While the Utah Hockey Club waits for a permanent training facility to be built at the Southtowne Center location in Sandy, the newest National Hockey League team will train at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns this season. It has meant a summer of construction at the Oval, with the NHL team spending several million dollars to remodel the southeast corner of the building and adding changes that will help with preparations for the 2034 Winter Olympics as well.

“The Utah Hockey Club approached us about using the facility as a practice facility going into their inaugural season here,” said Todd Porter, general manager at the Utah Olympic Oval. “So they are building medical space, a weight room area in the corner that will include a locker room, both hot and cold tubs, equipment room, film room, and coaches and athlete lounge. They are also adding some coaches' offices on the second floor, and then an observation deck above the southeast corner.”

Though covered for now, the new observation deck at the Oval can be seen as part of the changes being made at the facility by the Utah Hockey Club. (Tom Haraldsen/City Journals)

Porter said the changes are extensive, adding that the upgrade of the facility is part of looking into the future for the Oval both before and after the Olympic games.

“Because of our Olympic planning, we had already planned on building out some of these corners for VIP areas for the Olympics,” he said. “So this kind of fit into what we were looking to do, but also satisfying a need that club needed now. We're hoping that we can use this as a template or a base to build off of when we're trying to figure out how we're going to incorporate all of our seating for spectators and VIPs for the Olympics.”

He said NHL players won’t actually be in the Oval until camp starts sometime in September. Utah’s 2024 preseason schedule begins on Sept. 22 versus the St. Louis Blues in Des Moines, Iowa before the team hosts the Los Angeles Kings in its first-ever home game on Sept. 23 at the Delta Center. They will also face the Colorado Avalanche in another preseason game on Oct. 5 at the Maverik Center in West Valley because the Delta Center has a previous commitment booked (a UFC event).

Construction equipment on the south side of the Oval is being used to build a new locker room, medical space and offices for the NHL club. (Tom Haraldsen/City Journals)

The ice surface itself has already seen some improvements, with a new chiller system and refrigeration areas upgraded.

“The really nice thing is, we have transformed one of our hockey sheets into an NHL sheet, which is important going forward for an Olympics and most international competitions,” Porter said. “We did transfer one of our sheets to an NHL size which is a bit smaller, 15 feet narrower than an Olympic size sheet.”

He said the hockey club will likely train in the mornings and early afternoons, which is not a busy time for the Oval, so public programs and kids programs shouldn’t be affected.

“During the season, they're playing their games at the Delta Center, so most of their practices will be at the facility when it’s available,” Porter said. “Out here, as a side note, you may get the occasional visiting team that needs practice ice too. So you never know who might show up at the Oval. Thinking you're going to have the Chicago Blackhawks or the Edmonton Oilers show up at the Oval, and then you have these superstars that are kind of just hanging out and working by side with not only our Olympic team, but also the public that we have in the building. That’s wild.”

Regarding plans for the 2034 Olympic Games, Porter said a lot of planning is already underway for other parts of the Oval.

“It's not too early. I mean, it is 10 years away, and we do have a great facility here already. We host World Cup speed skating and other world class events every year. We're still the fastest ice on earth with 10 or 11 world records. We know we’re going to add other things, like larger electronic boards, but we’ll see how technology evolves over the next few years. By the time the Games come, we’ll have the most state of the art facility for the Olympics.”