SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Hockey Club is grappling with persistent challenges in securing wins at home. While the team celebrated a victory against San Jose, they faced defeats against Florida, Montreal, and the New York Islanders in a recent January home series. With only three victories in their last fourteen games in Salt Lake City, the squad’s six home wins this season place them at the bottom of the NHL standings for home victories.
“We’re puzzled by our lack of success at home in front of supportive fans,” said forward Nick Bjugstad. “I empathize with them. I believe we will turn it around, but we have some hard work ahead of us and we need to take a hard look at ourselves.”
For a club that is teetering on the edge of the Western Conference playoff race, the margin for error is becoming alarmingly narrow. Interestingly, the team has managed to maintain a competitive position due to their success on the road, boasting twelve away wins after an impressive streak of five consecutive road victories in mid-December.
A lack of offensive consistency has hindered Utah’s ability to gain momentum in home games. The team has conceded an average of three goals per game in their last four matches at the Delta Center while only managing to score an average of 1.8 goals.
“Everyone is putting in the effort,” noted forward Nick Schmaltz. “Sometimes the shots connect, and sometimes they don’t. We have to grind through this, continue to practice diligently and improve our finishing skills. Eventually, we’ll have a breakthrough. Once we see a few go in, confidence will build, and we can find our rhythm.”
Close finishes in home games have become a common theme this season, with seven consecutive contests being decided by a single goal. A couple of matchups against San Jose illustrate how minimal the margins can be; Utah lost an overtime game on October 28 after conceding two goals in less than thirty seconds late in the third period, yet managed to secure a victory against them recently when Barrett Hayton scored the decisive goal with just over a minute remaining.
While the recent losses to New York and Montreal reignited frustrations, the previous win brought some temporary relief.
“This is part of our development and the journey to becoming the team we aspire to be,” Utah’s coach Andre Tourigny remarked. “We aim to connect with our fans and strive for victories to climb the standings, which adds pressure both internally and from our supporters.”
Despite the team’s struggles on home ground, fan attendance remains strong, with sellout crowds of 11,131 reported for every home game throughout the inaugural season. Due to certain seating restrictions, the full-view seat capacity for hockey games is less than that of Utah Jazz games and live concerts.
The high demand for tickets has prompted the Utah Hockey Club to make a portion of obstructed-view seats available for fans. In January, they initiated community ticket programs designed to provide up to 2,000 fans per home game access to these single-goal-view seats for just $10. One of these initiatives specifically caters to local university students, with a college game night scheduled for March 20th against Buffalo.
In addition, a previous program announced in September allows for 100 partial-view upper-bowl tickets to be allocated every home game at no charge to local nonprofits, schools, and charities.
