SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Hockey Club isn’t going away quietly, scoring three third-period goals to grab a 4-3 lead over division-leading Minnesota.
Utah Hockey Club (12-11-4, 28 pts) is hosting the Minnesota Wild (18-5-4, 40 pts) at Delta Center on Tuesday, December 10.
VÄLIMÄKI PUTS US AHEAD!!!! pic.twitter.com/dMSfwC4Gzf
— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) December 11, 2024
It has been a wild final period. Utah battled back, scoring three goals in the first 12 minutes.
Minutes after a 59-second sequence that saw Minnesota answer Clayton Keller’s first power-play goal by retaking the lead, Keller had another power-play chance.
The Captain found himself in space on the right side. After closing the gap, Keller ripped a shot that beat Filip Gustavson low.
🚨 KELLS RINGS THE BELL! pic.twitter.com/FB153MJRYN
— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) December 11, 2024
With momentum on its side, Utah Hockey Club pressed its advantage.
Juuso Valimaki jumped on the ice and fired a shot that Gustavson knocked down but couldn’t contain. With a head of steam, Valimaki grabbed the rebound and blasted it by the Minnesota keeper to give his team a one-goal lead.
Utah has been outshot 32-21 with 2:30 left.
According to NHL Insider Nicholas Cotsonika, following the Board of Governors meeting this week, front office members and individuals from Utah’s ownership group met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and senior executive vice president of marketing and chief branding officer Brian Jennings to discuss their plans.
“We’re deep in the [jersey] design process for next season, which goes hand in glove with our brand identity and what we’re going to do there,” Armstrong told NHL.com.
“We’re all working within the timelines and trying to get creative about those to give ourselves as much runway to get all those pieces lined up properly.”
Utah’s branding and jersey design deadline is swiftly approaching to make things more permanent moving forward.
Per Chris Armstrong,
The jerseys next season will be “substantially similar” to this season. There will be adjustments made and “one of them” will be adorned with their new logo.#UtahHC
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) November 15, 2024
“I’d say we’re getting close to needing to make some decisions. I’d say early in the new year. Everybody’s tried their best to work flexibly — or away from hard and fast deadlines — because it is a complicated process, especially on the [intellectual property] side.
“Just making sure we’ve got everything lined up and buttoned up before we make any firm decisions,” Armstrong told NHL.com.
According to Armstrong, they won’t deviate much from the current jerseys aside from introducing whatever their new logo is onto one of them.
That means that the other will likely not change very much if it all, and based on the fact that Armstrong has said they like to feature “Utah” on the road, that would likely mean the white sweater does not change.
Utah Hockey Club games can be viewed on SEG+. Fans can also tune in on air on the KSL Sports APP or 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. Listen to Cole break down the team on KSL Sports Zone and KSL 5 TV.
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Brian Preece is a KSLsports.com insider covering Locals in MLB and Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees and Beehive baseball coverage here.
