Fans pack the house for NHL Utah intro event

Thousands descended on the Delta Center yesterday to "welcome Utah’s new NHL team to its new home." An hour before the doors opened, lines of fans "vying to be among the lucky ones to be inside" with the team "wrapped around the outside of the arena." At the Delta Center, fans "enjoyed hockey-themed games, face-painting, live music, free food and even 4v4 roller hockey." They were then "invited inside and introduced" to the team’s players, head coach André Tourigny and GM Bill Armstrong in a special program. The Delta Center was "filled to capacity," while "hordes of fans hung out outside" and watched the broadcast of the team’s introduction. Cheers of, "'Let’s go, Utah,' pumped up the crowd" before the team walked onto the ice, and the cheers "only got louder throughout the program, often drowning out whatever players were saying over the microphone" (DESERET NEWS, 4/24). Players and coaches were "greeted at the airport" in the morning by a crowd of approximately 100 players from local youth hockey programs. The kids chanted "Go, Utah! Go, Utah!" (AP, 4/24).