Utah
Daly impressed by Utah's 'unbelievable accomplishments' ahead of 1st NHL season | NHL.com
LAS VEGAS — Bill Daly said he’s impressed with how quickly the Utah Hockey Club is getting its affairs in order since more than 12,000 fans packed the Delta Center in Salt Lake City for their first in-person look at players and coaches on April 24.
It was a welcome-to-the-NHL moment for the team, which had been established five days earlier, and the community greeted its members with open arms as they walked onto the stage inside the rink to be introduced.
The ensuing 19 weeks have seen a flurry of activity for the new franchise, ranging from participating in its first NHL Draft, to hiring a broadcast team, to preparing a temporary practice facility, to revealing the official team colors and jerseys, to selecting an ice crew.
The citizens of Utah have noticed. And so has the League.
“I think the fan base in and around Salt Lake City is energized to embrace them,” Daly, the NHL’s Deputy Commissioner, said at the NHL North American Player Media Tour on Tuesday. “You saw that a few months ago with the introduction of the team. It’s going to be that times three-fold or four-fold when they actually start play. It’s exciting, exciting for them, exciting for the National Hockey League.
“They guaranteed us they could do this, and they’ve met every promise along the way. They’ve made unbelievable accomplishments this summer, gearing up, getting ready to play …
“It’s very gratifying to see. It’s exciting. I think the players are really excited, and I think the organization is over the top excited.”
They have reason to be.
It was the vision of local businessman Ryan Smith and wife Ashley to bring an NHL team to Utah, and the organization has been on the gas pedal since that goal became reality almost five months ago to make sure things are in order for the start of the 2024-25 season.
During the 2024 NHL Draft on June 28 at Sphere in Las Vegas, Utah made its inaugural pick a memorable one, using the No. 6 selection to take forward Tij Iginla, son of Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla. The 18-year-old was the first of 11 players selected by the team.
Since then, preparations have accelerated.
Final touches are being made on the team’s temporary practice facility at the Utah Olympic Oval, featuring refurbished locker rooms, a new ice sheet and team banners dangling from the walls. The team’s permanent state-of-the-art practice facility is expected to be completed next year.
On Saturday about 60 people tried out for 20 spots on the team’s ice crew. With just four weeks remaining until Utah’s regular-season opener against the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 8, it was another box the organization could check off.
To that end, the organization last week unveiled its broadcast team led by play-by-play man Matt McConnell. Former NHLer Dominic Moore and Nick Olczyk, son of former NHLer Ed Olczyk, will serve as color commentators.
Utah
Here’s who will lead Utah Valley University as its next president
Jon Anderson will be charged with moving the Orem school forward following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on campus last year.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Incoming UVU President Jon Anderson poses for a photo with his family after an event announcing his selection at Utah Valley University in Orem on Friday, July 17, 2026.
Utah
Beaver County residents set up thousands of sandbags ahead of flashfloods
BEAVER COUNTY, Utah — A massive community effort is underway as volunteers and Beaver County crews distribute thousands of sandbags to protect homes from the potential path of floodwaters.
After the Cottonwood Fires, residents have been waiting for weeks for relief to come in the form of rain, though officials now warn it may come all at once with an increased risk of flooding and debris flow.
Emergency Service Director Les Whitney believes that the fire has left plenty of debris to bring trouble for residents.
“We got a lot of water. We’re bringing debris with it, so tree branches, tree limbs, logs, lots of different size firewood, and that’s all in the creeks. We’re worried about that plugging up our bridges and stuff, so we have heavy equipment and excavators located in strategic places so that we can keep those bridges open,” said Whitney.
An estimated 140 homes and condominiums were spared from the flames, but remain in the paths of floodwaters.
Residents can also pick up sandbags at the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office or at the Beaver County Rodeo Fairgrounds.
Utah
Utah man arrested again for allegedly abusing dog twice in three months
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man currently on pretrial release in 4th District Court who is accused of abusing his dog has been arrested again for allegedly punching the same animal.
Keith Reaves Davis, 43, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of aggravated cruelty to an animal.
Utah County sheriff’s deputies were called Wednesday afternoon to a grocery store on a report that a man was beating his dog after it had gotten off its leash and was stopped by a bystander, according to a police booking affidavit.
“I reviewed security camera footage from the grocery store, and an individual matching the description of the suspect was seen holding the dog in the air by one paw and repeatedly striking the dog on the right hind leg area. I observed the male strike the dog several times before dropping the dog from approximately 1-2 feet. The strikes appeared to be as hard as the male could hit,” the arresting deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The dog did not cry out or whimper as if the dog was accustomed to the abuse.”
When questioned, Davis “admitted to striking the dog because it was not behaving,” the affidavit states.
An animal control officer who responded to the scene to take custody of the dog noted it was the same dog he had taken from Davis exactly three months earlier during another animal abuse investigation.
In that case, Davis was charged in 4th District Court with aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a class C misdemeanor, after deputies received a tip from a neighbor that a dog was being abused at Davis’ home, according to charging documents. When questioned, Davis “acknowledged hitting his dog as punishment,” the charges state.
Deputies also reviewed videos that the neighbor had filmed. The neighbor told investigators “there was blood from the dog on the ground of the garage and (the neighbor) can hear the dog screaming as if it’s being hurt. Deputies got the videos from the (neighbor) and you can hear very loudly the dog screaming and crying with a lot of loud banging noises. In one of the videos, you can hear the dog sounding like it is being choked by a collar and is grasping for air,” a police booking affidavit states.
Davis’ next court hearing in the April case is scheduled for July 28.
In their latest booking report, sheriff’s deputies note that they “believe further harm will be inflicted on this dog if it is released back to the male a second time,” and have recommended the dog not be returned to Davis.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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