be doing their passing and shooting and checking business in front of thousands and thousands and thousands of partisans in an authentic NHL arena — if that’s what the Delta Center now is — instead of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds at a college rink in Tempe.

The seats were, indeed, bursting for the opener, the music was loud, the energy palpable, the curiosity high, the drama electric, the learning curve — at least for some — steep, but even the pregame introductions were met with a racket that sounded like a squadron of F-35 fighters landing at center ice. When the entire team raised its sticks in a circle to honor the fans, more applause broke out.

Then the puck dropped.

Dylan Guenther, who’s all of 21 years old, scored UHC’s first-ever goal early in the first period. The kid from Edmonton who is one of the Club’s up-and-coming stars popped a shot like lightning off his stick with an assist from Logan Cooley, from Pennsylvania, another up-and-comer. Just a few weeks back, Guenther told me how eager he was to play in Utah. His exact words: “The city is buzzing. This place is beautiful. The people are nice. I’m excited to play here. It’ll be cool playing in a big arena, in front of a big crowd. I can’t wait.”

Tuesday night, in the aftermath, he said: “That building was special.”

That building cheered him with gusto in Game 1, at his first goal, and after another goal later.

Team captain Clayton Keller, from Missouri, scored the game’s second goal in the initial period on a sweet sequence that ended with the puck hitting the net. Great shot, and further, we found out that Keller likes playing ping pong and he has a dog named “Lucky.”

From that juncture on, the skaters in black and blue – fellas like Nick Schmaltz, of Wisconsin, and Barrett Hayton and Sean Durzi, from Ontario, built their lead with some deft skating, passing and shooting, and then held on like a glove on a stick through some sloppiness in the third period. Goaltender Connor Ingram, Saskatoon’s own, helped save the night.

Don’t mean to overcook this, but, all told, it was a sports experience by which Utah fans can mark their rooting lives. Hockey may be seen by some as a physical, downright brutal sport, and it can be, but played at a high level, it’s a gorgeous team game that is almost poetic.

“The camaraderie on this team is really good,” Guenther said. “The beauty of the hockey culture is you have to come together as a team.”

The initial poem written into hockey history here — that’s another 50 bucks — was rhythmic early and then rough in the last minutes, all together matching on the ice what was emanating from the stands.

Even the Blackhawks noticed and appreciated the scene. Forward Nick Foligno said: “I didn’t know what to expect. To be honest, I heard great things, and it’s lived up to the hype. They were loud, they were energetic, and you could tell they’re excited to have hockey here. As far as a fan standpoint, it was a great night for hockey in Utah. We’re thrilled as a league to have [Utah] here. It was definitely loud, and they’re avid fans, so I’d give them a ton of credit. They were definitely into it tonight, and hopefully that sustains all year long.”

A good time, then, was had by one and all, by every Jack and Jill, every Viktor and Vladislav, certainly by both the knowledgeable fans in Utah and also the people who don’t yet know a deke from a dangler, a forecheck from a five hole. By the end, the Utah players themselves seemed equally pleased with their victory and emotionally spent.

“It’s been a crazy day,” Keller said. An historic — yeah, another $50 — one.

What everybody was absolutely sure about late Tuesday night was the difference between a win and a loss. “We won. That’s what I’ll remember,” said UHC coach Andre Tourigny. And he should. The Club got what it wanted in its first attempt playing at the top level of Bobby Hull’s or Wayne Gretzky’s or Gordie Howe’s game. On the 8th of October, 2024, the game was Utah’s. The names? Well … we’ll all work on that.