Palak JayswalThe fans rose to their feet as the clock ran out on the Utah Mammoth’s season Friday night, waving their rally towels one last time in appreciation.
The Mammoth were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 5-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. But even as Utah fell 4-2 in the best-of-seven first-round series, hope filled the Delta Center.
“It’s surpassed what I thought they could do,” Mammoth superfan Branden Hockenbury said. “I was worried when they started the playoffs, how they were going to [handle] playoff hockey.”
Now Hockenbury knows and he believes his team can contend for a Stanley Cup soon.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Branden Hockenbury greets fans in the Delta Center before Friday's game.
“We’re set to compete for a long time, a lot of years,” he said. “It’s only going up from here.”
During the first-round series’ decisive Game 6, the thousands of fans who packed the downtown Salt Lake City arena rode the highs and lows of a young Utah team making its postseason debut.
And, as Mammoth forward Lawson Crouse said afterward, “You have to go through the lows to get to the highs.”
When goalie Karel Vejmelka saved his first shot of the night, fans jumped out of their seats.
The mood changed as the game went on. Fans loudly expressed their frustration at the team’s failure to shoot the puck more.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Kilee Ashton dances on the plaza at the Delta Center.
Outside the Delta Center, fans gathered on the plaza to watch the game on a big screen.
Shawnie Seleman was part of a group of 15 people who set up camp outside to support the team.
“We’ve been here since 5, making sure we got good seats,” she said.
Seleman said that no matter the outcome, “The more [hockey] you watch, the more excited you’ll be, because it never bores you.”
That’s true for best friends Jennifer Chelini and Kelly Molinari, season-ticket holders who went to every game of the series.
“They’re playing with everything they’ve got, and you can see it as a fan,” Chelini said.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Fans watch the final minutes of the Mammoths' 5-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Molinari said that she loves hearing the players speak during interviews about how much the fans mean to them.
“That just keeps making me want to go to more and more games,” Molinari said, “because I know I might not be playing the game, but they need us to play the game.”
Mammoth captain Clayton Keller did just that after Friday’s defeat.
“They took it to a new level in the playoffs here,” he said of the team’s fans. “Their support means so much to all of us in this room, and gives us lots of energy. We love playing at home. We love playing at the Delta Center. It’s the best building to play in. I just love their passion and how much you know they appreciate and care for us.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jennifer Chelini and Kelly Molinari are season-ticket holders.
Win or lose, Chelini said, they’re fans “for the long haul.”
“We have a lot of potential. We have a lot of young guys that just need to grow into themselves,” she said.
It took until the third period for the Mammoth to score their first goal, and it immediately energized the hungry home crowd.
But minutes later, Vegas answered to make the score 3-1.
When the Golden Knights scored again, a few fans started to make their way to the exits. After a fifth goal, this one on an empty net, the exodus hastened.
Yet, most fans chose to stay until the final horn sounded.
They stood and cheered, waved their rally towels and raised empty beer cups with full hearts.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jared Paulson holds a scarf up high as the Mammoth's season comes to a close.
