The Utah Hockey Club will play its first regular season game on October 8 against the Chicago Blackhawks at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City (10 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+). NHL.com counts down to Game 1 with a five-part series on Utah hockey. Today, in Part 5, columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika examines how Utah has welcomed the NHL:

SALT LAKE CITY – When Mikhail Sergachev moved to Utah, he settled in his family’s neighborhood. People came to the house to introduce themselves. They brought bread and jam.

“They saw a lot of boxes in my garage and said, ‘We’ll unpack them for you,'” the defense attorney said. “I say, ‘No, come on. Relax.’ It feels like they are too nice. Whatever I need, they are here to help. I’ve never had neighbors who were so enthusiastic about it. Everything here and everyone is super nice.”

The community has welcomed the Utah Hockey Club with open arms since the NHL created the new franchise on April 18. So imagine the scene as Utah opens its inaugural season against the Chicago Blackhawks at Delta Center on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS).

“My neighbors are all excited, everyone you talk to,” forward Lawson Crouse said. “I think word spreads pretty quickly that hockey players are in town and everyone is so excited, so it’s cool to be a part of that excitement.”

A little more than 24 hours after the NHL Board of Governors voted to move the NHL to Utah, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman sat with owners Ryan and Ashley Smith on stage at the Delta Center for a press conference.

The audience included Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, Utah Jazz Executive Director Danny Ainge and several other dignitaries.

Utah acquired the hockey assets of the Arizona Coyotes franchise, which became inactive due to the arena situation. The team flew executives, coaches, players and staff to their new home on April 24th.

When they got off the plane that morning, they were greeted by hundreds of teenage hockey parents, coaches and players in a hangar with homemade signs. “WELCOME TO UTAH!” “UTAH (HEARTS) HOCKEY!” “WELCOME HOME!” On a sign there was a map of Utah, a star for Salt Lake City and the signpost: “You are here.” With rock music in the In the background, the children shouted: “Let’s go, Utah! Let’s go!”

That evening, a huge, raucous crowd welcomed them to a celebration at the Delta Center. With dim lights, bright spotlights and blaring music, they entered the arena in suits, feeling like rock stars and unable to hide their smiles. Forward Alex Kerfoot told the audience it was one of the coolest experiences they’ve all had as hockey players.

Coach Andre Tourigny met the players for lunch before training camp. Every time they were recognized. He told a story about eating outside with defense attorneys Robert Bortuzzo, Ian Cole and John Marino. The people at the next table all knew her and talked to Cole about his time with the Colorado Avalanche from 2018-21.

“Thank God we didn’t say anything wrong,” Tourigny said with a laugh, “because we would have been caught.”

Players told similar stories. Sergachev was sitting in his car near Park City, Utah, when a fan spotted him. Forward Liam O’Brien was grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s when people came up and asked for pictures.

“It’s pretty cool that you can tell there’s excitement here,” O’Brien said. “People are starting to know who we are. It’s been a fun experience so far.”

Utah played a preseason game at the Delta Center, which will be renovated for hockey over the next three years. The official attendance was 11,131, with only available seats sold out, but the building was full. Fans chanted and cheered during the 3-2 overtime win against the Los Angeles Kings.

“Obviously we saw what happened in the first preseason game,” Sergachev said. “I think it was a success for the organization, people were excited and it was actually very loud. I didn’t expect it to be so loud in this rink.

“It felt like a playoff at first when they started announcing our names. The first time we got on the ice it was honestly incredible. Yes, we have a great opportunity here to grow the game in Utah.”

Utah will hold an opening game celebration on Tuesday at the Delta Center.

ESPN will play outside and go live at 4 p.m. ET. DJs, free games and hockey activities for fans begin at 6:00 p.m. ET, and players will enter on a Mountain Blue carpet and be greeted by young hockey players at 7:00 p.m. ET.

At 7:30 p.m. ET there will be a concert with country artist Shaboozey, and at 8:30 p.m. ET there will be a flypast by four F-35A jets based at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Fans without tickets to the game can stay for a watch party.

“I think it could be a very exciting year,” Cole said. “I think the population here in Salt Lake is very willing to give hockey a try and it’s our job as a team to bring a product to market that excites them and makes them want to come along.”