What will it take for the Utah Hockey Club to take off? Look to the Idaho Falls Spud Kings for clues

When a sold-out stadium is full to the brim with passionate fans, it doesn’t matter if it holds 4,000 or 40,000 people. The players play their hearts out and the fans go home with temporarily impaired hearing.
That’s what Aaron Quinton has learned over the past two years of attending Idaho Falls Spud Kings hockey games.
“It’s definitely high intensity,” Quinton said. “The fans are very much involved. It’s really good.”
Quinton grew up going to Lethbridge Hurricanes games in the Western Hockey League — an NHL feeder league that sees plenty of its players make the NHL. Hockey-wise, the Spud Kings don’t compare to WHL teams. But when it comes to the fan experience, the Spud Kings could hold a candle to the best of them.
“The fan involvement with what’s going on on the ice was on such a different plane and it’s so very different from what I was used to,” Quinton said. “It made the game a lot more exciting.”
Despite the team’s low importance and relative lack of success, it has sold out its 4,000-seat arena virtually every game. Its season ticket line is thousands of names long — and that’s nothing compared to the line at the merchandise booth in the arena. Fans even buy subscriptions to watch the team’s away games.
The other teams in the division, which play in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado, don’t come close to the Spud Kings’ level of popularity. The division-champion Ogden Mustangs have the next-highest attendance at an average of approximately 1,000 fans per game, according to the city’s website.
Why is hockey suddenly the most popular event in Idaho Falls, and what will it take for Utah HC to have similar sustained success in Salt Lake City?
The in-game experience at Spud Kings games is nothing short of remarkable. Before you even get to your seat, you can win up to six different prizes — and it doesn’t end there.
As the PA announcer reads the starting lineups, the players skate out through fog with flames shooting out above them.
When the Spud Kings score, the lights go out and the flames return, illuminating the stadium with the best lighting a photographer could ask for.
“You want to be able to have a unique experience,” said Erik Hudson, general manager of the Spud Kings. “A lot of teams that don’t succeed, they get stagnant in their game experience for the fans. We’ve continued to make sure that it’s not just a hockey game, but it’s also an entertainment event.”
Hudson also talked about the growth of the game through grassroots programs. His players frequently visit elementary schools in the area to read books and play hockey with kids.
“It’s really, really a combination — a perfect storm, if you will — of the right time for everybody to be involved in the sport,” Hudson said. “I think kids’ hockey in this corridor — the I-15 corridor and the surrounding Eastern Idaho and Northern Utah region — is only going to continue to explode. There’s going to be a demand for more ice. There’s going to be a demand for more teams. So, as a traditionalist of the sport and loving the grassroots, I’m very excited about that.”
And, of course, the game itself is unbeatable, in Hudson’s opinion.
“It’s one of the fastest sports to watch, and that gets people pretty excited,” Hudson said.
The Vegas Golden Knights had a similar experience when they joined the NHL as an expansion team in 2017.
Although the majority of Las Vegas residents had little to no hockey knowledge at the time, it’s become a powerhouse franchise — both on the ice and the financial ledgers.
What did the Golden Knights do to have success? Just as Hudson recommended, they introduced a unique in-game experience, they implemented kids’ hockey programs in the area and they let the game shine.
In true Las Vegas fashion, the Golden Knights made each pregame ceremony an over-the-top show, complete with LED-ridden drummers and choreographed swords fights at center ice.
Before the Golden Knights’ existence, there were three sheets of ice in Las Vegas. Now, after seven years of NHL hockey in the city, there are seven sheets.
This accompanies a 268% increase in registered youth hockey players in the area, according to an NHL press release. The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association have put $3.6 million into youth hockey in Las Vegas, ensuring a rising generation of hockey fans to lend continued support to the team.
And, of course, the Golden Knights displayed hockey to a population that had yet to experience it in all its glory, just as Hudson recommended.
All of this culminated in a Stanley Cup championship for the team in 2023.
So, what must Utah HC do to hook the locals for life? Focus on in-game experience, develop youth hockey in the area and let the people discover the sport.
Team owner Ryan Smith frequently claims the Delta Center as one of the loudest buildings in the NBA, due to the shape and height of the ceiling. That volume won’t change for hockey games, so the venue should be exciting at the very least. You didn’t really want working eardrums anyway, right?
Smith has stated his intention to start a kids’ hockey program similar to the Junior Jazz, encouraging children in Utah to grow up playing hockey. He also plans to build additional ice rinks throughout the state in order to operate such a program.
Smith has noted that the Junior Jazz program has 60,000 participants and he wants hockey to reach similar numbers.
One such ice rink is Utah HC’s new practice facility in Sandy, which will contain two sheets of ice and will be open to local recreational hockey players when the team isn’t using it.
Smith is also working with city officials to develop the downtown area of Salt Lake City, improving the fan experience while boosting the local economy.
Utah HC takes the ice for the first time on Oct. 8 when Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks visit the Delta Center. Tickets, if available, can be purchased on the team’s website.