KEARNS, Utah (AP) — Bill Armstrong stood in the Utah Hockey Club locker room at a temporary practice facility as players came and went from a space that didn't exist not that long ago. The quick transformation to meet NHL standards is difficult even for the team's general manager to grasp, and it's a testament to the commitment management has made since acquiring the then-Arizona Coyotes in April. New owners Ryan and Ashley Smith could've scraped something together to get by while a permanent practice facility is being constructed.
But even with a tight timeline, they opted to go all-in, even on a building the club probably won't use for even a year. “It's been as much as I could've asked for as a player,” defenseman Sean Durzi said. “They put up a facility for one season for us — and it's world class — in five months.
If that doesn't scream commitment and all-in and everything that they want us to succeed, I don't know what does.” The temporary facility at the Utah Olympic Oval, where many winter Olympians train, was the most pressing and perhaps most difficult undertaking. It was not, however, the only one as the club raced against time after NHL owners approved the franchise's move on April 18 to get everything ready by the Oct.
8 season opener against the Chicago Blackhawks. Among the items on the to-do list were an initial renovation of Delta Center, moving players, coaches and front-office personnel from the Phoenix area and breaking ground on a permanent .
