PROVO, Utah — With Salt Lake City and all of Utah counting down the moments until the National Hockey League officially heads to the Beehive State, many are excited about the ways the new team will bring more than just wins or losses.
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Many believe the arrival of the NHL will only help grow the sport and bring even more interest to the younger generation that laces up the skates to hit the ice.
Youth hockey players below share how excited they are over NHL arrival:
On the ice at Peaks Ice Arena in Provo, you'll find 11-year-old Zane Madsen, a goalie for the Ogden Mustangs. When asked what's the best part of being in the crease with pucks flying towards the net, Zane had an easy response.
"Making insane saves!" Madsen answered.
The expected relocation of the Arizona Coyotes to northern Utah has only added to Zane's passion for being on the ice, as it has for others.
"I think it's great for the region," said Megan Ostler, the youth hockey coordinator at Peaks Ice Arena. "I think there is a lot of growth here in hockey that we can have."
Ostler says fans don't have to look too far to see the impact the NHL has had on youth hockey in other cities.
"I think you can kind of correlate that to the growth in Vegas," she said. "They had about 400 kids in their youth hockey program, and then when the Knights came, it went up to 4,000."
According to USA Hockey, there were a little more than 4,000 players in Utah between the ages of six and 19 during the 2022-23 season.
Former collegiate hockey player Dusty Campbell created NextGen a year ago to help concentrate on fully encompassing the athletic development of youth players, from their movement on the ice to their basic strength and conditioning. He believes the number of young players will grow with the NHL along the Wasatch Front.
"I think it's only going to keep skyrocketing, and I was at the state development camp the other week watching some kids travel for the national development team and one of the guys said that Utah has more kids in youth hockey than it ever has," said Campbell.
For kids like Madsen, they see the NHL in Utah as helping them propel a dream.
