SALT LAKE CITY — Amid the season-ending excitement of the Utah Hockey Club's playoff push during the team's first season in Salt Lake City, another event that has captivated fans for months may have reached its conclusion.
Or not.
The team's future nickname has been one of its most talked about, and closely-guarded, secrets and on Monday, sportswriter Dennis Dodd claimed a decision has been made.
"Sources: The Utah Hockey Club has settled on a nickname. No timeline for release at this point," Dodd posted to social media.
Despite Dodd's cloudy post, further investigation shows that Mammoth could be the final choice.
Or not.
Of the three nicknames that fans voted on last month, an online search shows that Mammoth has progressed in the federal patenting process. U.S. Patent Office documents show an application extension was requested and granted for Mammoth on Feb. 4, just days after fan voting ended.
In another interesting move, the only other name granted an extension was for a blank Utah Hockey Club trademark that contained none of the current logos featured by the franchise.
That leaves the Outlaws, whose application received a non-final action notice, which means the team has three months from January to take action or that trademark will be abandoned. Both the Mammoth and the blank Utah Hockey Club applications received the same notice as the Outlaws but action was taken to extend those trademarks.
Throughout the nickname selection process, team officials have not set a firm date when a winner will be announced, however, many believe its release would likely come after the club's inaugural season in Utah.
The team has yet to respond to a request for comment about the nickname status by FOX 13 News.
