Utah
Utah NHL team signs forward Noel Nordh to entry-level contract
The Utah NHL team has signed forward prospect Noel Nordh to a three-year, entry-level contract, CapFriendly reported Saturday evening.
Nordh, 19, became the first player to officially sign a contract with the Utah team since it relocated from Arizona in April. The Arizona Coyotes originally selected Nordh in the third round (No. 72 overall) of the 2023 NHL Draft.
The 6’2″ left wing spent the majority of the 2023–24 regular season with Brynäs IF in the second-tier Allsvenskan league in Sweden, collecting six goals and 15 points in 50 games. Additionally, he racked up 10 goals and 22 points in 15 games with Brynäs’ U20 affiliate team.
The Coyotes originally acquired the draft pick they used to select Nordh from the Washington Capitals in exchange for forward Johan Larsson ahead of the 2022 trade deadline.
Nordh’s contract with Utah will take effect in the 2024–25 season. He’ll be eligible to play in the American Hockey League immediately but could remain in Sweden for another year while on loan from Utah.
Born on January 25, 2005, Nordh is one of the oldest players eligible to participate at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa this coming winter, but it remains to be seen whether he’ll be picked to play for Team Sweden.
Nordh is the first member of the Coyotes’ 2023 NHL Draft class to sign a contract with the newly-relocated franchise. Utah retained previous Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong and the rest of his hockey operations department from Arizona through the move.
The Coyotes selected a pair of Russians in the first round of last year’s draft: Dmitri Simashev and Daniil But, both of whom will become eligible to sign with Utah after their KHL contracts expire at the end of next season. Nordh was the second of four players the Coyotes drafted in last year’s second round, along with Jonathan Castagna, Tanner Ludtke, and Vadim Moroz.
The final player to sign a contract with the Coyotes before the move was 2021 seventh-round pick Sam Lipkin, who won the NCAA Division I men’s national championship with Quinnipiac in 2023 and collected 78 points in 78 games over his two seasons of college hockey. As with the rest of the now-former Coyotes players, Lipkin’s contract transferred to Utah when Ryan Smith purchased the team from Alex Meruelo.
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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