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KEARNS — Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation CEO Colin Hilton had a question for Utah's new NHL team.
Last spring, as most fans debated the team name and colors, Hilton was more curious about something else, so he called up a Smith Entertainment Group executive and asked his question.
"I'm excited the team's coming to Utah," he told him. "Where are they going to train?"
At that point — like most things surrounding the team — the answer was: to be determined.
Hilton, though, had a suggestion.
The Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation maintains the Olympic facilities from the 2002 games, one of which is the Utah Olympic Oval. Hilton let the team know the Oval was an option.
On Wednesday — just a few months since that call — Utah Hockey Club players took the ice at the oval for rookie camp. It was the first official skate for the team in what will be their home during the inaugural season.
"There's a lot of energy, believe it or not, when you have the Olympic speed skaters out there with the short track, everybody's training to get to the Olympics, they're pushing the pace," Utah Hockey general manager Bill Armstrong said. "And just the vibrant colors and the job they've done and where the rink sits. Our players get extremely excited about coming here to practice, and that's a big thing."
What needed to happen to get that point?
The Olympic Oval wasn't NHL-ready in the spring. The rink was international-sized and there was a growing list of things that needed to be added or updated: locker rooms, food areas, a player lounge, offices, weight room, training room, etc.
To help fit all that, a 7,000-square-foot structure was built in the corner of the facility looking over the (now NHL-sized) rink.
All that for a temporary home?
The Utah Hockey Club will move to their permanent practice facility at the Shops at South Town next offseason. Olympic Oval officials, though, said construction and updates won't go wasted once the team moves out.
"We'll use it for our international competitions for speed skating. It will be a great corporate area, a VIP area for our events that we host annually, like World Cups," Olympic Oval general manager Todd Porter said.
Porter said there are still discussions on how to best use the updated spaces.
"We're always looking for more weight room space," he said. "And when we get into events, we need extra locker rooms for teams, or for doping control, or for other kinds of those items."
He said updates were going to be needed to the Oval to get ready for the 2034 Olympic games, so the NHL's arrival just got things rolling.
Added Hilton: "We'll use this for a variety of uses afterward, so it's a nice improvement. We thank SEG for putting many millions of dollars into this."
As for the logistics of having an NHL franchise in the building, Porter said there are some growing pains. Ice time has had to be altered some for the USA Speedskating team and other programs, but he's confident that everything has been figured out.
"The interaction between the two teams has been really good; it's been positive," he said
Oval officials think the Hockey Club's presence will be a positive for community members, too.
"We have a saying: 'High performance by day, recreation by night.'" Hilton said. "And while we have these top-level teams in the morning, they're done at practice at one o'clock, two o'clock. Then school lets out and then the kids are on the ice. The kids in the hockey programs are so excited to have 24 of the best hockey players in the world right here in the Oval."
