The Christmas break is here, and all 32 NHL teams will have Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day off before 16 teams, including the Utah Hockey Club, take the ice on Dec. 27 to resume the 2024-25 NHL season.
Related: Dear Santa: Utah Hockey Club’s 2024-25 Christmas Wish List
Utah players and coaches had plenty to say before Utah’s final game before the break against the Dallas Stars. With all kinds of information being given out in the media today, let’s discuss the most significant stories from the Utah locker room heading into the break.
Logan Cooley Benched by Andre Tourigny in Loss to Anaheim Ducks
On Sunday night, Utah matched up with the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks would take this contest 5-4 in overtime after Utah blew a three-goal lead. Utah gave the Ducks six powerplay opportunities in this game. The final Ducks powerplay came with six minutes remaining when Logan Cooley was called for slashing Mason McTavish in the back of the legs when the two were battling in front of the net.
The slash came in a retaliatory manner after McTavish cross-checked Cooley in front of the net, and if you’ve watched any hockey, you know the ref only sees the retaliation. Whether or not the refs could have called a penalty on both players during this interaction, Cooley’s penalty would act as the game’s turning point as the Ducks tied the game 4-4 on the ensuing penalty.
After leaving the penalty box and doing the skate of shame back to the Utah bench following the Ducks powerplay goal, Cooley would not see the ice for the rest of the third period, overtime, and would not get a shot attempt in the shootout. When head coach Andre Tourigny was asked about the situation following the game, he said, “I will let you think about it.”
Then, on Monday, when asked about it again, Tourigny said “After games, there’s a lot of emotion…Cools knew what I think of him. He knows I like him and believe in him and know what he means for the team” (via Belle Fraser). To me, it sounds like there is some regret in this statement. Cooley has been one of Utah’s most productive players all season; he is one of Utah’s best players at three-on-three and would be one of Utah’s top three options to take a shot in a shootout on any other night.
However, Tourigny kept Cooley glued to the bench in what he considered a teaching moment. After seeing this, I thought about it, just as Tourginy wanted, whether it was an ill-advised penalty or not, Tourigny cannot bench Cooley in that situation. It is not just that he is one of your most effective skill players, with a win over the Ducks, Utah would have found themselves in a playoff position with one game remaining before the Christmas break. In addition, Utah averages the second most time spent on the penalty kill per game this season and has averaged the third most time spent on the penalty kill per game in Tourigny’s first three seasons coaching this team.
Utah has been taking stupid penalties for years under Tourigny’s watch. Tourigny’s timing benching Cooley felt overly emotional based on the Ducks scoring the game-tying goal. Sure the moment should play a factor, but I have seen numerous different players take far more egregious penalties this season. While not all of these resulted in the tying goal being scored, many changed the complexion of the game, but Tourigny did nothing but send them back over the boards for their next shift. Tourigny needs to find some consistency in these situations; it’s either do nothing and keep sending players over the boards after stupid penalties or you staple everyone’s butt to the bench that takes a needless penalty.
John Marino Back Skating With Utah HC Extras
The Utah Hockey Club acquired John Marino in a trade with the New Jersey Devils in the offseason before they kicked off their inaugural season in Salt Lake City. Utah brought him in expecting to be a top-four defenseman, but Marino began training camp with an upper-body injury and was labelled week-to-week.
This week-to-week designation lasted until after the third game of the season. Following Utah’s first loss to the New Jersey Devils, a game where Sean Durzi was injured, Utah announced that he would be out for four to six months and that Marino would miss three to four months after having back surgery.
We are now two months removed from this announcement and Marino was spotted on the ice at the Delta Center for the first time on Monday (Dec. 23). When asked about Marino’s recovery, Tourigny said “It’s good…We’re monitoring his workload. He’s getting better slowly but surely” (via Belle Fraser). Tourigny’s statement suggests Marino isn’t close to getting back to game action, which isn’t shocking when adding up the injury timelines. However, it is good to see him back on the ice and getting ready to eventually make an impact for Utah.
Timeline For Connor Ingram’s Return From Injury Still Unknown
Connor Ingram has not played a game since he was pulled from the net in Utah’s 6-2 loss to the Washington Capitals. Following that game, he was placed on Utah’s injured reserve with a day-to-day designation. This game was played on Nov. 18. Nothing would be said until Dec. 2 when it was reported that Ingram was “not close” to returning.
Now, we are almost three weeks removed from Tourigny’s initial comments saying he was nowhere near returning and when asked for another update on Monday he said “I did not have that kind of a discussion yet. I just don’t know” (via Chase Beardsley).
While Utah’s net is in good hands with a red-hot Karel Vejmelka and Jaxson Stauber, Ingram’s injury is starting to become concerning as it seems he is no closer to getting back on the ice. With little information released on this injury, it is hard to speculate as to what is going on. But, the longer this goes on without a definitive announcement as Utah eventually released for Durzi and Marino’s injuries, it makes me think there is much more going on with Ingram.
Regardless, Utah is in a great spot going into the holiday break. The team is in playoff contention, they are getting better as the season goes on and they are also getting good news on the injury front with both Marino and Durzi slowly recovering. It will be interesting to see how good this team can become once fully healthy.
