Awful Announcing
One of the biggest changes entering the 2024-25 NHL season is the relocation and rebranding of the Arizona Coyotes into the Utah Hockey Club. And on Thursday, the New York Islanders broadcast team on MSG showed that fans aren’t the only ones who haven’t quite adjusted to the new name just yet.
Much like we saw from the now-Washington Commanders when they were the Washington Football Team, Utah Hockey Club is seemingly just a placeholder name while the organization figures out what its name is going to be in the future.
Even though the final say will ultimately come from the Smith Entertainment Group led by co-owner Ryan Smith, a fan vote has narrowed things down to six top contenders to be the permanent name of the franchise, which include Utah Blizzard, Utah Mammoth, Utah Outlaws, Utah Venom, Utah Yeti, and their current name, the Utah Hockey Club.
In the meantime, fans and broadcasters alike are having a difficult time adjusting to both the new city and new name. On the MSG broadcast of Thursday’s matchup between the New York Islanders and the Utah Hockey Club, the Islanders’ broadcast team consisting of Brendan Burke, Butch Goring, and Thomas Hickey all had their fair share of hiccups when it came to the new name.
A page called “Sports TV News and Updates” on X shared a compilation of just over two minutes highlighting several mistakes on the Islanders broadcast.
Goring made the first error just under a minute into the first period, referring to the team as both the “Utah Hockey Team” and “Utah Club Hockey Team” just seconds apart.
“This is a very good first line for the Utah Hockey Team,” said Butch Goring. “With (Clayton) Keller and (Nick) Schmaltz. Really smart hockey players. And of course, Keller was just named captain of this Utah Club Hockey Team.”
The MSG booth was going through it 😭 https://t.co/nDaE7oFlqp pic.twitter.com/qL46kDLbJo
— Sports TV News & Updates (@TVSportsUpdates) October 11, 2024
Later in the period, both Brendan Burke and went on to mistakenly refer to their old name.
“A little push here from the Coyotes,” said Burke as play stopped.
“I think for this group, can you stop them from getting in the zone in the first place? They are having their way east-west,” said Thomas Hickey moments later as both teams prepared for a faceoff. “Butchy, something has got to tighten up. Maybe it is the gaps coming into the zone. But this Arizona… Or sorry, Utah team, is quick.”
It was a constant struggle for everyone on the MSG broadcast. So much so that play-by-play man Burke referenced how hard the name change is for broadcasters early on in the season.
“You know, they are working on making it easier for the broadcasters,” said Burke. “They are going to pick a name. They have narrowed it down to six. I think they’ve picked it, but just haven’t told us what it is yet. Because it’s the timeline. It’s been a five-month process to get them from the Arizona Coyotes to playing opening night in Salt Lake City. It’s actually remarkable they have pulled it off.”
Until we do get an official name in Utah, we could very well see plenty of other broadcast teams tripping over the Utah Hockey Club name as we go through the 2024-25 NHL season.
[Sports TV News & Updates on X]
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.
“Are we live?” “We’re live.”
“Mets are gonna fly here to Los Angeles tomorrow.”
1.14 million viewers tuned into Thursday’s Game 1 matchup between the Lynx and the Liberty.
“I’m a massive fan of Colin’s, have been for years. I like Bo Nix. There’s not a single thing he does better than Brock Purdy.”
“But how stupid is that? How stupid is that?”
“Cal might have taken the title last week. Now, Oregon has a chance to answer.”
“Are we live?” “We’re live.”
“Mets are gonna fly here to Los Angeles tomorrow.”
1.14 million viewers tuned into Thursday’s Game 1 matchup between the Lynx and the Liberty.
“I’m a massive fan of Colin’s, have been for years. I like Bo Nix. There’s not a single thing he does better than Brock Purdy.”
“But how stupid is that? How stupid is that?”
“Cal might have taken the title last week. Now, Oregon has a chance to answer.”
