Tonight, the Utah Mammoth begin their quest for a Stanley Cup. Their first opponent? The Central Divsion rival, the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks are coming off a not-so-great road game, losing 5-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights. When Utah faces the Hawks, they face a very familiar opposing player.
Ian Cole comes back to Utah in game one
The only Mammoth to have played all 164 games in Utah thus far, Cole, left over the offseason and signed with the Blackhawks.
The veteran defenseman was a solid addition to the Utah Hockey Club, and he continued to do well with the Mammoth.
This is interesting to note after Utah fans grew so used to Cole. For Utah, though, Cole also represents an unfortunate potential issue. With his exodus from Utah, the Mammoth were left thinner at the defenseman position.
For GM Bill Armstrong, though, that didn't matter much, with young defenders like Dmitri Simashev and Maveric Lamoureux on the way to help. Unfortunately, just a few days ago Utah found out that a should injury and surgery will sideline Lamoureux for anywhere between four and six months.
Utah fans shouldn't be too worried, but that does mean that the Mammoth defenseman corps is a little weaker than they would like it to be. Simashev and some other guys like MacKenzie Weegar will be huge in strengthening the defense. Weegar, of course, is looking to bounce back after being traded at the deadline last season after a pretty ugly season with the Calgary Flames.
Plus, Utah also added Andrew Peeke to help replace the Cole, who can be an extremely physical and useful defenseman.
All in all, it's interesting to see such a familiar face in Cole on the other bench. Can Utah open the season with a win? Perhaps. Chicago will be hungry for a win after a disappointing loss. But Utah may be even hungrier after a disappointing exit from the postseason in 2026.
What an exciting day for Utah fans. Hopefully tonight will be even more fun.
Add us as a preferred source on Google