By james art 
Utah’s NHL franchise, aptly named the Utah Hockey Club while awaiting its official name, will have to wait a little longer to land its new manager.
The franchise applied for the name “Yeti”, only to be rejected by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The reason? This name is associated with the mega-brand Yeti Coolers and its endless list of accessories. Because of this, the front office will not allow the hockey team to adopt the long-rumored name.
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The Utah Yetis won’t be playing hockey anytime soon
“In the instant case, the wording “Utah” in the mark application is merely descriptive or generic of the applicant’s goods,” the USPTO wrote to KSL. “Thus, this wording is less significant in terms of influencing the trade impression of the mark and makes the wording ‘Yetis’ the more dominant element of the mark.”
Like many sports clubs, the organization even tried to approve the “Yetis”, but the pluralized version also did not reach.
It’s a shame because the Utah Yetis had a cool ring to it. That’s a pretty bad hockey name for hockey, to be honest. Unfortunately, the team will probably have to find a new name. You won’t have to look too far, as a fan vote held last year whittled the choices down to six names. Yeti was one of them (as was the current but boring name of the hockey club), which leaves four left: Blizzard, Mammoth, Outlaws and Venom.
My vote is for Blizzard and use the Yeti as a mascot. You get the best of both worlds. And maybe even get Yeti coolers to sponsor the team. Win-Win!
Right now, the inaugural season for Utah — formerly the Arizona Coyotes — isn’t going great. The team is sixth in the Central Division and has about five teams ahead of them for the final Wild Card spot. So using the right to a potentially cool name like Yeti is just another speed bump in their debut season.
But their beer sales are great!