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5th shutout against Utah HC prompts internal reflection

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5th shutout against Utah HC prompts internal reflection


For the third time this month and fifth time this season, the Utah Hockey Club failed to score a single goal in a game. This time they fell 1-0 to the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.

The band 4 Non Blondes said it best: What’s going on?

“In the first period we had good momentum, we created good offense and then we started to get in the box way too much,” said head coach André Tourigny after the game. “That cost us momentum.”

The third period was full of chances for Utah HC, but they just couldn’t capitalize.

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At one point, a give-and-go created a perfect opportunity for Maveric Lamoureux at the top of the crease, but his shot went off the underside of the crossbar and out.

On another occasion, a power play bid from Nick Schmaltz hit a body in front of the net and bounced just wide. UHC just couldn’t buy a goal.

The Bruins are glad to get a win in their first game under interim head coach Joe Sacco. Additionally, Elias Lindholm scored the game’s lone goal, breaking a 17-game personal goal drought.

It was a big step in the right direction for the Bruins.

How this works

This is a three-part article geared toward three different audiences.

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  • First, we’ll have “Utah hockey for dummies” for all you new hockey fans. Welcome, by the way — we’re glad you’ve taken an interest in the greatest sport in the world.
  • Next, we’ll have a section titled “Utah hockey for casual fans,” aimed at those who have a basic understanding of the sport.
  • Finally, we’ll have “Utah hockey for nerds.” That will be for those of you who, like me, think about nothing but hockey all day, every day.

Feedback is welcome, so let me know what you think in the comments of this article or the comments section on “X.”

Utah hockey for dummies

Before we get into the nitty gritty details of the game, let’s take a moment to appreciate Robert Bortuzzo and Mark Kastelic. You’d think a game with only one goal would be relatively boring, but these two ensured that was not the case.

Bortuzzo and Kastelic fought each other twice. They had been engaged in some confrontation in the previous game between the two teams on Oct. 19 and they got their opportunity to finish their business a month later.

On the first bout, Bortuzzo left the bench for the purpose of fighting. As Conor Geekie learned in the preseason, that’s not allowed. Geekie got a one-game suspension and I’d expect the same for Bortuzzo.

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Utah hockey for casual fans

Karel Vejmelka was Utah HC’s best player Thursday, and it wasn’t even close. That’s a major positive point for Utah as Connor Ingram did not accompany the team on this road trip due to an upper-body injury.

Vejmelka will guard the net for the immediate future with Jaxson Stauber backing him up. Tourigny is not worried about giving Vejmelka the net.

“He’s played 50 games twice in his career, so it’s not like he’s a rookie goalie,” Tourigny said before the game. “He did it in the past and he’s capable of doing it again.”

It’s clear that Vejmelka thrives on high shot volume. He stopped all 15 shots he faced in the first period on Thursday, and then stopped 15 of the 16 that came in the ensuing periods.

Thursday’s performance comes after he made headlines against the Carolina Hurricanes last week when he stopped 49 of 50 shots.

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Ingram’s injury is considered day-to-day. He should be back soon, but the net may belong to Vejmelka anyway. Vejmelka has been the much better goalie over the last handful of games.

Utah hockey for nerds

On their last 25 power plays, Utah HC has scored just one goal, and with the amount of penalties they’ve been taking, they’re not putting themselves in a position to succeed.

Let’s break this down, piece by piece, starting with the power play.

Utah HC seems to have no problem setting up in the zone on the power play. They move the puck well and they even get lots of high-quality shots. Why isn’t the puck going in?

Tourigny believes it’s a question of urgency.

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“The guys have to realize (that) if we want to score goals, we have to get in the dirty areas,” he said. “We need to get there with passion. Not just get there — get there with burning desire to score goals.”

As far as the penalties go, they need to be more disciplined. Sure, there are necessary penalties and yes, accidents happen, but taking eight minor penalties in one game is a recipe for disaster.

“I don’t know,” Schmaltz said after the game when asked about accountability for how many penalties the guys were taking. “I feel like we’re beating a dead horse a little bit on that topic.”

The Bruins only had one power play goal, but keep in mind that spending almost an entire period shorthanded significantly limits the amount of scoring chances you get.

Schmaltz also pointed out that when the other team gets so many looks on the power play, their top players are extremely involved in the game while your top players sit on the bench.

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What’s next?

Utah HC gets a day to regroup before visiting Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.

As good as Crosby is, he hasn’t been enough to drag the Penguins into the fight. They’ve struggled in a number of areas on the ice, prompting all sorts of trade rumors — even some involving Crosby, who has been a Penguin since 2005.

Utah HC’s job going into Pittsburgh is to get back on track. They need to find ways to score (especially on the power play) and they need to be disciplined away from the puck. If they do this and continue to get solid goaltending, they could receive a much-needed confidence boost.

The game starts at 5 p.m. MDT and will be streamed on Utah HC+ and Utah 16.





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Utah Falls to Edmonton, 5-2 | Utah Mammoth

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Utah Falls to Edmonton, 5-2 | Utah Mammoth


It was a close game through the first 30 minutes; however, 11:24 into the second period the floodgates opened. There were several quick momentum shifts as all four goals in the middle frame were scored in a span of 3:40. After Matt Savoie scored shorthanded and put Edmonton up by a goal, associate captain Lawson Crouse’s 20th of the season evened things up 35 seconds later, 2-2. However, Oilers Captain Connor McDavid’s 400th career NHL goal eight seconds after Crouse’s tally took back momentum for the visitors. Jack Roslovic scored his second goal of the game three minutes later which gave Edmonton a two-goal lead.  

“I thought (the) first half of the game was good, showed some compete and then obviously the power play goal that we tied up was big,” MacKenzie Weegar shared. “Then they scored right after that, and then again quickly right after that, and then I thought we lost the momentum. We didn’t have the energy after that. The compete level in 50/50 battles wasn’t really there either. Definitely something that comes within, it’s not something that you can teach. That’s definitely look yourself in the mirror type stuff, but I trust in this group, and we’ll bounce back the right way.”

“We obviously just didn’t have enough of a pushback, in the third especially,” Kerfoot explained. “We’re down two goals in a game, fighting for a playoff spot against a team who’s also fighting, and we didn’t even make them work for it, didn’t make them earn it. Disappointing. It’s on us.”

Utah was held to 18 total shots and Edmonton blocked 24 of Utah’s attempts. The Mammoth were kept outside due to the Oilers structure, and they needed to get more pucks through to challenge Edmonton goaltender Tristan Jarry.

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“Just putting more pucks on net,” Kerfoot said. “Don’t even know about quality. We didn’t even really get many looks. Against a team like that, who kinds of allows you to have a little bit of possession on the outside, you have to break them down by shooting, recovering pucks, getting them out of structure. We allowed them to be in structure way too much.”

 “Your biggest enemy when you trail is you think you want to score, Tourigny said. “So, instead you keep your tank, your energy for to go on offense … you defend because you don’t have the same aggression, you don’t create a stop, you don’t create a hit where there’s a battle then you can recover the puck and go on offense. So, you end up spending all your energy defending instead (of spending) quick energy defensively, recovering pucks, and then you can go on the offense.”

Center Barrett Hayton was hurt on his first shift of the game and did not return. He played 0:17. Postgame, Tourigny said there will be more tests tomorrow and they will figure out “what’s the nature” of his injury.

Utah’s final game in a four-game homestand is on Thursday against the Washington Capitals. Tickets are available here!

Additional Notes from Tonight (per Mammoth PR)

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  • Tonight was Tourigny’s 400 NHL game as a head coach. He started his head coaching career with the Arizona Coyotes during the 2021-22 campaign, and this is his fifth season as a head coach. 154 of his 400 games have been with the Utah Mammoth franchise. 
  • Crouse scored his 20th of the campaign against the Oilers. He has reached the 20-goal mark four times in his last five seasons. He is currently fifth on the Mammoth with goals.
  • Karel Vejmelka played the first two periods before Vítek Vaněček took over for the third period. Vejmelka stopped 11 of the 15 shots he faced while Vaněček turned away all 10 shots he saw in the final frame.
  • The Mammoth did not take a single penalty in tonight’s game. Utah is 173-for-219 this season on the penalty kill (79.0%).
  • Utah has five skaters with 20 or more goals. They are tied with the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights for most in the NHL.

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How Big Was Jordan Clarkson’s Impact on Utah?

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How Big Was Jordan Clarkson’s Impact on Utah?


SALT LAKE CITY–Who knew that the number double zero would become so iconic in the state of Utah? Jordan Clarkson recently made his return home to Salt Lake City in a game against the Utah Jazz on March 11, 2026–His first time back at the Delta Center since being bought out by the team. 

“That’s a home for me,” Clarkson told the New York Post before his homecoming game at the Delta Center. “I loved the organization. I love the coaching staff. Yeah, I love the city. All I had was love there.”



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Utah mom accused of kidnapping autistic son’s 11-year-old bully until he apologized

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Utah mom accused of kidnapping autistic son’s 11-year-old bully until he apologized


A Utah mother allegedly kidnapped her autistic son’s bully and kept him at her home until he apologized — then threatened to have her husband beat him up.

Shannon Tufuga, 40, was slapped with kidnapping charges Monday after she rolled up on her son’s 11-year-old bully while he was riding his bike around his neighborhood in early September, according to charging documents obtained by KSL.com.

Tufuga was “driving around looking” specifically for the boy, whom she confronted and corralled into her car without his parents’ knowledge, the documents alleged.

Shannon Tufuga allegedly kidnapped her son’s bully and kept him at her home until he apologized — then threatened to have her husband beat him up. Facebook

She allegedly hightailed it back to her home in Provo, Utah, and kept the boy there until he apologized to her son.

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The boy readily apologized, but even then, the vengeful mom wouldn’t let up, according to the police report. She “threatened to have her husband beat up” the accused bully and sneered that he “was lucky she did not run over his bike,” the documents alleged.

Tufuga eventually drove the shell-shocked boy back to his home.

The alleged kidnapping caused the boy “serious emotional distress” over the following months, and he now suffers from “high anxiety and has had to alter his daily routines significantly,” according to the charging documents.


Tufuga was
Tufuga was “driving around looking” specifically for the boy, whom she confronted and corralled into her car without his parents’ knowledge, the documents alleged. Facebook

Tufuga was charged with child kidnapping and aggravated child abuse on Monday, both as second-degree felonies. The charges were lowered from first-degree felonies after the Utah County Attorney’s Office determined that a “reduction would be in the interests of justice.”

Tufuga’s son is on the autism spectrum, according to a post on her Facebook.

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