In a league where only half the teams qualify for the playoffs, it’s a big deal to make it.
That’s not lost on the Utah Mammoth. They are trying to make this a memorable experience for the fans, and there will be no shortage of activities to engage them.
Here’s what’s in the works.
Watch parties
Between the team and the local influencers, there will be watch parties at a number of establishments:
- Fiddler’s in Salt Lake City: Sunday, 8 p.m.
- Boneyard Saloon in Kearns: Sunday, 8 p.m.
- A Bar Named Sue, Millcreek: Sunday, 8 p.m.
- The Green Pig, Salt Lake City: TBD
- Brickyard Bar, Millcreek, TBD
The Mammoth will update their watch parties as time goes on. Visit their website to stay up to date.
Sunday’s watch party at A Bar Named Sue will be hosted by SLC Puck.
Plaza parties
Each Mammoth home game throughout the first round will be accompanied by a party on the plaza outside the arena.
The parties will include live music from The Current, a Utah-based band, as well as photo opportunities with the Zammoth, interactive games and a beer garden.
In-game entertainment
You know those rally towels the Mammoth sometimes drapes over each chair ahead of games? That’s a long-standing hockey tradition dating back to the 1982 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After a slate of penalties that he deemed questionable in Game 2 of the Conference Final against the Chicago Black Hawks, then-Vancouver Canucks coach Roger Neilson stuck a white towel on the end of a stick and waved it at the referee in mock surrender.
When the Canucks returned home for Game 3, fans greeted them both at the airport and inside the arena by waving white towels.
Since then, it has become a league-wide playoff tradition to wave rally towels during the playoffs. The Mammoth have used them in the regular season too, though that’s not common throughout the NHL.
Each Mammoth playoff game will feature playoff towels, which tend to intensify any game.
“You get the rally towels and the whiteout, or whatever it is, and it’s pretty fun. (The fans) are super into it,” said Mammoth forward Nick Schmaltz after Utah’s overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers on April 7, a rally towel game.
The Delta Center will also feature Mammoth dancers, a pregame drum line and surprise giveaways.
Nate Schmidt look-alike contest
Whoever came up with this idea deserves a raise.
On Saturday from 12-1 p.m., the Mammoth will hold a Nate Schmidt look-alike contest. Among others, the panel of judges will include Nate’s wife, Allie Schmidt.
Nate Schmidt is one of the happiest guys you’ll ever meet and he’s always joking around, so this is right up his alley.
In fact, Jimmy Fallon once named him “Most likely to puke rainbows when he opens his mouth.”
The contest may be for laughs, but the prizes are serious:
- Two lower-bowl tickets for Game 3 of the playoffs
- Signed hockey sticks
- Jerseys
- Pucks