Why The Utah Yetis Is An NHL Team Name Worth Fighting For

Utah Hockey Club reportedly faces trademark hurdles in finding a permanent team name. But with how popular the Utah Yetis name already is, Adam Proteau says they should keep trying.

Utah's NHL team hit the ground running in its first season.

The Utah Hockey Club swung in the off-season by trading for top-pair defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and D-man John Marino, who recently returned from injury. They're selling out all their unobstructed seats, and although they're four points out of a wild-card spot, two points behind what the Arizona Coyotes had after 46 games last year, they have a bright future.

Considering how quickly they became an NHL franchise and received the Coyotes' hockey assets, a lot has gone right for them – except when it comes to the franchise’s long-term name at the moment. 

The Yeti (or Yetis) is the overwhelming favorite for Utah's permanent team name, but this week, KSL.com's Ryan Miller reported it’s not a simple snap of the finger that will permit Utah to go with the Yeti name.

According to Miller, in a Jan. 9 “non-final action” decision, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused the trademark application for “Utah Yetis” for a decision based on the “likelihood of confusion” with the YETI brand of outdoor gear, mugs, and other items. And despite the NHL team’s application that, in theory, separates the hockey brand from the other brand by including "Utah" in the name or by making Yeti plural, it’s going to take more finessing in the weeks ahead to make Utah Yetis not just a concept but a reality.

There are many reasons why the Yeti is so popular as a potential NHL team name. Like the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, the Yeti name resonates with hockey fans and sports fans in a way no other team name has in Utah thus far. Not only does the Yeti name fit well for a city on the mountainside, but it’s just a lot of fun to say (phonetically, it’s an alliteration of sorts) and the legend of the Yeti – a wild beast in the wintry mountains – couldn’t be a better fit for Utah.

The Utah Hockey Club wouldn't be the first new franchise in the last decade to have a trademark issue with a team name, either.

The Vegas Golden Knights also had a trademark dispute – in this case, with the U.S. Army, which had the Golden Knights nickname for their parachute exhibition team. But Vegas clearly wanted to keep the Golden Knights name, and though it may be a different situation than Utah's case, they made it work in the end by reaching an agreement for both parties to continue using the nickname.

Without question, the Utah Yeti is a far better name than other reported Utah team name ideas, including the Blizzard, Outlaws, Mammoth and Venom. (That said, the Utah Blizzard, Utah Venom and Utah Hockey Club were refused as well.)

Utah GM Bill Armstrong said at the NHL draft he didn't have a vote in the team name, but the kids in Salt Lake City chanting "Yeti" do. 

"It's been very clear to us what our fans would like us to be called, and so now it's a matter of trying to explore exhaustively all avenues to try to deliver that to our fans," Utah HC president Chris Armstrong said in September as well.

It would be a shame to move on from a name that fits so well and go with something different at this point.

That said, Armstrong said it was a “complicated process” to provide fans with their preference for a team name from a legal, trademark and intellectual property perspective. 

That process will continue for Utah in the next handful of weeks, as the Patent and Trademark Office has given Utah three months from its Jan. 9 ruling to respond with further arguments and evidence to support its trademark claim, per Miller. There’s time for a deal to make all parties happy. And that means the fight isn’t over for the Yeti name.

It feels like we’ve gone too far down the road with the Yeti name to choose any other name now.

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