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Game Preview, 3/16: Utah Hockey Club vs. Vancouver Canucks | Utah Hockey Club

Published

8 months ago

March 16, 2025

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Game Preview, 3/16: Utah Hockey Club vs. Vancouver Canucks | Utah Hockey Club

WHEN: 6:00 p.m. MT

WHERE: Rogers Arena – Vancouver, British Columbia

TV: SEG+, UtahHC+, Utah 16 | RADIO: KSL Sports Zone 1280 AM, NHL App

In the most important game of the season to date, the Utah Hockey Club (29-26-11) faces the Vancouver Canucks (31-24-11) tonight at Rogers Arena while both teams jockey for the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference. Utah is four points behind Vancouver in the standings but could pull within a game of the Canucks with a regulation win tonight. Utah is 5-3-2 since the 4 Nations Face-off break while Vancouver is 5-6-0 in that span.

ONE-TIMERS

Clayton Keller is 12th in the NHL with 74 points (23G, 51A).
Alexander Kerfoot is a Vancouver native.
Michael Carcone spent three seasons with the Canucks’ organization.
Utah has the 13th best power play (23.4%) and 13th best penalty kill (80.6%) in the NHL.
Vancouver has three players named Pettersson on the roster, none of whom are related.

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP

Tonight’s game carries significant implications for the wild card race, with a potential four-point swing resulting from a regulation finish. The Canucks have won four of their last six games, including a 6-2 dismantling of the Chicago Blackhawks last night.

Arturs Silovs started in net last night for Vancouver, so it is likely that Utah will face the Canucks’ No. 1 goaltender, Kevin Lankinen, tonight. Lankinen is 23-12-7 with a 2.55 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage.

Defenseman Qiuinn Hughes will also be in the lineup for Vancouver tonight. Hughes missed the last meeting with Utah due to injury, and his presence makes the Canucks a far more dangerous team. The blueliner ranks third amongst all defensemen with 62 points (15G, 47A) despite missing 14 games to injury this season.

STANDINGS UPDATE

WC1: Minnesota Wild – 79 points

WC2: Vancouver Canucks – 73 points

—

Calgary Flames – 71 points
St. Louis Blues – 71 points
Utah Hockey Club – 69 points
Anaheim Ducks – 65 points

WHO TO WATCH

UTAH: #82 KEVIN STENLUND – Stenlund notched his first multi-goal performance of the year with a goal and an assist on Friday in Seattle. The forward is now up to 17 points (9G, 8A) on the year, marking a new career high after he posted 15 points (11G, 4A) last season with the Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers.

VANCOUVER: #40 ELIAS PETTERSSON – Elias Pettersson has found a scoring groove recently and now has four goals in his last five games after a tally against Chicago last night. The two-way centerman is now tied for second on the team with 15 goals this season.

LOOK BACK

Utah missed out on two points Friday night in a 4-2 regulation loss to the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. Utah led 2-1 in the second period after goals from Nick Schmaltz and Kevin Stenlund, but a deflection off Brandon Montour’s skate tied the game at 2-2 for Seattle late in period two.

Halfway through the third, a Utah turnover led to a Kaapo Kakko goal to give the Kraken a 3-2 edge. Eeli Tolvanen scored twice for Seattle, including the empty-netter. For Utah, Stenlund finished with a goal and an assist while John Marino provided a helper on both Utah markers.

LAST MEETING

Utah picked up a massive win after knocking off the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 at Delta Center on Feb. 23. Vancouver’s Jake DeBrusk opened the scoring in the second period, but Logan Cooley found the back of the net just 2:08 later to tie the game at 1-1. With 5:53 left in the third, Dylan Guenther capitalized on Utah’s fourth power play of the night.

Utah outshot Vancouver 32-15, marking the second-fewest shots allowed in a game by Utah this season. Goaltender Karel Vejmelka earned the win, stopping 14 shots.

Notably, Vancouver’s top defenseman Quinn Hughes was not in the lineup, leaving the Canucks to play without their leading scorer.

CLOSE GAMES

Many of Utah’s recent games have been significant for playoff implications, but they’ve also been tightly contested on the ice. Utah has played 32 one-goal games this season- the second most in the NHL. 11 of Utah’s last 18 games have been decided by just one goal, and 16 of Utah’s last 18 contests have been decided by either one or two goals.

Utah is 14-7-11 in games decided by one goal while Vancouver is 15-4-11.

AGAINST WILD CARD HOPEFULS

Utah is trying to chase down three teams in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference: the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, and St. Louis Blues. The Mountain Blue has a combined record of 6-1-0 against those teams this year, with another opportunity to gain ground coming tonight against the Canucks. In those seven contests, Utah has outscored the opposition 24-13 while averaging 3.43 goals for and 1.86 goals against.

Utah has beaten Vancouver twice by one goal, posted five goals against Calgary twice, and scored four times against St. Louis twice. The team has not allowed more than three goals in any of the games against these three Western Conference foes.

LOOK AHEAD

Utah concludes a three-game road trip on Tuesday with a matchup against the Edmonton Oilers. The team returns home to face the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, Mar. 20.

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Utah

Jazz G Isaiah Collier Nearing Season Debut After Injury

Published

18 hours ago

November 3, 2025

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Jazz G Isaiah Collier Nearing Season Debut After Injury

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Utah

Koki Riley: What to do with Miami, and why Utah made a leap in AP Top-25 Poll after Week 10

Published

2 days ago

November 2, 2025

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Koki Riley: What to do with Miami, and why Utah made a leap in AP Top-25 Poll after Week 10

On Thursday, Awful Announcing — a blog dedicated to covering sports media news nationally — pondered whether I was the best or worst AP poll voter.

I don’t have a clue which side of the spectrum I land on, but I appreciate the fact that there’s at least one person who is listening to the reasoning behind my selections. I always strive to provide fair and honest analysis, even if it’s extreme or unique in comparison to the consensus.

So with that said, let’s break down my poll after Week 10.

My AP Top-25 poll after Week 10

1. Indiana, 2. Texas A&M, 3. Ohio State, 4. Alabama, 5. Georgia, 6. Texas Tech, 7. Notre Dame, 8. Ole Miss, 9. BYU, 10. Oregon, 11. Louisville, 12. Oklahoma, 13. Utah, 14. Miami, 15. Southern Cal, 16. Texas, 17. Missouri, 18. Vanderbilt, 19. Michigan, 20. Washington, 21. Tennessee, 22. Illinois, 23. Virginia, 24. Georgia Tech, 25. Iowa

Just missed: Houston, TCU, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati

What I did with Miami

It felt like dropping Miami to No. 14 in my poll wasn’t enough after the Hurricanes’ loss to SMU. The loss means Miami is just 2-2 in ACC play and the Ponies already had three defeats heading into this week, including two losses to middling at best teams in Baylor and Wake Forest.

But this loss wasn’t as devastating as it may have seemed on the surface. SMU still only has one defeat in conference play, and Miami’s only other loss comes to a Louisville team that I have at No. 11 in my poll.

It seems like Miami’s College Football Playoff hopes are done, but the Hurricanes still have a win over a top-10 team (Notre Dame) and dominated a pretty good South Florida team. The Notre Dame win kept Miami ahead of Texas and USC. Neither team holds a win that impressive, and they have flaws in their own right.

Texas earned a huge win over Vanderbilt this week and beat Oklahoma, but also lost to Florida and probably should’ve fallen to lowly Kentucky and Mississippi State. USC snuck past Nebraska on the road this week and beat Michigan, but the Trojans — unlike Miami — lost to the Irish.

Sliding up to No. 6 in Miami’s place was Texas Tech after the Red Raiders dominated another Big 12 team (Kansas State) on Saturday. Besides one loss with the backup quarterback on the road, Tech has been unstoppable.

I prefer the Red Raiders over Notre Dame, given that the Irish needed a late touchdown to pull away from a woeful Boston College team this weekend and have a weaker strength of record, according to ESPN.

Utah’s rise

Utah’s lack of stellar play at quarterback still makes me nervous, but its resume has become impossible to ignore at this point.

When they haven’t lost, the Utes have blown everyone out, including this weekend when they crushed Cincinnati 45-14 at home. It was the sort of statement victory they needed, given that their best win before this week was over Sam Leavitt-less ASU at home.

The lopsided wins, combined with the fact that its only defeats came to top-10 teams in my poll, were why the Utes made a meteoric rise in my rankings this week.

Other notes

Virginia is at No. 12 in the overall poll, but is only 24th in my poll for a couple of different reasons. The Cavaliers have a great overtime win over Louisville, but close wins over North Carolina, Florida State and Washington State, and a loss to NC State make me question what their actual quality is.

Oddly enough, the team below them in my poll also lost to NC State this week. I’ve consistently been lower on Georgia Tech because of the lack of competition it’s faced to this point, despite being undefeated.

The Yellow Jackets still made my poll because beating Duke on the road isn’t easy, and an 8-1 record for a Power Four conference team is still pretty good. They’ll be tested to end the year as they face Pittsburgh and Georgia to finish the season.

Iowa was the last team out a week ago, but the Hawkeyes are in this week despite not playing because Houston and Cincinnati lost. Iowa lacks a strong win, and the Iowa State loss doesn’t look great, but the Hawkeyes have managed to be the only team that’s lost to Indiana by single digits.

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21-year-old University of Utah student wins $125K in ESPN kicking contest

Published

2 days ago

November 1, 2025

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21-year-old University of Utah student wins 5K in ESPN kicking contest

SALT LAKE CITY — A 21-year-old University of Utah senior is $125,000 richer after kicking a 33-yard field goal for Pat McAfee’s Kicking Contest during ESPN’s “College GameDay” Saturday.

The challenge is part of the “College GameDay” experience that has taken over many college campuses in anticipation of big games, like the one Saturday night against the Cincinnati Bearcats. The challenge itself was started by former NFL punter Pat McAfee to prove that scoring a field goal is much harder than it looks. Upward of $1 million is put on the line, much of it going to charity, and another portion going to the kickers themselves.

Jonah Knubel was among the hundreds of people who camped overnight, hoping that his ticket would be drawn. As chance would have it, his ticket was not drawn. But, as circumstance would have it, he would be the one to perform the challenge.

“My ticket was not called for the contest, but the guy who won the raffle looked over and said, ‘I’m not kicking this. I’m way too nervous. I don’t know how to kick,” Knuble recalled. “I said, ‘Hello! I’ll kick it for you, because I have experience kicking.’”

Knubel’s experience came from playing on the Jordan High School football team as a kicker his senior year, where he earned All-Region honors.

After speaking with the powers that be, it was agreed that Knubel would attempt the 33-yard kick, but the $1 million prize money would be split between him and the ticket holder. Added to the wager was a prediction by McAfee himself, who said that if Knubel made it, Utah would be the sure winner of tonight’s game.

“It kind of felt like a fever dream,” Knubel said. “Getting to high-five everyone, being on TV and getting to meet everyone was honestly so amazing. And when the kick finally came and I missed the first attempt, I was absolutely crushed because I knew I could make it pretty easily.”

In a clutch move, a timeout was called, and Knubel was awarded another kick. This time, the prize money was $500,000, where he would split $250,000 with the ticket holder and the other $250,000 going to a local charity.

His high school kicking experience kicked in, and he scored big. Not only that, but Knubel became the second to win the challenge this year out of 10 challenges, and one of seven who have won since it began in 2023.

After a lot of thought (and a nap), Knubel, a finance major, told KSL.com that he plans on “wisely” spending his winnings.

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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