The 2024-25 season proved that Utah Hockey Club, the new kid in NHL town, has the spirit and especially the fan base to drive growth. Yet another thing that’s been on UHC owners Smith Entertainment Group’s mind is the name change. Yes, Utahns can’t keep calling their club UHC because now they need a permanent name. And naming a club isn’t as easy as you might think.

“We have been carefully evaluating possibilities for the permanent identity of the team while working within the complicated world of trademarks and intellectual property,” President of Hockey Operations Chris Armstrong said earlier this year. On March 16, CBS’s Denis Dodd revealed the team had finally settled on a nickname. However, he also said Utah had “no timeline for release at this point.” Yet, now, it looks like the team might have just leaked their choice.

Cole Bagley, an NHL insider reporting on the Utah Hockey Club, dropped some big news on social media. “Utah Hockey Club’s official YouTube page now shows UtahMammoth,” explained the reporter. He posted a screenshot of the YT handle, which still showed the current name on the channel title but had “@utahmammoth” as its username. Naturally, the news sent the fan base into a frenzy, many of whom flat-out rejected it.

“I refuse to acknowledge this. Utah Hockey Club forever,” commented a fan. And that’s why the SEG thought it best to involve the fans in a decision that would decide the identity of the hockey club. And the response was huge. After multiple rounds of voting, the community narrowed down the names to Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth, and Utah Outlaws from a list of six finalists.

There was a fourth one, the Utah Yetis. Unfortunately, the team couldn’t move forward with it. The USPTO rejected the trademark request, saying Utah “is merely descriptive of or generic for applicant’s goods,” and “less significant in terms of affecting the mark’s commercial impression” compared to ‘Yetis’. So, which one among the other top three did the fans put on top? Well, that’s where things get tricky.

The Utah Hockey Club fan base was on the same page

Those who voted for the Outlaws immediately expressed their displeasure. “Shoulda been Outlaws smh,” explained one fan. And there’s good reason for that. Deseret News reported that a survey conducted by HarrisX Interactive where 822 Utah adults voted to put outlaws in the front. “37% favor Outlaws and, perhaps surprisingly, 34% chose Utah Hockey Club and 29% like Mammoth,” they reported. That’s straightforward, right? Well, not really.

A little more nuances study of the survey would reveal that while Utah Outlaws remained on top of the men’s list with 42% votes, the women voted differently. 37% of the female fans voted to keep it the Utah Hockey Club. However, it’s interesting to note that Utah Mammoth didn’t win either poll.

In fact, those who didn’t mind the new moniker weren’t completely on board either and wanted to make a tweak. “Please add the ‘S’ before it’s too late,” said one fan, saying the name should be Utah Mammoths instead of Utah Mammoth. And he wasn’t the only one, as other Utah Hockey Club fans pointed out. “If that is the name, I can live with it but for crying out loud, use the name Mammoths and make it plural,” another netizen commented.

And then some couldn’t believe how unceremonious it would be if the leak turns out to be true. After all, unveiling the name would’ve been exciting, but a supposed YT leak would take that all away. “I’m in absolute shock. Guess we’ll find out if it’s official in the morning,” commented the fan. However, the Utah Hockey Club didn’t give any official indication, and the page went down soon after people started taking screenshots. Was this a mistake during an official test? No one knows yet.

Yet, there was a section of fans who did like the change. In fact, they may have liked it a bit too much because a new slogan popped up shortly after the leak went online. What is that slogan, you ask? Well, many Utah fans flooded the comments section with a hashtag. “Tusks Up [Mammoth emoticon],” commented one of the fans who would love for the leak to be true.