And then there were three. But how did we get here? The naming of Utah’s hockey franchise — currently known as Utah Hockey Club — has become a dramatic, lengthy process because of copyright issues in seemingly every direction.

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For now, it is going by a generic placeholder name, the Utah Hockey Club. As the team underwent its rapid move in the spring (normally, sports franchise relocations unfold over years, not months), its new ownership began to submit a flurry of trademark applications for possible names.

If you didn’t like the Utah Wasatch as a replacement name for the Utah Hockey Club, don’t worry. Smith Entertainment Group announced on Thursday that due to fan feedback, that name is out of the running.

T he Utah Hockey Club, playing its first season in Utah since relocating from Phoenix, Arizona this offseason, announced three finalists fans can vote on for their permanent name.

On Jan. 29, the final three choices for the name of Utah's NHL team were revealed: Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth, and Utah Wasatch. Fans can vote for their favorite team name in person at the next few games.

The franchise will use a final round of fan voting to decide among the Utah Mammoth, Utah Hockey Club and Utah Wasatch. Team officials backed away from including Yeti as a finalist after being unable to work out a co-existence agreement with Yeti Coolers to use the name in branding and merchandising.

Smith Entertainment Group announced Wednesday that it will conduct another survey to determine the name and branding of its NHL team. Two of the proposed names came from previous surveys, while the third is new.