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SALT LAKE CITY — And then there were four?
Utah's NHL team owner Ryan Smith revealed Wednesday during an impromptu appearance on the Pat McAfee Show that Smith Entertainment Group has "got our four" team names that will continue into the next phase of fan voting.
He stopped short, though, in saying all four of the names.
"I think Mammoth is up there. I think Yeti is up there. I think a couple other ones are up there. It should be good," Smith said after McAfee called him out of the blue near the end of his show.
On May 8, SEG launched the multi-phase survey to find a team name. The first list had 20 names and fans could select up to four options; voting ended on May 22. SEG has yet to announce when the next phase of voting will start.
SEG said the name will not be announced until well into the first season. The team will don jerseys that display "Utah" across the front in 2024-25.
So what are the other two of the final four? Smith didn't say and he didn't reveal when fan voting would recommence. So to help with that answer, we take a look at our own survey.
KSL.com conducted a straw poll of the team names to go along with the SEG survey. The top four vote-getters: Yeti, Outlaws, Mammoth and Blizzard.
Yeti appeared on 50% of the ballots, Outlaws was selected on 41%, and Mammoth and Blizzard showed up on 31% of the polls. That seems to match along with what Smith said were the early front runners. It also matches with online enthusiasm — most mock-up logos and brands have been centered around those four names.
Black Diamonds, which appeared on 24% of ballots, was the next most popular. No other name cracked the 20% mark (Blast was the least selected name, followed by Frost, Glaciers and Ice).
Will those results mirror SEG's survey? Time will tell.
