WOODS CROSS — The name of the team is the same. So is the name of the league, the size of the field and the game being played.
But the 2010 Utah Blaze — who opened training camp this week at an indoor soccer facility in Woods Cross — have very little in common with the team of the same name that last played at EnergySolutions Arena in 2008.
In fact, with the same ownership and six of the same players, the '10 Blaze have much more in common with last year's Utah Valley Thunder than with the '08 Blaze.
What will be the same for this incarnation of the Blaze with the previous AFL franchise, according to new Blaze coach Ernesto Purnsley, is the hard-hitting and high-scoring action.
"The game will be just the same as people remember it," said Purnsley, who was an assistant coach in the old AFL for 10 years, much of that time as the defensive coordinator for the Colorado Crush. "There will be a lot of new faces and a lot of new stars that will develop. There will always be guys that are spectacular, and we hope to have a couple of those guys on our team."
The old AFL folded in December 2008, and the new league, previously known as AF1, purchased the assets of the bankrupt league — including the league name, team names and logos — for $6.1 million last December.
So the Garff family, which brought the expansion Blaze to Salt Lake City in 2006, has nothing to do with the new Blaze. Now the team is owned by Dave Affleck, who had been the owner of the Thunder, a team in the minor-league American Indoor Football Association that played last season in Orem.
The Blaze will be made up primarily of AFL rookies with one notable exception. Aaron Boone, who was a record-setting pass catcher for the Blaze in 2008, is on the roster. Boone, a native of Fillmore who lives in Sandy, had just signed a three-year contract extension with the old Blaze before the league disbanded. After being out of football for a year and having to get "a real job," Boone is happy to be back on the field.
"While I heard this was coming back I was excited," said Boone. "I'll be able to keep my other full-time job, but can also do this here in my home state. It works out nicely for me."
Boone knows he's on the back end of his pro career, but he says he's giving this one last chance.
"I've been busting my butt to get in shape," said Boone. "I'm 32 now and this is a young man's game, but I love it and I can still do it and I have the chance to still get paid to play, so why not?"
The Blaze have two quarterbacks in camp — Michael Affleck, the Thunder QB last season; and former Ute Brett Elliott, who spent the 2008 season in the old AFL with the San Jose SaberCats.
"This is a quarterback-driven league, and we've got two guys in camp who we believe in," said Purnsley. "We're trying to give those guys reps and we'll see who is going to come out as the starter. Right now they are on even footing."
Affleck is the former Timpview High star who bounced around between Arizona State, BYU, Dixie State and Utah State in college. He also happens to be the son of the new Blaze owner. He says that won't give him an advantage over Elliott, however.
"Me and Brett have already been pushing each other," said Affleck. "It's a friendly competition. We both want to help each other out and make each other better in the end. … Coach is going to break it down fairly. People think that since I'm the owner's son that it's not going to be fair, but that's not the case. It's going to be a competition, and whoever plays better will be the starter."
The Blaze will open their 16-game season on April 9 at the E Center in West Valley City against the Spokane Shock.
e-mail: lojo@desnews.com