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Utah Hockey Club loses 5th straight

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Utah Hockey Club loses 5th straight


The frustration in the Utah Hockey Club locker room is rising.

Utah is now on a five-game losing streak after Sunday night’s 2-1 setback to the St. Louis Blues, with the last three losses coming at home.

Nothing Utah HC doing seems to be working, and the players are starting to recognize it.

“We’ve had a lot of meetings about this,” said veteran defenseman Ian Cole after the game. “I think that everyone’s really said just about all that could be said. At some point, it needs to get put in practice on the ice.”

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Head coach André Tourigny agreed.

“You want to win,” he said after the game. “You want to find a way to cross the finish line and stuff like that. I don’t think we played that well today.”

The team is left looking for answers to more questions than just what it should be called next season. They have one game left in their current home stand, and its importance is not lost on Tourigny.

“It’s an extremely huge game for us (Tuesday) against Philly,” he said. “We need the two points; We need to finish the home stand at least at .500, hit the road and have a hell of a road trip before the break. There’s no doubt about it.”

Here’s a rundown of Sunday’s game.

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How this works

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

  • 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

As mentioned in the pregame article, a number of Utah players have had great success in against the Blues in their respective careers.

Defenseman Michael Kesselring continued his offensive streak against St. Louis with Utah’s only goal of the game. He now has goals in all three games against the Blues this season and he has points in all four games he’s ever played against them.

“(I’m) a little lucky, I guess,” Kesselring said of his scoring tendency against the Blues. “It was nice to get one there.”

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On the other hand, two point streaks came to an end. Nick Schmaltz had scored points in each of his previous 11 games against the Blues, while St. Louis-area native Clayton Keller had done so in each of his previous eight contests versus his hometown team.

It was not for a lack of effort. Keller and Schmaltz, who play on the same line, seemed to be feeding off each other all night. They were responsible for more than their fair share of Utah’s scoring chances, but they just couldn’t get anything past Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington.

It culminated in Keller’s third-period bomb on the power play. Upon receiving a perfect pass from Mikhail Sergachev, Keller let it fly and drilled the crossbar.

The puck went so high that the fans on the left side of the net thought it might fly above the netting and into their section of the stands.

Utah Hockey for casual fans

Since Connor Ingram’s return to the lineup, he has given his team a chance to win every time he’s tended the net. Utah has struggled to score though, which means he’s gotten credit for a few more losses than he’s deserved.

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In his six games since returning, he has a .910 save percentage and a 2.50 goals-against average. He’s not the most technically sound goaltender, but he’s finds ways to make saves — and that’s what ultimately matters.

For example, nearing the halfway mark of the first period Sunday with Utah killing a penalty, Ingram made an excellent save in tight on Oskar Sundqvist.

Ingram was down and out, but he managed to get his stick in position to block Sundqvist’s next bid and keep the game knotted at zero. Ingram has given his team all the support in the world. The team needs to start returning the favor by scoring enough goals to win.

Utah Hockey for nerds

To the Blues’ credit, Utah HC’s biggest problem was something the Blues did well rather than something UHC did poorly: congest the offensive zone.

In the first two periods especially, Utah couldn’t get anything to the inner slot without five white sweaters blocking every lane. That forced them to either shoot from the outside or cough the puck up.

“We made some tactical adjustments after the second to build more speed through the neutral zone,” Tourigny said after the game. “We’re happy about the result and it’s something we’ll try to duplicate.”

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According to Natural Stat Trick’s data, Utah controlled just 23.08% of the high-danger scoring chances in the first period and 33.33% of those chances in the second.

Statistically speaking, Tourigny’s adjustments worked in the third period: Utah HC had 83.33% of the high-danger chances in the third period.

What’s next?

Utah closes out its home stand on Tuesday as it hosts the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Flyers are in second-to-last place in the Eastern Conference standings, but there’s so much parity in the east that they’re only seven points out of the playoffs.

They made a big trade last week to acquire Jakob Pelletier and Andrei Kuzmenko, the latter of whom is due for a bounce-back season. He scored 39 goals and 74 points as a member of the Vancouver Canucks in 2022-23, but he hasn’t come close to that since.

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Neither player has suited up for the Flyers yet. It’s unclear why Pelletier hasn’t played, but Kuzmenko is experiencing visa issues, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jordan Hall.

Being the last game of the home stand, it’s the last day to vote on the team name and branding.



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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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Jazz Injury Report Rules Out 7 Players vs. Raptors

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Jazz Injury Report Rules Out 7 Players vs. Raptors


The Utah Jazz are set to face off against the Toronto Raptors to kick off their new week for their second of two meetings across this season, where the Jazz in particular have ruled out a total of seven names on their injury report.

Here’s what the injury landscape looks like for the Jazz and Raptors rolling into the night:

Utah Jazz Injury Report

OUT – Isaiah Collier (hamstring)

OUT – Keyonte George (hamstring)

OUT – Jaren Jackson Jr. (knee)

OUT – Walker Kessler (shoulder)

OUT – Lauri Markkanen (hip)

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OUT – Jusuf Nurkic (nose)

OUT – Blake Hinson (two-way)

QUESTIONABLE – Cody Williams (shoulder)

It’s much of the same from what the Jazz have been dealing with across the past couple of weeks.

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Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen still remain out with their minor injuries that they’ve suffered past the All-Star break, and Walker Kessler, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Jusuf Nurkic remain out for the year with their respective season-ending injuries.

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However, the two names that stick out on this injury report against the Raptors in particular are their two first round picks from the 2024 NBA Draft; Isaiah Collier who’s out with a hamstring injury, while Cody Williams is the latest to be among those listed with a shoulder issue.

For Collier, it’s set to be a third-straight game that he’s been out due to what’s been labeled hamstring soreness, and thus leave the Jazz without both their starting and second-string point guard for the night.

That could lead to either two-way signee Elijah Harkless getting a starting nod for a second straight game following his elevation against the Philadelphia 76ers, or that spot could go to 10-day signing Kennedy Chandler, who played 35 minutes in that same game for a career-high 19 points in his team debut.

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Mar 21, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz guard Kennedy Chandler (0) warms up before the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

As for Williams, he’s been downgraded to questionable for the action due to shoulder soreness; something that could leave him still able to go before tip-off, but remains to be seen based on how he feels before gametime.

The second-year forward has been on a hot streak as of late. In his past five games, he’s averaged an impressive 19.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.0 assists, shooting 50.0% from the field throughout.

If Williams is out of the mix, it’ll leave their frontcourt a bit more shorthanded from what they’ve been used to across the past couple of weeks, and might lead to even more minutes for guys like 10-day signee Bez Mbeng and two-way big man Oscar Tshiebwe to fill those minutes.

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Toronto Raptors Injury Report

OUT – Immanuel Quickley (foot)

OUT – Jakob Poeltl (rest)

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QUESTIONABLE – Collin Murray-Boyles (illness)

When it comes to the Raptors, they’ll be without a couple of guys on their roster, Immanuel Quickley who’s slated to miss out due to a foot injury, while Jakob Poeltl won’t be playing for Toronto’s second leg of a back-to-back following their previous battle against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.

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Collin Murray-Boyles, on the other hand, has been upgraded to questionable against the Jazz with an illness after previously being out against the Nuggets over the weekend.

Tip-off between the Jazz and Raptors lands at 9 p.m. MT in the Delta Center, where Toronto will have their chance at a 2-0 series sweep over Utah depending on the results.



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