While I can’t stand singular nicknames, the Utah Hockey Club got me on this one. Oh yes, because if you haven’t yet heard the news, they can’t roll with the name Yeti or Yetis because of trademark issues.
But whatever. Just as all clever people like those owner Ryan Smith has put in charge of his hockey team, they came up with a sensational replacement name. This name wasn’t mentioned in last year’s fan vote, nor did we hear about it until Wednesday.
The nickname in question? The Wasatch, which is a nod to the Wasatch Mountain Range, and it’s one of those unique nicknames in sports that you can only apply to a team that calls Salt Lake City home. To be frank, I love nicknames like these, and it would be up there with Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Montreal Canadiens, all of which you can only apply to a region.
It’s not a create-a-team name, nor is it such a common moniker that you see used all across the pro and college sports landscape. Plus, it’s about the only singular name I can handle since ‘Wild,’ ‘Avalanche,’ and ‘Lightning’ are so generic that they lull me to sleep. Kraken is the only one that even sounds remotely enticing, even if Metropolitans would’ve made a whole lot more sense.
Utah Hockey Club would bring a brand of uniqueness if they’re the Wasatch
Every time I write the name ‘Wasatch,’ it brings me chills. Everything about it screams Salt Lake City, and since it’s a nod to the mountain range, Utah certainly picked the right color scheme, with its rock black, mountain blue, and salt white defining the region.
Greg Wyshynski of ESPN stated, “The name will allow the team to use a "mythical snow creature in the form of a Yeti" as its mascot, according to Mike Maughan of Smith Entertainment Group.”
Clever, right? And let’s hope the name manifests into a reality, as the Hockey Club and Mammoth are the other two finalists, per Wyshynski. Hockey Club is way too generic and although the uniforms and colors look phenomenal, it’d be migraine-inducing if they went by that name permanently.
Then, there’s the Mammoth, a name that makes no sense if they were to use the singular version of it. That said, I’m rolling with Wasatch, and the fans have got to vote this one in. Let’s hope they make the right decision here and roll with a nickname with regional ties to their new hockey team.