The Utah Mammoth announced their rookie camp plans on Tuesday. Along with the announcement came an intriguing note: It will be held at their new practice facility in Sandy.
Barring any other announcements, it will be the first official event to take place at the facility, which is located at the southeast corner of The Shops at South Town. It has been under construction for a little more than a year.
The team spent its first season practicing at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns. They renovated it last summer to get it to basic NHL standards, but it still lacked certain aspects of the premier rinks across the league. The new one will apparently include virtually every luxury the players could ask for.
GM Bill Armstrong mentioned in an interview with SiriusXM recently that he believes it will be “the nicest in the league.”
That same day, in an interview with Halford & Brough, he mentioned that one purpose of having two adjacent ice sheets is to be able to constantly have fresh ice.
“When you practice, your ice is only good for 10 to 15 minutes because you don’t have people shoveling it,” he said. “So, if you want to be at a high level during practice, you’ve got to change ice surfaces — and you need two to do that."
That’s good news for the assistant coaches, who were usually assigned the responsibility of shoveling between drills at the Olympic Oval.
The two sheets will also be an asset to the local hockey community. When they’re not in use by the team, they’ll be available for public use, starting in January.
Utah Mammoth rookie camp
Roster
The Mammoth rookie camp roster is as follows, with numbers indicating each player’s jersey number:
- 1 – Ondřej Štěbeták
- 10 – Maveric Lamoureux
- 12 - Tij Iginla
- 18 - Caleb Desnoyers
- 19 - Daniil But
- 24 - Cole Beaudoin
- 26 - Dmitri Simashev
- 32 - Stepan Shurygin
- 37 – Owen Allard
- 40 – Ivans Kufterins
- 43 – Julian Lutz
- 45 – Noel Nordh
- 46 – Michal Kunc
- 47 – Max Pšenička
- 49 – Miko Matikka
- 51 – Veeti Väisänen
- 54 – Terrell Goldsmith
- 63 – Jack Ricketts
- 68 – Ludvig Lafton
- 71 – Sam Lipkin
- 75 – Tomas Lavoie
- 81 – Carson Harmer
- 83 – Maksim Barbashev
- 84 – Artem Duda
- 85 – Coster Dunn
- 93 - Gabe Smith
- 96 - Grayden Strohack
You’ll notice that no NCAA players are on the roster. That’s because they’re only allowed to participate in one tryout-style camp per calendar year if they want to keep their eligibility, and they were all at the Mammoth’s development camp in July.
Injuries
Caleb Desnoyers and Terrell Goldsmith are both listed as injured. Desnoyers underwent wrist surgery and is expected to return to action in early November. Goldsmith suffered a severe head injury after being knocked unconscious in a fight in March.
Tij Iginla, who has not played a full game since having double hip surgery in December and January, is not listed as injured. He skated at development camp in July, but did not participate in the scrimmage.
Tryout contracts
Eight players, including all three goaltenders, are on tryout contracts:
- Maksim Barbashev
- Coster Dunn
- Carson Harmer
- Jack Ricketts
- Grayden Strohack
- Ivans Kufterins
- Stepan Shurygin
- Ondřej Štěbeták
Aside from Maksim Barbashev, they’re all amateur tryouts. Barbashev has 43 games of professional experience, split between the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack and the ECHL’s Bloomington Bison — the two affiliates of the New York Rangers.
Barbashev is the younger brother of Vegas Golden Knights forward Ivan Barbashev, a two-time Stanley Cup champion.
Rookie Showcase
Fans will get their first on-ice look at the new Mammoth jerseys at the Rookie Showcase in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.
The Rookie Showcase is an annual series of exhibition games primarily featuring prospects. It rotates locations — it was in Los Angeles last year. Each team participates in a similar tournament, usually involving the teams that are geographically closest to them.
Utah’s Rookie Showcase schedule is as follows:
- Friday, Sept. 12: Utah Mammoth at Colorado Avalanche – 6:00 p.m. MDT
- Saturday, Sept. 13: Utah Mammoth vs. Vegas Golden Knights – 3:00 p.m. MDT
Both games will be held at South Suburban Sports Complex.
