The Utah Hockey Club's first home game Tuesday was an amazing success – especially when it came to reported record-setting beer and merchandise sales at the Delta Center.

As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. And in their first game with an NHL team in their market, Utah hockey fans hit a home run in more ways than one.

For one thing, Utah fans bought more beer Tuesday than any NHL or NBA event it hosted before the game, Smith Entertainment Group told the Salt Lake Tribune – more than $120,000 worth of beer. And their merchandise sold at a number that was double the Delta Center’s previous single-night sports event sales number.

In another situation, that amount of beer sales might have led to incidents in the crowd inside and outside the arena. But Utah fans were on their best behavior, as they sold out the Delta Center for their first game, putting 16,020 fans in the seats. And those fans were raucous and overjoyed that the Utah Hockey Club won its first regular-season game, beating the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2.

It was not lost on Utah’s players and management that the home crowd was so supportive and vocal.

“To hear the crowd, that was the loudest building I’ve ever played in,” forward Logan Cooley told reporters after the game.

“All game long, we felt the crowd was into it,” added Utah coach Andre Tourigny. “They were pushing for us.”

The Utah Hockey Club has received incredible support since its arrival on the NHL scene was announced this summer, selling out season tickets. But Tuesday’s game was the first major opportunity Utah fans had to demonstrate how stoked they were to have a team in hockey’s top league, and they delivered impressive results to Utah's players and coaches.

That first impression was a fantastic one, and anyone in attendance was thoroughly wowed by what they experienced.

“It’s special, when you have a new franchise, you have the first game, all the atmosphere around,” Tourigny said. “It’s a special day, and we’ll remember that forever.”

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