With less than five hours until puck drop on Wednesday, Ryan Smith sent out a memo to Utah Hockey Club fans.
The team owner made all single-goal view seats — which usually aren’t open to the public — free for one game. Each person could get two tickets in a first come, first serve process.
In an hour, about 2,000 seats were claimed and by the 8 p.m. start time, Delta Center was packed.
The official game attendance was 11,131 which only includes full-view seats. However, the entirety of the upper bowl was also filled. Utah Hockey Club felt the support in its 3-2 overtime win over the Vancouver Canucks.
“That means a ton for the players. You want to be supported, you want to feel you belong,” head coach André Tourigny said of Smith’s initiative to get people in the building.
Tourigny’s team played at Arizona State University’s Mullet Arena from 2022 to 2024. It had a 5,000-seat capacity which was usually filled with a split of home and away fans.
To have Delta Center nearly sold out for a Wednesday night game in December, backed by a supportive owner and an animated audience moved the players.
“It’s awesome. It was an amazing crowd tonight. It gives all of us chills,” said Clayton Keller who had a goal and an assist in Utah’s fifth win in six games.
“This is what you dream of, playing in front of however many thousands of people, playing the game you love with your best friends. There’s no better feeling.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club center Clayton Keller (9) celebrates his goal alaiong with teammates, Utah Hockey Club center Barrett Hayton (27) and Utah Hockey Club defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (98), in NHL Hockey action between Utah Hockey Club and Vancouver Canucks at the Delta Center, on Wednesday, Dec 18, 2024.
While Utah has a six-game winning streak on the road, it had not earned a victory on home ice since Nov. 13 before Wednesday’s matchup. Accordingly, Mikhail Sergachev’s overtime goal to complete the comeback carried a little extra weight.
“Finally we got two [points] at home, feels great,” Sergachev said. “Obviously a good one.”
Sergachev, a typically reserved personality, exploded with emotion when the puck found the back of the net. The defenseman screamed and jumped towards the bench where his teammates joined him in a swarming huddle as the crowd was in a frenzy.
“I don’t know if you saw the video when we scored in overtime. Someone just showed me, his reaction when we scored, that means a lot to players, it means a lot to the coach, it means a lot to everybody,” Tourigny said.
“The atmosphere and the reaction of the fans tonight…tell me you didn’t have goosebumps. That was cool. That’s what you love.”
