SALT LAKE CITY – As the Utah Hockey Club prepares to welcome the Vancouver Canucks to Delta Center on Wednesday night, the team fully embraced the holiday season as they surprised Michael Kesselring with a special gift.

Following morning skate, Kesselring tore the gift wrapping apart at his locker to reveal a thoughtful present from the boys.

“Kessel King” gets a crown for Christmas 😂#UtahHC pic.twitter.com/CQA0tgzhQR

— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) December 18, 2024

The Utah Hockey Club King gets his crown

After opening up the box with excitement, Kesselring quickly realized he was being trolled by his teammates with a crown in relation to his new nickname “Kessel-King” that he recently received after one of the road trips.

Following the game against the Buffalo Sabres on December 7 where Kesselring recorded a Gordie Howe Hat-Trick, the social media team referred to the defenseman as “Kessel-King” on Instagram.

“On social media they called him Kessel-King so we just started calling him king as a joke,” Ian Cole said.

Since then, the team has fully embraced the new nickname and couldn’t resist an opportunity to present the king with his new crown for Christmas.

Utah Hockey Schedule

The Utah Hockey Club will now travel home to face the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday at Delta Center. The game can be viewed on SEG+. Fans can also tune in on air on the KSL Sports APP or on 97.5 and 1280 The Zone. Click here for the full schedule. 

Cole Bagley is the Utah Hockey Club insider for KSL Sports. Keep up with him on X here. You can hear Cole break down the team on KSL Sports Zone and KSL 5 TV.

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