Looking at Utah’s iconic snow-capped mountains, it’s no surprise that winter sports are big here. With a second Olympics on the horizon and a yet-to-be-named National Hockey League team now calling Salt Lake City home youth sports — especially hockey — could see a new boom.
Winter sports though are notoriously expensive. With a sport like hockey, for example, skates, sticks, protective gear and other equipment along with ice time for practices and games can easily add up to thousands of dollars.
“Hockey is an expensive sport, and it is an investment, time and financially, for parents to make for their child,” said youth hockey coach Ryan Flink at an April 24 arrival event as Utah’s new NHL team landed at the Salt Lake City airport.
“But I think with the NHL coming here there will be a whole new avenue [for kids to participate].”
Flink’s father, who played professional hockey for the now-defunct Salt Lake Golden Eagles, got him into the game. Flink now coaches in the Park City area and sees the NHL’s arrival in Utah as a boon for the sport with more kids interested than ever before. For him, providing the opportunity to try out the sport through scholarships and gear rental programs will be crucial if hockey is to grow.
“So for kids to be able to rent gear for the season, so they don't just outgrow it and have to spend $1,500 the next season, things like that hopefully will be implemented where we can get kids involved and see if they enjoy it.”
The good news for prospective players is that more opportunities for those programs are a real possibility. USA Hockey district director Kathleen Smith said the state’s new team “kind of opens up the door for some grant opportunities, some grant funding.”
“I've never known an NHL team that wasn't just so interested in giving back. It doesn't matter what team you are or where you're at. These guys realize what it took to get there… It's our goal to get gear into kids' hands so they can start.”
It’s not just hockey that will be getting a boost, either.
Utah saw a surge in sports participation following the 2002 Winter Olympics. That momentum has largely kept up with nonprofits like the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation and Youth Sports Alliance providing opportunities for new athletes to try out sports like skiing or speed skating at a reduced cost.
“They have core programs that specifically target our youth and get them active and healthy and engaged in sport and providing them those opportunities, a lot of times at obviously subsidized rates,” said Catherine Raney Norman, a former Olympic speed skater and board chair of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games.
“Those are really important things in just being able to allow kids to have an opportunity to try. And I think that is why, especially here in Utah, we've just seen this exponential growth in kids participating in sport.”
The corporate world also sponsors programs aimed at getting youth and people in underrepresented communities exposed to winter sports. Ski Utah offers a deep discount for 4th, 5th and 6th graders aimed at getting them on the slopes. Park City Mountain’s parent company, Vail Resorts, runs youth access programs throughout the winter.
According to Raney Norman, the momentum ahead of a future Olympics is already building with attendance growing at speed skating and biathlon World Cup events hosted at the Utah Olympic Oval and Soldier Hollow, both of which were event hosts in 2002 and have been identified as future hosts in 2034.
“All of a sudden you're coming to these events and there are lines out to the parking lots to get in,” she said. “I think people are starting to feel the excitement of the possibility of these events happening.”
Even without financial support to get kids playing, just having those athletes in their proverbial backyards could be the boost the next generation of Utah Olympians need.
“It's that mentality of, ‘if I can see you, I can be you,’” Raney Norman said. “And I think that is kind of the beauty of this community and definitely of our Olympic and Paralympic athletes.”
Utah’s NHL team will start play in October and the International Olympic Committee is expected to award the 2034 Winter Olympics in July.
