Utah Hockey Club holds 1st practice of training camp

SALT LAKE CITY -- The list of firsts continues to grow for the Utah Hockey Club.

The latest came Thursday, when the team held its first-ever training-camp practice at the Utah Olympic Oval.

“There's a lot of excitement around the camp,” coach Andre Tourigny said. “Everybody says camp started yesterday with medical [exams] and that kind of stuff, but today it's real.”

That excitement was seen everywhere Thursday, from the players on the ice to the staff and media watching the first session from the stands.

“I thought it was a great practice,” center Clayton Keller said. “Getting our legs under us, competing against one another a little harder than we do in the summer. It's great to be back out there with your teammates, linemates, and getting that chemistry going right away.”

Keller is familiar with many of the players in camp, having been with the Arizona Coyotes for the previous eight seasons. The Utah franchise was established by the NHL Board of Governors on April 18, with all assets from Arizona transferring to Utah.

Though most of the team is back, newcomers such as defenseman Mikhail Sergachev are learning to adjust to not only a new location but a new organization as well.

“Just learning the team ways, how the team is playing,” said Sergachev, who was traded to Utah by the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 29 and is entering his ninth NHL season. “How they're playing D-zone, neutral zone, forecheck, stuff like that. It's going to be a learning process so that's what I'm looking forward to, and today was a good day of that.”

It was a big moment for some younger players, too. Rookie Josh Doan, 22, and 18-year-old Cole Beaudoin, who was selected in the first round (No. 24) of the 2024 NHL Draft, skated with the top forwards, each looking to make a good first impression in camp.

“It was really sweet being able to kind of look at kind of what they do,” Beaudoin said. “Try to learn from them and just learn tips and tricks from them and just try to keep progressing my game. Just try to take it day by day and just try to get my game even better.”

For Doan, camp is the next step after he made his NHL debut last season, finishing with nine points (five goals, four assists) in 11 games for Arizona.

“I think [to] just come in here and prove that I can play at this level,” Doan said, “and not only play but compete, and be someone that they can trust and be an asset to the team is something that I'm focusing on. There's a couple things that I need to focus on, but at the end of the day just being the best player I can be and showing that I care, and I'll be positive and have some fun.”

Utah has two more days of practice before another first for the franchise: its first preseason game, against the St. Louis Blues in Des Moines, Iowa, on Sunday. The regular-season opener is at home Oct. 8 against the Chicago Blackhawks at Delta Center.

“I think preseason is huge,” Keller said. “It's a time where you come together as a team and you want to have a good start in this league. If you don't have a good start in this league, you're in trouble. I think we're going to use [the preseason] as a tuneup and keep it going.”