SALT LAKE CITY – It feels like Phoenix when you look across the mountains surrounding Salt Lake City.
Yes! In a few weeks and for a few months, these mountains will be covered in snow and will thus restore to this city the status of winter and Olympic city that it has claimed since the holding of the 2002 Games. A status that Salt Lake will renew in 2034.
But for now, the mountains are as barren as they are around Phoenix and its suburbs.
Head coach of the Utah Hockey Club, André Tourigny even indulged in some sporty bike rides on the steep, sandy and rocky trails of his new adopted city. A bit like he did in the still recent past around Phoenix which he has always considered and still considers to be a magnificent city; a city where life is very good.
However, this is the one and only comparison that the Quebec head coach agrees to draw between the two cities.
This is even though Salt Lake City is a small market, a much smaller market than Phoenix was. A much smaller market than many cities that are impatient to obtain an NHL franchise and do not understand being outplayed by Salt Lake, after seeing the NHL settle in Seattle.
These comparisons leave Tourigny unmoved.
After everything he experienced and endured in Phoenix, he knows the future is brighter in Salt Lake. It doesn’t matter how big the market is.
The present already is.
“The reception from fans is fantastic. Since day one of our new adventure, we have felt supported. Desired. I didn’t really know what to expect. Yes I knew there had been International League and East Coast clubs here before. But I wondered if it would be necessary to start from scratch to win them back. No way! From the first preparatory match, they were in the game. Behind us”, parades the head coach with great satisfaction.
Although the Utah team does not yet have a real name and colors, fans took advantage of this first preseason game to spend $160,000 on promotional merchandise.
“It’s more than everything we sold during Jazz games,” candidly admitted Ashley Smith who, in addition to being Ryan Smith’s wife, is also his business partner within Smith Entertainment Group (SEG), which also owns the NBA basketball club in Salt Lake City.
Confident on all fronts
On Monday, after inviting his players to not only one, but two consecutive training sessions, Tourigny looked around inside the Olympic oval – where the long-distance speed skating competitions were held. track – which has become, and will be for several years, the training center for his team.
The coach displayed a confident expression. No! The look of a conqueror!
“It’s a miracle what has been accomplished here in five and a half months. There was nothing behind us,” says the Quebecer, pointing with his hand to the two-story structure built in a corner of the amphitheater. Now we have everything we need to not only do our job, but make sure the players are happy. And this is just the beginning. We have what it takes to succeed on the ice. And we finally have the means to succeed at all,” adds Tourigny.
We can understand that the head coach of the Utah Hockey Club displays certain confidence in his team.
He counts on 18 guys who went through playoff challenges with him in Phoenix. “Trials that made us grow and that will help us get through the adversity that we will have to deal with at some point. Because it will come, that’s for sure,” he says.
He also counts on a top defender, a real one, while Mikhail Sergachev will become the cornerstone of his defensive unit, but also of his team.
But how can he be so confident in the overall success of an organization that was only created on April 18 and still has everything to prove?
“The successes and failures of an organization start from the top. When it’s done all wrong, it’s impossible to succeed. We experienced it in Phoenix. Here, Ryan and Ashley get fully involved in the adventure. They set the tone. The example. They give us what we need to succeed,” adds the man who will become the first head coach in the history of “Utah HC” on Tuesday evening.
A weak link: the Delta Center
The miracles, big and small, multiplied over the last five months have led the Utah Club to the opening match which it will deliver to the Blackhawks from Chicago on Tuesday evening.
But these miracles are far from overcoming the problems, big and small, which will tarnish the entry onto the scene of the new NHL organization.
Ryan Smith knows this very well.
He knows that the Delta Center is far from meeting the needs of the NHL. Moreover, the amphitheater represents the weakest link in its organization.
“There are still far too many seats with obstructed views. Tickets are expensive despite everything and we try to cope as best we can with this reality. We have adopted the Augusta National policy while hockey fans who come to support us will pay very low prices in concessions as is the case during the Masters Tournament. We know we have a lot of work to do. A crane will be installed in the center of the rink the day after the end of our first season. She will stay there as long as possible before we return to the ice. Because we are going to change the angle of the rink to soften the slopes of the stands and improve the experience of our fans,” indicated the new owner, who is giving himself a minimum of three years to upgrade the Delta Center.
But three years is nothing in Ryan Smith’s projections, who will be able to take advantage of the return of the Olympics in 2034 to perhaps see a brand new amphitheater rise from the ground.
“We have made important commitments with the city and our community. Commitments that will span the next 30 years because we want Salt Lake and its community to grow with its hockey team… and its basketball team,” said Ryan Smith who is also, with his wife , owner of the Jazz, the NBA club that occupied all the space in Salt Lake.
The Delta Center is also surrounded by John Stockton and Karl Malone avenues. The two greatest players in the history of Jazz who are also immortalized by two statutes at the front of the amphitheater.
Time and the right to make mistakes
As part of a long press briefing during which he and his wife answered all the questions of colleagues from Salt Lake, including some related to citizen protests on the sidelines of tax cuts granted by the city to help the realization of the project, Ryan Smith asked for time. He also claimed the right to make mistakes.
“I know we will be criticized. And we will take these critiques into consideration to see if they can help us resolve any issues. I’m an action guy. A guy who isn’t afraid to take risks. To bet big to achieve your goals. If I hadn’t bet big over the last year, I wouldn’t have inherited an NHL club on April 18. But when you bet big, when you multiply decisions and actions, you can make a mistake. You can make mistakes. We’ll do some along the way. But it will always be to better correct the situation afterwards,” said Ryan Smith, who brushes aside the term small market associated with Salt Lake City.
“Salt Lake is not a small market. We have direct flights to major cities in Asia and Europe. You don’t fly straight to Seoul or London from a small market. In addition, it is the city where we find the most active young entrepreneurs who are very successful. Ashley and I settled here and are raising our children – they have five, ages eight and 16 – because of the quality of the people who live in Salt Lake. It’s not a traditional market, but Salt Lake is not a small market. We will demonstrate it starting tomorrow,” concluded Ryan Smith.
Unsurprisingly, the first match in history will be played behind closed doors. Commissioner Gary Bettman will of course be present for the occasion. The celebrations leading up to this historic part will begin at 2 p.m. around the Delta Center, while the streets surrounding the amphitheater have been closed to traffic for several days already.
