Dylan Guenther, seemingly, cannot be stopped.

The 21-year-old forward scored twice in Utah Hockey Club’s 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild Friday at Xcel Energy Center.

Guenther extended his point streak to seven games and logged his ninth multi-point performance of the season in his team’s fourth consecutive victory. What’s more, Utah has won seven straight games on the road — this time against a divisional opponent.

“Big one. Every point is important for us going down the stretch. We’re playing well right now and just try to keep it going,” Guenther said. “I think when the team has success, so do the individuals. I’m just kind of the beneficiary of it.”

Much of Guenther’s success has come on the power play and it remained a difference-maker in Minnesota.

With the game tied 1-1 in the third period, Utah was put on the man advantage as Jared Spurgeon sat in the box for tripping at 9:56. Guenther was stationed at his regular left-circle spot and threw the puck on net where it hit off a Wild player and in. Guenther’s 16th goal of the season earned the final 2-1 scoreline.

Guenther leads Utah with seven power-play goals and has been a big part of the first unit’s hot streak this month. The team has scored eight times on the man advantage in the last six games — all of which was produced by the first unit of Guenther, Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Logan Cooley and Mikhail Sergachev.

Of those eight goals, five have been scored in the third period. Not only has the power play found consistency, but at critical moments of the game. Those five players have embraced the pressure and converted when it matters.

“I think we are building chemistry a bit,” Guenther said. “Just being able to reset and bear down when the time matters. I thought we’ve been doing that.”

The other side of special teams cannot be ignored. Utah’s penalty kill went 5-for-5 against the Wild, including a shut-down showing at the end of the second period which prevented Minnesota from taking a lead into the third. Utah has allowed just two power-play goals against in the last six games.

“I think we made some adjustments on the penalty kill and it worked well,” head coach André Tourigny said.

Karel Vejmelka has been one of Utah’s best penalty killers — and overall players — through that stretch. The goaltender made four saves on the Wild’s third power play and finished the night with 28 stops.

With his numbers — 2.29 goals against average and .918 save percentage — Vejmelka has put the question of whether he can handle a starter’s workload to rest. The answer is yes and he is doing it well.

“I’m just trying to focus for another shot,” Vejmelka said. “It’s all about focus to be ready. Doesn’t matter what’s going to happen, just be ready for another shot and try to find the puck early.”

The Wild’s only goal of the night came from Mats Zuccarello at 10:20 of the first period. The forward broke out on a 3-on-2 rush and one-timed a pass from Kirill Kaprizov past Vejmelka from the right side. Utah was quick to respond, though, and scored a minute later.

Guenther deflected Jack McBain’s initial shot in after driving the net. The goal made it 1-1 at 11:20 and marked Guenther’s fifth goal in four games.

Logan Cooley orchestrated the play and picked up his 22nd assist of the year. The second-line center powered through the neutral zone on entry and weaved around Minnesota players to get the puck to McBain by the left circle. Cooley tops Utah with assists and is three away from breaking his total (24) from his rookie season.

“I think it was a huge moment when we were able to tie the game pretty quick after they scored,” Vejmelka said. “Then we just got better every period and had a strong finish.”

Following Guenther’s second tally of the night in the final frame, Utah had 10 minutes to defend its one-goal advantage.

Just over a week ago, Utah led Minnesota by a goal with less than a minute remaining on the clock. The Wild tied the game in the dwindling seconds of regulation and grabbed the win in a shootout.

Utah locked it down in Friday’s rematch, however, and came away with the two points.

“Just really good composure. We’ve been in that situation a lot so I think we are getting better at it. Just another greasy win,” Guenther said. “Just trying to finish out games. We talk, good teams find ways to win. We don’t play our best and then we grind it out and find a way to win. Nice to get those ones.”

Former New Mexico offensive coordinator Jason Beck is getting a substantial raise in his move to Utah.

Beck’s contract to call Utah’s offense is for three seasons and runs from Dec. 6, 2024, to Jan. 31, 2028, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by the Deseret News via a public records request.

Beck made $400,000 last season in Albuquerque, according to a USA Today database of college football assistant coach salaries, and effectively tripled his salary in his move to Salt Lake City.

Utah will pay Beck a base salary of $1.25 million in 2025, according to his contract. He will get a $100,000 raise in each year of his contract, earning a base salary of $1.35 million in 2026 and $1.45 million in 2027.

While it’s a step down from the $2,050,000 that made veteran offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig one of the highest-paid assistant coaches in all of college football, Beck’s salary stacks up well in the Big 12.

Salary data isn’t available for private schools (BYU, TCU and Baylor), but Beck’s $1.25 million salary would have made him the third-highest-paid assistant coach in the league this season, behind Ludwig and Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley, who made $2 million in 2024.

For comparison, Mack Leftwich, who recently signed a deal to be Texas Tech’s offensive coordinator, is making $1 million in 2025, $1.1 million in 2026 and $1.2 million in 2027, according to a copy of his contract obtained by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

Beck has been at Utah for just two weeks and has already made a massive impact on the Utes’ offensive revamp. Two staff members that have previously worked with Beck have been hired at Utah — running backs coach Mark Atuaia and receivers coach Micah Simon — and highly sought-after New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier followed Beck to Salt Lake City.

Dampier totaled 3,934 yards of offense in 2024 — 2,768 passing and 1,166 rushing — in Beck’s offense, which was the fourth-most-productive in the country, generating 484.2 yards per game. The sophomore quarterback has been the perfect fit for Beck’s spread offense, which features a lot of quarterback runs and run-pass options.

Under Beck’s direction, the Utes have added seven players from the transfer portal to the offensive side of the ball, including Dampier, Washington State freshman running back Wayshawn Parker (735 yards and four touchdowns) and Tulsa receiver Joseph Williams (30 receptions for 588 yards and five touchdowns in seven games).

Should Utah’s “school choice” program be allowed to stay put — or is it unconstitutional?

That’s the question that a judge is now weighing after spending several hours listening to oral arguments Thursday.

In the hearing, 3rd District Court Judge Laura Scott grilled attorneys for both the state and for Utah’s largest teacher union, the Utah Education Association, on the complex constitutional questions she must now unravel before issuing a ruling in the case — which she said she expects to hand down sometime in mid-to-late January. 

Earlier this year, the Utah Education Association filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Utah Fits All “scholarship program,” which the 2023 Utah Legislature created as an effort to offer “school choice” options by setting up a fund from which eligible K-12 students can receive up to $8,000 for education expenses including private school tuition and fees, homeschooling, tutoring services, testing fees, materials and other expenses. 

Utah’s largest teacher union files lawsuit against Utah Fits All school choice voucher program

In 2023, lawmakers appropriated about $42.5 million in ongoing income tax revenue to the program. Then this year they nearly doubled that ongoing funding by adding an additional $40 million. In total, the program uses about $82.5 million in taxpayer funding a year. 

That is, if the courts allow it to continue to exist. 

In its lawsuit, the Utah Education Association alleges it’s an unconstitutional “voucher” program that diverts money from Utah’s public school system — using income tax dollars that they contend are earmarked under the Utah Constitution for the public education system and should not be funneled to private schools or homeschooling in the form of the Utah Fits All scholarship program.

The Utah Constitution has historically required the state’s income tax revenue be used only for public education, though that constitutional earmark has been loosened twice — once in 1996 to allow income tax revenue to be spent on public higher education, and once in 2020 with voter-approved Amendment G, which opened income tax revenue to be used to “support children and to support individuals with a disability.” 

This year the Utah Legislature tried to remove that education earmark completely by putting Amendment A on the Nov. 5 ballot — but that effort failed after a judge voided the question because lawmakers failed to properly publish the proposed constitutional amendment in newspapers across the state. 

Attorneys representing state officials, the Alliance for Choice in Education (a group that the Utah State Board of Education chose to administer the program), and parents of students benefiting from the program urged the judge to dismiss the lawsuit. 

They argued the Utah Legislature acted within its constitutional constraints when it created the program. They contended that when Amendment G added to the Utah Constitution the word “children” as an allowable use for income tax dollars, that created a “broad” yet “not ambiguous” category that allowed Utah lawmakers to use the revenue for the Utah Fits All scholarship fund. 

Attorneys for the Utah Education Association, however, argued that when legislators put Amendment G on the ballot and pitched it to voters, their stated intentions did not include using the funding for private school vouchers. Rather, they argued it was characterized as an effort to narrowly open the revenue up to “social services” for children and people with disabilities. 

The judge repeatedly questioned state attorneys about their position, asking for clarity on the state’s interpretation of the Utah Constitution and whether it would allow Utah lawmakers the power to create a “shadow” or “parallel” education system that could funnel public dollars to private schools, which can select students based on religion, political beliefs, family makeup or other criteria. In contrast, Utah’s public school system must be free and open to all. 

Arif Panju, an attorney representing parents who intervened in the case to argue in favor of protecting the Utah Fits All program, argued parents have a “fundamental right” to exercise their “school choice” options. 

“The mere fact that they can use a private scholarship … does not transform those options into a shadow system,” Panju argued. 

But to Scott, that still didn’t answer her question. 

“I’m getting a little frustrated,” Scott said, adding that she wasn’t trying to debate school choice but rather she was trying to conduct a constitutional analysis. 

Ultimately, state attorneys conceded their position could open the door to a “parallel” or “shadow” system — however, they argued that’s not what is being debated in this case. They argued the Utah Fits All program was funded only after the Utah Legislature appropriately funded its education system, as required by the Utah Constitution (which does not set a specific threshold). 

When the hearing’s time ran out at about 4:30 p.m., Scott said she would take the issue under advisement, and she would not be ruling from the bench. 

“I’m hopeful for mid-to-late January,” she said, “but I’m not making any promises I won’t take the entirety of the 60 days” that she has to make a decision.