Utah’s NHL team makes its first appearance in Salt Lake City

The line near a small Salt Lake City Airport hangar started growing more than an hour before Utah’s new NHL team was scheduled to land. Youth hockey players from all over the state wore their team jerseys and brought hockey sticks and signs, eager to catch a glimpse of the players and coaches who they’ll cheer for this fall.

Utah’s NHL team may not have a name yet. But it does have a home.

And on Wednesday, the former Arizona Coyotes players made their first stop in Salt Lake City. They patiently met with hundreds of young players and shook hands, signed caps, jerseys and shoes, and posed for photos.

“I’m excited because I’ll have a team from our state to root for,” said Allie Lowen, who plays hockey on a Salt Lake County rec team with mostly boys. “I’ll watch more hockey and I’ll get to watch more in-person hockey.”

Thousands of fans showed up for a free event at the Delta Center — a capacity crowd — on Wednesday afternoon. Before that, Lawson Crouse and Clayton Keller, along with coach André Tourigny and general manager Bill Armstrong, spoke warmly about the reception they received at the airport.

“Stepping off the plane was was unbelievable,” Keller said. “Just seeing the youth hockey programs, a lot of kids that know all of our names and things like that. We couldn’t be more excited.”