🆕 Utah narrows down team names to 6

WWE deal with NHL, First PWHL win, League awards, Drake's Stanley Cup bet, and more!

June 07, 2024

In today’s edition:

  • 🆕 Utah narrows down team names to 6

  • 🤺 WWE strikes deal with NHL

  • 🏆 First PWHL champion

  • 🎤 Drake’s Stanley Cup bet

  • And more!

Utah narrows team name list to 6

The Smith Entertainment Group has narrowed down the 20 initial names for Utah’s new NHL team to just six after a first-round vote from fans.

They are:

  • Utah Blizzard

  • Utah Hockey Club

  • Utah Mammoth

  • Utah Outlaws

  • Utah Venom

  • Utah Yeti

Fans can begin voting for their favorites in a second round of voting that is open until June 20 at 11:59 p.m. Votes can be cast online, here.

According to SEG, the six finalists accounted for 60% of the total votes, leading to all six being included in a second round of voting.

SEG unveiled a full list of 20 names in early May, allowing fans to cast their votes for their favorites. Over 520,000 Utahns submitted their votes in round one and SEG said they made it clear the above names were resounding favorites.

NHL makes deal with WWE

WWE Stanley Cup champions legacy title belt will commemorate the winner of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers.

Featuring custom side plates emblazoned with the logo and official markings of the winning team, the WWE legacy title belt prominently showcases the Stanley Cup, the oldest and one of the most coveted trophies to be awarded in sports.

This marks the first ever licensing deal between the NHL and WWE.

The belt will be available for purchase on the NHL shop website.

Minnesota wins first-ever PWHL championship

The first season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) is now in the books.

PWHL Minnesota last week became the league’s first champion, only the second local women’s pro hockey club to win a world title (Minnesota Whitecaps in 2010 and 2019).

It joins the Minnesota Lynx (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) as the only Minnesota professional teams in this century to win at least one championship.

Connor Ingram wins Masterton Trophy

Arizona Coyotes goaltender Connor Ingram is the 2023-24 recipient of the Bill Masterton Trophy, given to the player who best exemplifies “perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.”

Ingram was nominated alongside Calgary Flames defenceman Oliver Kylington and Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen.

Rick Tocchet wins NHL coach of the year award

He was announced on Wednesday night as the winner of the Jack Adams Award for NHL coach of the year.

In his first full season with the Canucks, Tocchet led Vancouver back to the playoffs with 50 wins and 109 points, ending a three-year drought. The Canucks jumped from 22nd to sixth in points.

Drake reveals bets for Stanley Cup

On Thursday, the Canadian superstar Drake shared a screenshot of a bet he submitted for the upcoming NBA Finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics as well as the NHL Stanley Cup Finals between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.

Having submitted $500,000 each in favor of the Mavs (Odds: 2.75) and Oilers (Odds: 2.05), the receipts list his estimated payouts as $1,375,000 and $1,025,000 respectively.

“Dallas cause I’m a Texan,” he captioned the post. “Oilers are self explanators.”