Utah
Utah Hockey Club logo leak? Three possibilities make rounds on social media

Kraken’s Campbell debuts as first female NHL coach
The Seattle Kraken’s Jessica Campbell made history by becoming the first female coach in NHL history as her team was defeated 3-2 by the St. Louis Blues.
unbranded – Sport
Utah NHL fans get one more chance to vote on the team’s permanent nickname during Tuesday night’s home game at the Delta Center.
The names – after the team ruled out the popular Utah Yeti because it couldn’t reach a co-existence deal with YETI Coolers – are the current Utah Hockey Club, plus Utah Mammoth and Utah Outlaws. An attempt at Utah Wasatch fell flat on the first night of voting and was replaced by Outlaws.
As part of the vote, fans were shown branding possibilities, which were supposed to stay under wraps. But the potential logos went out on social media Monday and were confirmed by NHL insider Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.
The first two are self-explanatory. The Mammoth and Outlaws are a sideways mammoth and an outlaw, respectively. The nicknames have significance because mammoth remains have been found in Utah and the state was also the birthplace of Butch Cassidy.
The Utah Hockey Club’s potential revised logo – the current one is a puck – appears to be a combination of a snow creature and the Wasatch mountains. Perhaps, it’s what the Yeti logo could have looked like if a deal had been reached.
The nickname search started at 20 names, then was cut to six and now three. Tuesday’s game is the fourth and final opportunity for an in-person vote. The team said a logo, jersey design and mascot would be ready for the 2025-26 season.
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Utah
Where Utah stands on gender equity in politics

SALT LAKE CITY — Politics has been a hot topic nationally and locally over the past few weeks. From daily updates on Utah’s Capitol Hill to executive orders in Washington D.C. A new study on women’s status in Utah politics sparked our interest, so we worked to find out more.
WalletHub recently ranked Utah as the 4th best state to live in. While the Beehive State scored above average on many metrics it lags in one area, gender equity. That includes the presence of women in elected positions.
The Utah State University Utah Women and Leadership Project (UWLP), began reporting on the status of women in politics in 2014, which updates in 2017, and yearly since 2021.
According to the UWLP, 16.7% of the Utah delegation to Congress is female. That is lower than the 28.4% of women in Congress nationally. In the state legislature, 29.8% of members are women. Nationally that number sits at 34.4%.
FOX 13 News spoke with the founding director of the Utah Women and Leadership Project, Susan Madsen. She says that until men and women are represented in equal numbers important local issues will go unchanged. “We know there’s a big difference between men and women we know from the research that we care about certain policies in different ways our priorities are different so when you don’t have more equal numbers of men and women in the legislature in our Congress delegation and city councils whatever it might be you really do not represent the population the way it needs to be represented,” Madsen stated.
There are places where representation numbers are increasing in the state of Utah. Forty percent of Utah statewide executive office seats are held by women. Nationally that number is only 31.6%.
Women also hold the majority of elected positions of auditor, clerk, recorder, and treasurer. Three out of the four largest Utah cities also are represented by women as mayors.
Utah
Utah poised to pass transgender rule on dorms

For the fourth year in a row, the Utah Legislature appears about to pass another bill that targets the transgender community.
A bill that would require transgender students at public universities to live in dorms corresponding with their sex at birth, sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, passed Senate on Thursday. It faces just one more vote in the House before receiving final legislative approval.
Opponents blasted HB269 for targeting the transgender community, creating potential litigation and legal concerns, and as government overreach. The bill easily passed the Senate 22-7 in a near party-line vote.
During Wednesday’s debate of the bill, Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, criticized the Legislature for using a single case that “blew up on social media” to create new policy.
Riebe was referring to a viral social media post from the mother of a Utah State University student who complained to the school because her daughter was sharing a common space with a transgender resident assistant, who had been randomly assigned to live in the dorm.
“We hear one case blowing up social media, and we’re creating a law — a heavy-handed law — to change policy that’s worked for generations. If we don’t believe social media should be guiding our actions, then this is a bill that shouldn’t be guiding our actions,” Riebe said. “Our universities have done a fantastic job working to make sure every student’s as safe as they can, and I believe that this is overreach, and we should allow our universities to rectify these situations.”
Republican Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, told lawmakers he was concerned that there were no protections for students who live in private housing when it acts as an extension of the universities.
“My concern is that there isn’t a remedy for those individuals that have that (random roommate) assignment,” he said. “Even though it’s private property … I would say 90% to 95% or more of those students all are university-based or at a state entity, and so, having no protections in there makes me a little bit concerned.”
Democrats bring up legal concerns
Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, brought up constitutional concerns surrounding the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which requires states to treat people equally under the law.
Escamilla questioned a provision in the bill that would still restrict a transgender person from living in a dorm of their choosing even if they have a birth certificate that has a changed gender marker and undergone surgery.
“If that person had already an amended birth certificate and has gone through that transition of surgery, how is that not an equal protection violation when that person does not match where you’re going to send them?”
Utah House passes bill changing university housing policies for transgender students
Sen. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, answered and said he didn’t know if it was appropriate to do a legal analysis on the bill.
“I would say that it is overall from a legislative standpoint, it is not an equal protection violation, because the designation between male and female has been upheld in court in almost every circumstance, and it is not tied to the genitalia of the person, it is tied to their genetic makeup at the time of birth,” Brammer said.
Escamilla said when someone has gone through the defined legal process of fully transitioning, including surgery and changing the gender marker on their birth certificate, the genetic piece is not clear.
“The impact is so big,” she said. “I do believe there may be an equal protection piece because otherwise, you’re looking at these individuals who have gone through transition … why wouldn’t they not be then seen as that complete person that they are under that new place?”
Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, was the only Republican to vote against the bill alongside Democrats. He cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states gender necessarily includes gender identity, and therefore any infringement that would be prohibited on gender is also prohibited on gender identity.
In a 6-3 decision in 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that firing people for their sexual orientation or gender identity is sex discrimination, which is prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“It is my belief that just like many of the other bills that we have passed that infringed on gender identity, this will also be unconstitutional,” Thatcher said. “But the damage isn’t necessarily the bills that we pass. It’s the messages that we send, and sometimes we pass bills because they are messages.”
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Brammer, in his summation, addressed Thatcher’s concern.
“That was a very narrow decision that was limited only to Title VII employment situations,” he said. “I’ve read the case. It’s not applicable to these situations in any way, and (the justices) were very careful to make sure that it was not, and to a large extent, that’s why the Supreme Court has taken up very similar cases in the sense of transgender surgeries that they’ll be deciding in June.”
The Supreme Court is expected to rule this summer on United States v. Skrmetti, a case about medical treatment for transgender children. Utah banned gender-affirming care for minors in 2023.
As the bill was discussed again on Thursday, Sen. Jen Plumb, D-Salt Lake City, said the last several years of legislation targeted toward transgender individuals have made that community feel isolated.
“It does break my heart on some degree, that every year for the last four years, we have had very targeted legislation toward them,” she said. “They will never be legislated out of existence. They will be adored, loved and treasured by some of us for the rest of all of our lives.”
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Utah
Takeaways From Utah's 72-59 Win Over Colorado

SALT LAKE CITY—Though it wasn’t pretty, Craig Smith and Utah basketball ultimately took care of business in a 72-59 win over Colorado.
Utah needed a late scoring outburst to secure the 13-point win, as the Buffs held tough for most of the game.
With the win, the Utes improved to 13-9 overall, 5-6 in Big 12 play. They will travel east to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday.
With some major clutch buckets tonight, @GabeMadsen53 is tonight’s Player of the Game‼️#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/2xDzjFZayv
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) February 6, 2025
If you stuck it out, Utah’s 17-point outburst was worth the wait… almost
After an inexplicably sloppy game for most of the night, Utah finally went on a run that almost made it all worth it.
It was a 55-52 game after a Trevor Baskin bucket at the 3:58 mark. It seemed like Colorado had the momentum and were trending towards a breakthrough win.
Then, Gabe Madsen got a layup to go to start Utah’s run. The Utes got a defensive stop and then added a Hunter Erickson 3-pointer after Lawson Lovering secured an offensive rebound.
Mike Sharavjamts blocked a layup attempt, and the rebound was collected by Lovering again. He was fouled and after a night of struggles at the line, he actually knocked down both attempts.
Utah then got another stop, and got out in transition, which led to a Ezra Ausar one-handed slam, plus the foul.
With the HAMMER PLUS THE FOUL‼️💪@ezraausar making a statement‼️#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/iZ2I2Sxfuu
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) February 6, 2025
Unfortunately, he missed the free throw, and then Sharavjamts added a couple of free throws but missed a couple as well. Lastly, Jake Wahlin connected on two 3-pointers as the knockout blows in the game.
This was the sort of run Utah needed to take control much earlier in the game. It’s disappointing that it took until the 3:40 mark in the second half to get it going, but they finally went on the run to get the job done.
Were the Utes overlooking the Buffs?
As exciting as the final three minutes were, the other 37 were pretty rough. Utah didn’t look very sharp, but the difference in ability level between Utah and Colorado was obvious, which is saying something.
Given Utah’s upcoming schedule—games on the road against West Virginia and Cincinnati—it would make sense for the team to spend a little extra time preparing for those games.
Utah turned the ball over frequently, finishing the game with 15. Most of them seemed to be inexplicable unforced turnovers, where a surprisingly bad pass or fumbled catch led to the giveaway.
And to be totally fair to Colorado, the Utes were only a 6.5-point favorite coming into the game. So, suggesting Utah may have overlooked them is an obvious stretch.
The main point is that Utah’s execution was surprisingly sloppy. Coach Smith must clean things up moving forward if they want to have a shot at a road win in the next two contests.
Frankly, tonight’s performance should be worrisome because Colorado clearly lacks the horses to compete in the league. They are winless in Big 12 play, and nearly giving this game away to them is concerning.
The unsung heroes for Utah basketball tonight
Gabe Madsen led the squad with 17 points on a rather efficient 5-of-10 overall, including 4-of-7 from deep and 3-of-4 from the line.
Though he only finished with 10 points and 7 rebounds, Ezra Ausar led the effort and energy for the Utes on both ends of the floor.
However, the unsung heroes were the difference tonight for the Utes.
Mason Madsen and Zach Keller were the guys that helped Utah settle in on the offensive end. Utah struggled through the first four minutes, then Keller added a layup and M. Madsen added one shortly after. They finished the half with 9 combined points, but M. Madsen was +9 and Keller was +5.
Their positive play continued in the second half, as M. Madsen seemed a bit more aggressive and Keller got a couple more layups to go.
All in all, M. Madsen finished the game with 10 points and 5 rebounds, while Keller ended up with 8 points and 2 boards. More importantly, they just played effective basketball for the Utes on both sides of the floor.
18-of-35 from the line
That’s what Utah shot from the free-throw line tonight. It was pretty rough to start the game, as they began 1-of-8 from the stripe.
They eventually converted four-consecutive from the line, but the up-and-down roller coaster ride continued throughout the rest of the game.
Utah has worked extensively on its free throws, but the struggles continue. The pressure can be felt in the Huntsman each time a player steps to the line.
Ultimately, it may just be that Utah simply doesn’t have good free throw shooters. It’s hard enough to get a quality win when they convert them, if they continue to shoot like this, they won’t stand a chance in their upcoming games.
UP NEXT – Utah Vs. West Virginia
Utah will take its first two-game road swing starting this weekend when it first heads to Morgantown for a battle with West Virginia on Saturday, Feb. 8. Eric Rothman will be on the call alongside Tim Welsh beginning at 3 p.m. (MST) on ESPN+ as the Utes check off the 39th state they’ve ever competed in on when the two square off in WVU Coliseum.
Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.
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