Mammoth report for camp with playoff aspirations

SANDY, Utah (ABC4 Sports) - It's a brand new era of NHL hockey in Utah, and with that comes new expectations for the Mammoth."It's a new name, it's a new team and new expectation," said defenseman Sean Durzi and Mammoth Media Day Wednesday.

"We come in here, this is the standard.

It's the standard we have for ourselves, and it needs to be raised higher than ever.""Every year, obviously, training camp, you feel some excitement, said head coach Andre Tourigny.

"But there's excitement and hope -- that's what we had before.

I feel right now it's excitement and confidence."Utah missed the NHL playoffs by seven points last season, and they don't intend to miss out this season, bringing the postseason atmosphere to the Delta Center.Mammoth officially open new practice facility"This group wants to get to the playoffs," said center Logan Cooley.

"The city wants us in the playoffs.

We're all hungry to make sure we get there.

Just the excitement around the city, even for a regular season, it's pretty incredible.

I couldn't imagine what the city will be like if we get to the playoffs."It took a while for the Mammoth to get comfortable with each other last season, and they lost a lot of close games.

But with so many young key pieces back like Cooley, Clayton Keller, Mikhail Sergachev and Dylan Guenther, this team is going to be tough to beat."Ever since I've gotten drafted, the team has gotten better every single year," said Guenther.

I think the goal this year is to make the playoffs.

I think when we play our game the way we can, we're a really good team.""Consistency is going to be key," Sergachev said.

"Obviously you can't be consistent for all 82 games, but if we can for 60 or so, that will help."The Mammoth brought in some new players like Nate Schmidt from the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, and JJ Peterka, who scored 27 goals for Buffalo last year.

He's excited to show the Mammoth fans what he's got.Mammoth rookies report to new training facility"Just be excited," was Peterka's message to the fans.

"I think I'm an exciting player to watch with a lot of speed.

So, don't don't look away and be excited for some action."Every successful team has a great goalie, and Karel Vejmelka is a rising star, who was surprised at how he became such a fan favorite last season."Well, to be honest, a little bit," Veggie said about all the fanfare.

"Because I never had the support from the fans before.

So those kind of moments give me some special energy to every game."The Mammoth begin the 2025-26 season October 9th at Colorado..

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