Sports
Analysis: Utah, the Beehive State, abuzz with arrival of NHL club
Sep 29, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Utah Hockey Club forward Clayton Keller (9) celebrates with teammates after a goal during the third period against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images SALT LAKE CITY — Before he signed to play for the new hockey team in Utah, veteran defenseman Robert Bortuzzo couldn’t help but notice that there was something special going on in Salt Lake City in terms of the NHL.
“There’s definitely a buzz,” the former Stanley Cup champion told reporters after inking a one-year deal with Utah this offseason. “You talk to a lot of hockey people around the league, or buddies of mine who play in the league, it’s exciting for the league, exciting for a lot of the young guys on the team.”
The relocated NHL franchise, formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes, still doesn’t have an official name other than Utah Hockey Club. But there’s certainly a vibe and energy surrounding what many, including some within the club, have speculated will eventually be called the Utah Yeti.
Utah has been a successful staple in the minor league hockey ranks for decades, including championship Adams Cup (CHL) and Turner Cup (IHL) campaigns by the former Salt Lake Golden Eagles and Utah Grizzlies (now in the ECHL). The Beehive State also hosted in 2002 one of the greatest Winter Olympics gold-medal hockey competitions, when a powerhouse Team Canada defeated a loaded Team USA for a coveted on-ice and podium-topping celebration.
After efforts to find long-term security in Arizona fell apart for the Coyotes earlier in 2024, the NHL gave Utah billionaire Ryan Smith the opportunity to give the beleaguered hockey club a new home at the base of the Wasatch Front.
“We think NHL hockey will thrive here,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said at the time.
Within days of the NHL’s announcement in April, nearly 30,000 made season-ticket deposits for an arena, the Delta Center, which had held 16,000 for hockey games and been reconfigured for 11,131 capacity this season. The buzz was off the charts. An energetic, “Let’s go, Utah!”-chanting crowd of 12,400 packed the arena — with hundreds more gathered outside – to welcome officials and players during an arrival celebration shortly after.
“Let’s not stop,” Smith told the crowd. “We want to make sure every single person in Utah gets a taste of hockey.”
Local sports fans, businesses and organizations, and politicians from U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox — all of whom have helped the Utah Jazz and other sports entities succeed in the Beehive State — clamored to welcome the NHL to town in person and via social media.
“Welcome to Utah, NHL!” Romney posted on X. Added Cox, “Welcome to Utah, the State of Sport! #LetsGo”
“This is incredible for the city and state! Utah is ready for another major league team,” posted former Utah Jazz employee Matt Sanchez, an assistant athletic director for the University of Utah. “Pretty wild how this came together so quickly.”
“You (Ryan Smith) are making dreams come true brother! Thank you!!” exclaimed Bam Bam’s BBQ owner and pit boss Cameron Treu on X.
The momentum and excitement levels have only increased since the move became official in April. The work has continued, too. The Smith Entertainment Group transformed the Utah Olympic Oval ice sheet into an NHL-caliber temporary training facility while making plans to build a training facility in the Salt Lake City suburbs. Plans have been hatched to renovate the Delta Center into a multi-faceted arena that will provide excellent sightlines for basketball and hockey. The arena also created an NHL-quality locker room for the club this offseason while designing a brand.
Equally important, the youth movement that began in Arizona will carry on in Utah with exciting potential to blossom. That’s no more evident than with the team’s selection of Clayton Keller, 26, as the franchise’s first captain. The center became the youngest captain in an inaugural season since Ron Chipperfield, then 25, captained the Edmonton Oilers in their NHL debut in 1979-80.
The youthful roster offers an exciting opportunity for Utah and its new hockey club to grow in the NHL together.
“We have a lot of young players, a lot of guys that took a lot of strides last season,” said Keller, a four-time All-Star who led the team in scoring in Arizona the past three seasons. “I think our core group guys have done a great job in helping them take that next step. And I think as you grow as a team, every day you get better. We’re a close group. We hang out a lot and are just super excited to go out on the ice and perform.”
His elder teammate concurs.
“You just want to be a part of building something, and that’s what they got here,” said Bortuzzo, 35. “It seems like they got a ton of buy-in from all the guys. It’ll be great to be a part of that and jump in and be a part of this cool thing that they’ve done … and just be a part of that excitement.”
Even before the first NHL puck dropped in Salt Lake City, the franchise’s head coach, Andre Tourigny, complimented Utah for an “amazing, first class” welcome.
“It made us feel home already,” he said. “We already want to fight for Utah. I’m blown away right now.”
Forward Liam O’Brien complimented the Utah crowd during the preseason, saying, “I don’t think I’ve ever had a crowd that loud in warm-ups.”
The noise level became near-deafening when Keller won the Sept. 23 preseason game against the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 with an overtime goal.
“With Arizona, a lot of things were up in the air with the arena situation,” Utah forward Lawson Crouse said. “It’s clear we now have a home. We can move on from all those distractions and just go play hockey. And we’re really looking forward to doing that.”
Clearly, Utah is looking forward to them doing that in their home, too.
–Jody Genessy, Field Level Media
Sports
Manchester City look to extend win streak, take on Everton
[Subscription Customers Only] Jun 30, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Manchester City forward Erling Haaland (9) celebrates scoring their second goal with midfielder Rodri (16) during a round of 16 match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Lee Smith-Reuters via Imagn Images Manchester City will try to keep pace with Premier League front-runner Arsenal on Monday night when they pay a visit to an Everton side still on the fringes of the European picture.
City (21-5-7, 70 points) will begin the day six points back of Arsenal with two matches in hand after the Gunners dispatched Fulham 3-0 on Saturday. The Cityzens won’t be even on games played until May 13, when they make up a postponed match against Crystal Palace that was delayed because of City’s triumphant League Cup run.
As a result, there continues to be the appearance of a chase, although the teams would finish level on points if they win out.
Manager Pep Guardiola insists it shouldn’t matter.
“It’s normal, so it’s the calendar,” Guardiola said on Friday. “Sometimes you play first. Sometimes behind. It is what it is. So, nothing changes in these stages, and you know exactly what you have to do.”
City have won six in a row in all competitions, the last three by a single goal: A 2-1 home league win over the Gunners on April 19, a 1-0 league victory at Burnley three days later, and a 2-1 FA Cup semifinal triumph over Southampton on April 25.
Erling Haaland scored once in both league fixtures to bring his EPL-leading total to 24. In the FA Cup semifinal, Jeremy Doku and Nico Gonzalez scored inside the final 10 minutes to complete a late rally.
Everton (13-13-8, 47 points) finished Saturday in 11th place, but only four points out of seventh, which currently would earn a berth in the UEFA Europa Conference League. Should City win the FA Cup, it could be the top eight English league finishers who earn a spot in Europe.
And if Everton could return to continental competition for the first time since 2017-18, it would conclude a much-improved first season at their new Hill Dickson Stadium, after bringing the curtain down on historic Goodison Park last May.
“We still believe there could be something out there for us. And we’ll keep pushing,” manager David Moyes said. “Building Everton back up is a process which I think is going to take quite a bit of time, but I think the first year or so here, we’ve certainly put decent foundations down. And hopefully we can continue to build on it.”
The Toffees are looking to avoid a third consecutive league defeat for the first time this season after a 2-1 home loss to derby rivals Liverpool on April 19 and a 2-1 away defeat at West Ham last weekend.
Beto, one of two Everton players with eight goals, departed the former contest late with a head injury and missed the latter fixture working through the league’s concussion protocol. He should be available Monday night, Moyes said.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Yankees tee off on Orioles to win third straight in 4-game series
May 3, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) hits a two run home run in the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Jasson Dominguez scored the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning before hitting a two-run homer and an RBI double during a seven-run eighth as the New York Yankees pulled away for an 11-3 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon.
The Yankees won for the 13th time in 15 games and beat the Orioles for the 11th time in the past 12 meetings.
Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer off Baltimore rookie Trey Gibson. Ben Rice hit his 12th home run of the season in the first and doubled ahead of Judge’s 13th homer in the third.
Rice exited after the Yankees batted in the third because of a bruised left hand. The Yankees announced X-rays were negative and the first baseman is day-to-day. Rice appeared to get injured fielding a low pickoff throw from Max Fried and was replaced by Paul Goldschmidt.
Dominguez started the tiebreaking rally with a double to left field against Grant Wolfram (1-1) and advanced to third on a groundout by Austin Wells. Ryan McMahon, facing a drawn-in infield, followed with a single that first baseman Coby Mayo couldn’t handle after diving to stop it.
Dominguez started New York’s big inning with a two-run drive into the right field seats off Andrew Kittredge for a 6-3 lead. After an RBI sacrifice fly by Trent Grisham, Goldschmidt ripped a two-run single after the Yankees executed a double steal.
Following a sacrifice fly by Jazz Chisholm Jr., Dominguez added a double to left field for an 11-3 lead.
The Orioles tied it twice before losing their fourth straight and for the 12th time in 18 games.
Blaze Alexander had an RBI single in the third before getting thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. After Judge’s 413-foot drive bounced into Baltimore’s bullpen in left field, Leody Taveras hit an RBI infield single and Tyler O’Neill scored on a double play grounder by Jeremiah Jackson in the fourth.
Fried allowed three runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. The left-hander struck out six and walked three.
Fernando Cruz (3-0) got the final two outs of the sixth and the first out of the seventh. Brent Headrick ended the eighth by getting a double play grounder against Mayo.
Gibson allowed three runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings during his major league debut.
The four-game series concludes Monday.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cam Smith drives in 2 in 10th, Astros edge Red Sox
May 3, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Houston Astros right fielder Cam Smith (11) hits a two run RBI against the Boston Red Sox during the tenth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images Cam Smith had three hits, including a two-run single in the top of the 10th inning, to help the visiting Houston Astros earn a 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
Smith’s two-out single came against Zack Kelly (0-2) and drove in Braden Shewmake and Jose Altuve.
Boston had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the 10th, but Bryan Abreu got Ceddanne Rafaela to ground into a double play to end the game.
Jarren Duran hit a solo home run for the Red Sox, who stranded 13 runners and were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Duran’s home run was his third of the season and his second of the series. He hit a three-run homer in Boston’s 3-1 victory Friday night.
Abreu (1-2) pitched two scoreless innings to get the win. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out one.
Willson Contreras collected three of Boston’s nine hits in the loss.
Christian Walker and Christian Vazquez each had two-hit games for the Astros, who won two games in the three-game set.
Boston starting pitcher Ranger Suarez was pulled after four scoreless innings because of hamstring tightness. He gave up three hits, walked one and struck out three. Suarez threw 70 pitches.
Duran’s home run off Houston reliever AJ Blubaugh opened the scoring in the fifth. Houston tied the game in the sixth, when Walker reached on an infield single, took third on Altuve’s double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brice Matthews.
The Red Sox had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. An error on Abreu allowed Contreras to reach second with two outs in the inning, but Roman Anthony grounded out to first to end the inning.
Houston had the bases loaded with no outs in the 10th, but Altuve grounded into a 6-2-5 double play. Following a walk to Matthews, Smith delivered his two-run single.
–Field Level Media
Manchester City look to extend win streak, take on Everton
Yankees tee off on Orioles to win third straight in 4-game series
