The Utah Hockey Club and Smith Entertainment Group have revealed its lineup of broadcasters for its upcoming inaugural season in the National Hockey League. Utah gained an NHL team upon the sale and relocation of the Arizona Coyotes organization, with the league’s Board of Governors approving the reported $1.2 billion transaction. As the team prepares to play its first season from Delta Center in Salt Lake City, fans will be able to watch the action with former Coyotes play-by-play announcer Matt McConnell on the call. McConnell is entering his 29th season in a play-by-play role within the NHL and spent 13 years with the Coyotes before the team moved to Salt Lake City.
McConnell will be joined by former NHL forward Dominic Moore as an analyst after spending three years in a similar role with NBC Sports and ESPN. Moore will provide his insights and expertise on the air, utilizing his experiences having played nearly 1,000 NHL regular-season and playoff games for 10 different teams. After two seasons on broadcasts for the Seattle Kraken, Nick Olczyk is making the move to Utah to join the broadcasts in an analyst role as well. Olczyk, the son of former center and TNT Sports analyst Eddie Olczyk, has worked as a lead analyst and reporter for Sports USA NHL Radio where he covered events including the Winter Classic, Stadium Series and Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Sarah Merrifield has been named the rinkside reporter for Utah Hockey Club broadcasts, providing her experience in the role and as a pregame host for Bally Sports. While she was with the regional sports network, she primarily worked in the Dallas-Fort Worth area covering the Dallas Stars, Texas Rangers and Dallas Mavericks. Former competitive figure skater and Altitude TV sports betting host Kim Becker will host studio coverage for Utah Hockey Club broadcasts. Since transitioning to a career in sports media, Becker has worked as a digital host and reporter for Sports Illustrated FanNation and was behind the microphone as the in-game host for the Colorado Rockies, Denver Broncos and Arizona Wildcats football.
“We are thrilled to bring together this talented and experienced team of broadcasters for Utah Hockey Club, who will undoubtedly provide the best possible experience for all fans – providing new insights to our most knowledgeable viewers while also educating and engaging those who are new to hockey,” Chris Armstrong, president of the Utah Hockey Club, said in a statement. “We are confident that their expertise and passion will elevate the viewing experience and help us to build a strong and passionate fanbase.”
Travis Henderson, the senior vice president of broadcasting for the Utah Hockey Club, led a months-long selection process to set the organization’s television broadcasting team. The process sought to identify media professionals who excel independently and also complement one another to bring fans an informative and entertaining broadcast. The full broadcast schedule and radio broadcast plans, along with further details about the SEG Media direct-to-consumer streaming option for the Utah Hockey Club, will be announced in the coming weeks.
SEG Media will produce and broadcast all non-nationally exclusive games for the Utah Hockey Club, which includes pregame and postgame shows, on over-the-air local television. Games will be available to view on Utah 16 (KUPX-TV Channel 16), a broadcast station owned by The E.W. Scripps Company. Moreover, fans will be able to access games via a paid, subscription-based streaming service.
Alex Silverman of Sports Business Journal reported on Wednesday that Smith Entertainment Group plans to offer a streaming bundle that would give viewers access to watch local games for the Utah Hockey Club and Utah Jazz, along with offering individual subscriptions for both teams. The Utah Jazz broadcast its games on over-the-air television through Sinclair-owned KJZZ-TV and on the Jazz+ streaming service last season.
