Utah
Utah Hockey Club Already Top Team in NHL
Maybe all it took was a new location for the Utah Hockey Club to find a good groove. In their first three games since relocating away from the Arizona Coyotes, the Utah Hockey Club is a perfect 3-0-0.
Not only is Utah off to an undefeated start, they’ve scored 16 goals in three games. Led by future franchise centerpiece Dylan Guenther, who already has five tallies, the Utah Hockey Club seems unbeatable.
They got things going as a franchise with a picture-perfect home opener against the Chicago Blackhawks. Guenther scored a pair of goals, including the first goal in franchise history, en route to a huge 5-2 win.
The official attendance count for Utah’s home opener is listed at 11,131, but that only counts unobstructed seats. It’s well known that the Delta Center has quite a few obstructed seats, but that didn’t matter on opening night.
Utah fans packed the house, making sure there wasn’t an empty seat to speak of.
This place is ELECTRIC!!! pic.twitter.com/okcIfDsCSr
— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) October 9, 2024
Following their home opener, Utah embarked on a four-game road trip, and so far, success has followed.
Utah defeated the New York Islanders 5-4 in overtime, with Guenther playing the hero. A few nights later, Utah again had overtime magic, this time against a Stanley Cup favorite in the New York Rangers.
By a score of 6-5, newly minted captain Clayton Keller notched the OT winner. With their victory over the Rangers, Utah became just the second team in NHL history to win each of their first three games, joining the Vegas Golden Knights.
Utah’s great start can be credited, in part, to Guenther’s goal-scoring ability, but he hasn’t been alone in finding the back of the net. Guenther has been joined by Barrett Hayton in scoring in each of the first three games of the season.
Hayton has gone a solid goal-per-game with three tallies in three games, while Guenther is leading the team with five through the organization’s first week.
Utah will need to work on their defense and goaltending, but there are easy ways to solve that problem. While they’ve scored 16 goals in their first three games, they’ve also allowed 11.
Connor Ingram has been in goal for each game and is a perfect 3-0, but sits with a .874 save percentage and 3.54 goals against average. The reigning Masterton Trophy winner will want to hone that in a bit to really make Utah a lethal team in the West.
Their perfect start gives them six standings points, good for an early-season tie for the league lead. The New Jersey Devils also have six points with a 3-1-0 record.
It’s early in the season, but Utah is a team to keep an eye on. With some organizational stability, a boisterous fanbase, and a team ready to compete at a new level, Utah isn’t going to be easy competition in its inaugural season.
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SALT LAKE CITY — A California man in Utah, as part of his duties with the National Guard, is accused of trying to solicit sex from a young teenager.
Joshua Ruben Rodriguez, 29, of Fresno, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with attempted rape of a child, a first-degree felony, and enticement of a minor, a second-degree felony.
The investigation began when an agent with the Utah State Bureau of Investigation posed as a 13-year-old girl on a “popular social media site … in an attempt to locate and apprehend adults attempting to have sexual contact with children,” according to charging documents.
On April 16, Rodriguez sent the agent a message — believing he was talking to a teen girl — that stated, “I’ll be direct with you, I would like to get to know you and (have sex with) your mind into a daze to where you feel like a woman,” according to charging documents.
When the “girl” asked if he had a problem with her age, Rodriguez replied, “I don’t have a problem with your age,” the charges state.
The agent told Rodriguez to meet at an apartment complex in Salt Lake County where the girl lived, claiming her mother would be gone. When Rodriguez arrived, he was taken into custody, the charges state.
“(Rodriguez) does not have ties to Utah. He is a resident of Fresno, California. (He) was in town as part of his military service with the California National Guard,” prosecutors stated in charging documents while requesting he be held without bail pending trial.
ST. GEORGE, Utah (KUTV) — One person was hospitalized at the St. George Regional Hospital after a car rolled and caught fire just south of the Utah-Arizona border.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department in Arizona said its crews responded to the crash near the Black Rock Road exit – roughly two miles south of the state border – on Sunday night.
Upon arrival, crews put out the car fire and found the driver had left the scene. A single occupant, who was able to get out of the car on their own, was transported to the hospital by a Beaver Dam ambulance.
MORE | Crashes
Their condition has not been publicly released.
Details on what led to the crash and the condition of the driver were not immediately available.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department said law enforcement investigated the scene.
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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz missed out on the NBA Playoffs, but still scored a big win thanks to a coin flip.
In Monday’s tiebreaker coin flip to determine who had the fourth-worst record in the league last season, the Jazz came out winners over the Sacramento Kings, who had the same 22-60 record.
Had the Jazz lost the coin flip, they would have been fifth in NBA Draft Lottery odds. Only the worst four teams are guaranteed to remain within the top eight of the lottery.
If Utah had fallen to fifth, there would have been the chance they could have dropped out of the top 8 teams in the lottery, and owed the draft pick to Oklahoma City, which was top-8 protected in a previous trade.
The Jazz now have an 11.5 percent chance to win the first overall pick in the NBA Draft Lottery, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 10.
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