The Utah Hockey Club is one step closer to having a permanent nickname, and it won’t be the “Yetis” or “Yeti.”
ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reported on Wednesday that the team will no longer consider those two nicknames, despite the fact that “Yetis” was once widely believed to be the franchise’s eventual choice.
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Ownership has decided to leave it up to fans who are attending the next four home games by way of a vote. The three final choices will be the Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth, and Utah Wasatch.
The primary reason that the “Yeti” name was rejected was because of the conflict with Yeti Coolers LLC. The USPTO said it was a “likelihood of confusion.”
“We engaged deeply with Yeti Cooler Company and worked with them over a process to see if there was some coexistence agreement that we could engage with them on,” Mike Maughan of Smith Entertainment Group said. “They have a unique and strong trademark on anything published Yeti or Yetis. We did not have a coexistence agreement with Yeti and therefore have decided to move on from that name.”
The Utah Hockey Club name would carry over from the team’s inaugural season, with President of Hockey Operations Chris Armstrong confirming that the temporary nickname was always meant to be part of the ongoing discussion for a permanent one.
“Mammoth” was one of the six finalists in last year’s fan vote, while “Wasatch,” which references Utah’s Wasatch mountain range, wasn’t part of the options. However, Wyshynski pointed out that “Wasatch” essentially serves as a stand-in for “Yeti,” as Maughan had mentioned the mascot would be a “mythical snow creature in the form of a Yeti.”
Aside from the three name choices, fans will also vote on two logos: one designed for the Mammoth nickname, and the other for either Hockey Club or Wasatch, featuring a Yeti-like creature.
While the branding discussions iron themselves out, Utah is amid a 21-21-7 campaign, currently sitting in sixth place in the Central Division. With 49 points, they are just six points behind the Calgary Flames for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, keeping their playoff hopes alive.
However, they’ve only won five of their last 17 games after a promising 16-11-5 start. Their next game is a home tilt against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday — the first opportunity for fans to vote on the team’s new nickname.
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