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The Other 31: Utah Mammoth

Our guest today is Matt McConnell, television play-by-play broadcaster for the Utah Mammoth. After coming up short in their first season in Salt Lake City, the Mammoth qualified for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, losing in the first round to the Vegas Golden Knights in six games. While two years might not seem like a long drought, it was actually much more dire. The Arizona Coyotes last qualified for a standard NHL playoff format in 2012, when they were still known as the Phoenix Coyotes. They advanced to the Western Conference Final before losing to the Los Angeles Kings in five games. Over the next 12 seasons in the desert, including the name change from Phoenix to Arizona, the Yotes only playoff appearance came in the expanded 2020 Bubble Playoff in Edmonton, where they upset the Nashville Predators in the qualifying round (3-1) and then lost to the Colorado Avalanche in five games in the first round. Now relocated to Utah, the Mammoth are considered a new franchise for record keeping purposes. But a lot of players, coaches and hockey operations staff made the move from Arizona. Now that this group has tasted the NHL post season, you have to think the hunger has only grown for the Mammoth to take the next step.

An ALLCITY Network Production