After weeks of speculation — and an unfortunate leak via YouTube — we finally have the Utah Hockey Club‘s official name … the Utah Mammoth! However, despite some neat branding and a cool hidden secret in their logo, some hockey fans are annoyed at the Mammoth’s new name.
Why? Well, it comes down to pluralization.
You see, the majority of sports names are plural. The Winnipeg Jets. The Philadelphia Flyers. The Columbus Blue Jackets. However, Utah took the road less travelled by and went with the singular Mammoth for their name, not Mammoths. And after Wednesday’s announcement, some hockey fans were incredibly perplexed at the choice, which seemingly flies in the face of proper grammar.
Love the logo and the everything, but Utah Mammoth were forever bug me as a team name because:
Singular: Refers to one mammoth (e.g., “A mammoth roamed the tundra”).
Plural: Refers to multiple mammoths (e.g., “Mammoths were extinct by the end of the Ice Age”). pic.twitter.com/bjaYW5u4hJ
— Jonathan J. Colton (@JonathanJColton) May 7, 2025
shouldn’t this be plural? mammoths? never watched a hockey game in my life but it bothers me that it isn’t plural https://t.co/UizfqGjGPY
— cady 🧍🏻♀️ (@mojogojo_) May 7, 2025
Sick mascot but why is it singular??? Every other major professional sports team with an animal mascot is plural. The whole team is one mammoth? A species that was known to travel in packs? https://t.co/D8CduWLX7K
— Lawson Mansell (@lawsonhmansell) May 7, 2025
“Utah Mammoth” – absolutely dreadful name, physically uncomfortable to pronounce, implies they could only afford one Mammoth, ends with four letters forming the word “Moth.”
D+
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) May 7, 2025
To be fair, the Mammoth aren’t the first NHL team to go without the plural. The Seattle Kraken, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild all use the singular version. In fact, the NHL has the most teams (five total) out of the four major sports leagues without a plural noun as their name.
As for why this is the case, it seems as if it’s just personal preference from the team! Personally, Utah Mammoth rolls off the tongue better than Utah Mammoths does, so the decision does make some sense from that regard.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Why Utah Mammoth and not plural Mammoths? NHL fans are annoyed.