From courtside to rinkside: The growing connection between the Jazz and Utah Hockey Club

SALT LAKE CITY — Sean Durzi had some delusions of grandeur.

When the Utah Hockey Club defenseman arrived in his new home last spring, he made a pretty bold proclamation to the state's long-time pro franchise. Durzi mentioned to some members of the Utah Jazz that he believed he could hang in an NBA game.

"I was on board that I could finish a full game with, I think I said 6 points, two rebounds and two assists," Durzi said.

He's now singing a different tune about his basketball abilities.

He's one of a handful of Utah Hockey Club players — along with Michael Kesselring, Barrett Hayton, Clayton Keller, and Josh Doan, among others — who have made semi-regular appearances at Jazz games this season. And, well, it didn't take Durzi long to realize he might have been a little off on his prediction.

"After sitting close up for their games, I probably would have five turnovers and zeros across the board," he laughed.

A teammate put it another way: "You wouldn't touch the ball."

Durzi didn't have much of an argument for that one, but his bold statement was an early chapter in the connection between the two teams. (And to be fair, he'd probably do better on the court than Jazz players — even hockey-loving Lauri Markkanen — would do on the ice.)

"We've gotten to know their group decently well," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "What are the interactions like? Inappropriate. Mostly just a bunch of sports people saying things that I shouldn't say — no — but they're great. They're huge supporters of our team."

Hardy's become a pretty big supporter of the new Delta Center tenants, too.

In an early January game, Utah Hockey Club forward Logan Cooley tried to have a wonder goal, spinning in front of the net and shooting the puck between his legs. It didn't quite work out — the puck sailed wide — but Hardy appreciated the attempt.

TNT cameras even panned to the Jazz coach's shocked reaction to the audacious shot.

But don't mistake his appreciation for a green light for his team to do similar things.

"I don't think we need any more flair than we already have right now," Hardy said with a chuckle. "I think we've got plenty."

Remember, Collin Sexton once bounced the ball off the floor to himself for a 360-degree dunk in the middle of a game.

For Hardy, though, it's been fun to engage in hockey.

As a longtime coach, he can't just sit and enjoy a basketball game in a relaxed way anymore. His mind begins to analyze the game; and soon enough, he is in coaching mode. For NHL games ... well, he can sit back and freely watch the antics of Cooley, Keller and Co.

"I'm comfortable enough with myself to say I know very little about the intricacies of hockey," Hardy said. "I'm learning. Lauri is teaching me the rules when we go, so it's actually really fun because I get to watch it in a relatively pure way."

Utah Hockey Club coach André Tourigny can relate. He couldn't help but smile when he sat courtside at a Jazz game in January because it was all just so … different.

Hardy paced the floor in front of him talking to officials, with fans and with Tourigny himself. There were enough breaks in the game that allowed for those small moments to happen.

That doesn't happen in an NHL game.

"There's no pause in our game," Tourigny said. "It's fast, fast, fast, go, go, go. ... There is no time for 'OK, let's settle, look and set up the next play.' That doesn't happen.

"But I really enjoyed it because it's still a collective game; you still need to play all five and set up picks and set up coverage and different stuff. So having the opportunity to get to see it from almost the inside and having a chance to talk to Will is pretty cool."

Members of the Utah Hockey Club mentioned that one of the perks of being in Utah is getting pretty good seats at Jazz games (having the same owner makes that pretty easy) to see the likes of Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Victor Wembanyama up close.

It also gives a new team a chance to be seen out in the community. That's something they think is important as they try to grow their game in the state.

"Obviously, it's our first year here," Keller said. "People are just kind of learning hockey and getting into hockey, so it's super cool to make any appearances I can, whether it's at Jazz games or local community things."

But The Club wouldn't mind making the connection a little stronger, either.

"I actually hope one day when things don't matter (you can insert a tanking joke here), I can just go shootaround with the Jazz and play horse or something," Kesselring said.

That said, he wanted to make something crystal clear: He's fully aware he can't hang with the NBA players.

That's something Durzi now knows, too.

"When they sat close, we wanted to make sure that they recognized that their delusion is ridiculous," Hardy said.

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