Utah Hockey Club has a near-perfect debut at Delta Center
by Ryan Miller, KSL.com · KSL.comEstimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Hockey Club forward Liam O'Brien felt the energy immediately.
With about 30 minutes to puck drop, the Hockey Club took the ice at its new home for the first time, and the crowd responded appropriately.
"I don't think I've ever had a crowd that loud in warmups," O'Brien said.
It only got louder from there.
It was a near-perfect opening night for Utah HC in its first game at the Delta Center: two first-period goals; two first-period fights; oh, and an overtime game-winner.
It ended when Clayton Keller scored 19 seconds into overtime to lift Utah to a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
"It was great, honestly," head coach Andre Tourigny said of the atmosphere. "Right from the get-go, I think that was great. The stands are so steep, you feel the fans are almost sitting on the bench with you."
And Utah HC made sure to put on a show for all those new fans.
After a bit of a slow start, things picked up in a hurry at the tail end of the first period. Defenseman Sean Durzi zipped a pass in front of the net to forward Lawson Crouse, who tapped it in for the club's first goal at the Delta Center.
As loud as the crowd was then, it only got louder moments later when both O'Brien and Travis Barron dropped their gloves for two separate fights after goalkeeper Connor Ingram was skated into.
"That really got the fans into it, got the bench into it," Crouse said of the fights. "That's what you love. We're a tight-knit group in here, and everyone's got each other's backs."
Said O'Brien: "I just wanted to make sure that it slowed down a little bit. You want guys healthy, especially our goaltender."
Whatever the reason for the fights, the fans ate them up. And by the time Alex Kerfoot put in Utah's second goal near the end of the first period, it was clear the Delta Center crowd had fallen for its new team.
"We had a blast," O'Brien said. "The energy was unbelievable — I know you guys felt it. So it was a great time out there."
Tourigny said it was important to leave a good first impression. That's one of the reasons he opted to play a pretty standard lineup in the preseason game. Utah played three of its top four lines against the Kings, giving fans a small sample of what could be coming once the games start to count on Oct. 8.
"It's great for us to have the opportunity to play here during the preseason so we see that for the first time and experience that," Tourigny said. "It's really well done, really professional. The setup is great. You can see the smiles of the players right now. I hope they will come back to earth because right now they're flying high."
Tourigny said that before the game. There was no coming down after it — for them or the fans.
Especially after Keller gave the team the victory with a game-winning wrister in the opening moments of the extra session.
"We can't wait for opening night," Crouse said. "Tonight was just a little bit of a taste of it. Hopefully, we caught their attention a little bit, bring them all back."
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Ryan Miller
KSL.com Utah Jazz reporter