What else haven't you talked about when you look back and you're like, this is what I think about when I think about, is it the first day that you were in the NHL, your first game? What really stands out?

Well, I mean, obviously your first game, um, you know, you, you, you dream about your whole life and to, for it to finally come true.

I mean, the, the morning skate, um, I've kind of a small head, so, uh, morning skate, we're getting ready to go out and they got a helmet.

That's way too big for my head.

I couldn't even use it.

Um, I had to go out with some old CCM.

They found it was a different color and it had no visor or nothing.

Can you talk to us a little bit about what's going on with you and the Utah Mammoth?

You were too good for us and had to elevate your game at a much higher level.

Yeah, I mean, I grew up playing, you know, wherever I could, basically.

You know, I'd play for Team Utah or the Junior Grizzlies or whatever it might be.

So, you know, growing up, there wasn't a lot of hockey here.

There wasn't many players.

So I was lucky enough, like I said, to live across the street from the ice rink and play.

get some good ice time and get my work in that way but um I did play for Brighton I played my freshman year um I didn't actually go to Brighton but I played my freshman year for Brighton which was which was a lot of fun but um at 14 uh my dad just kind of looked at me and said if you want to keep going with this we're probably gonna have to move away because like I said there wasn't many kids and um the competition wasn't as good as some other states had but You know, coming back now, it's just amazing to see the impact the Mammoths have had on the youth hockey community.

But, yeah, I mean, what growth have you seen in hockey since, you know, these moments? You know, it's been almost 15 years.

So how much stock is put in the fisticuffs?

Yeah, I mean, you want to do something that stands out, right? You want to do something that gets you noticed a little bit.

Yeah.

When I said there was more fights, I think there was four or five guys on each team that were just there to fight.

Now all these kids can play too.

There has been some fights.

It's been good to see the emotion coming out and guys sticking up for each other.

But what do you see? What are the potential ripple effects of this shortened training camp? Like, Will we see more injuries in the regular season? Will we see sloppier play? Do guys have to skate more ahead of time to get ready? What are kind of the ripple effects of the new

your door? Come on out, Trevor.

Yeah, I definitely loved it.

doing something different every day.

So that was some of the, you know, the things that I was looking for.

And I loved working with clients to kind of bring this idea that they had to life in a physical setting in which they could kind of tell their brand story.

I love doing it in the trade show world.

And so what had happened is I'd I wanted to take that next step.

And what's the hardest part about leading a team like that? Because you seem very, very open to people being different

your door? Come on out, Trevor.

Yeah, I definitely loved it.

doing something different every day.

So that was some of the, you know, the things that I was looking for.

And I loved working with clients to kind of bring this idea that they had to life in a physical setting in which they could kind of tell their brand story.

I love doing it in the trade show world.

And so what had happened is I'd I wanted to take that next step.

And what's the hardest part about leading a team like that? Because you seem very, very open to people being different

coming full circle, as a kid growing up, did you ever think there was a possibility that you would see an NHL team in Utah?

No.

I mean, not at all.

I mean, we had the Grizzlies when they were in the AHL and the IHL and the Salt Lake Golden Eagles when they were in the IHL, and I thought that was the highest we would get.

Yeah.

What Ryan and Ashley Smith have done for the hockey community here, it's been pretty amazing.

It's been two years, and this town's a hockey town now.

I'm very curious to see how this affects the team within the next five years as it establishes itself as one of the better markets in the league.

Here we go.

In my experience, black people, listen.

are less uptight about race than white people are.

You feel how tense the white people are? I used to drive DoorDash in a ski town, and let's be honest, not a lot of black people ski.

So I was driving DoorDash, this is a true story, and I pulled into a busy parking lot at the base of the ski village to drop off an order, and I called up my guy.

I said,

I'm in a silver Nissan

Rogue.

[laughs]

So I was driving DoorDash, this is a true story, and I pulled into a busy parking lot at the base of the ski village to drop off an order, and I called up my guy.

I said, "Uh, hey, I got your food.

I'm pulling up.

I'm in a silver Nissan Rogue." And he said, "All right, I'm black."

[laughs]

Uh, after college, I wanted to be an independent filmmaker, and, uh, I was grinding away writing screenplays.

Faced writer's block, but I was going to shows around here, shows at The Mothership, and I was like, "I can get up there.