Utah Mammoth is the permanent name of the NHL team in Salt Lake City

After a mammoth undertaking of buying an NHL team, moving players, coaches and a full staff more than 600 miles and getting it all together in a matter of months before the puck dropped on a new season, it is perhaps a fitting identity that owners Ryan and Ashley Smith chose after rounds and rounds of fan voting.

They unveiled Utah Mammoth as the franchise's permanent, full-time name Wednesday, with a profiled logo of the ice age creature featuring nods to the shape of the state, its mountain range and the same light blue, black and white color scheme that quickly became synonymous with the team in its first season in Salt Lake City.

“Our fans made it very easy for us,” Ryan Smith said at a news conference at Delta Center celebrating the branding effort's competition after more than 850,000 votes were cast over the past 13 months. “Every single night we were doing the voting, Mammoth just started running away with it. ... And for us, it was like, ‘That’s it.’"

Mammoth replaces the 2024-25 placeholder name Utah Hockey Club, which was also one of the three finalists. Yeti was taken out of consideration when the cooler company bearing that name could not come to a copyright agreement with Utah ownership, and Wasatch — a reference to the state’s mountain range — was quickly replaced as an option by Outlaws.

The Mammoth are maintaining the road jerseys with UTAH diagonally down the front. The logo, along with mountains and a hidden “M” and more of what Smith called “Easter eggs,” also has a curved tusk that forms a “U.”

Mammoth fossils have been found throughout Utah, including a complete skeleton in Huntington Canyon in 1988. The team said “Tusks Up” will be its rallying cry.

“We uncovered a little bit of the mammoth history in this state,” Smith said. “It was daunting — of how close and tied and whether it was Lake Bonneville or Fairview, Utah, or Lake Powell and the size of the mammoth and how fast they go, it became like this really cool thing.”

Utah has an exciting summer ahead holding the fourth pick in the draft, the first phase of arena renovations taking place and more than $20 million in salary cap space for general manager Bill Armstrong to make a splash in free agency and trades. With young talent like captain Clayton Keller, budding star forward Logan Cooley, two-time Stanley Cup champion Mikhail Sergachev and emerging goaltender Karel Vejmelka, the Mammoth could contend for a playoff spot as soon as next season.

Sitting next to Commissioner Gary Bettman, Ashley Smith said the goal was to bring him back with more to celebrate.

“Next time, Stanley Cup," she told Bettman, who responded, “It would be my pleasure.” Bettman, who turns 73 in July, added, “When you win the Stanley Cup, I hope I’m still doing this to present it.”

Hockey in Utah has already been a win after Smith Entertainment Group bought the team previously known as the Arizona Coyotes from former owner Alex Meruelo and moved it to Salt Lake City. The Coyotes played in the Phoenix area since 1996 after moving there from Winnipeg, where the team was the original Jets.

“The first year has been almost mind-blowing in terms of how successful Utah and you and everybody in SEG has been,” Bettman said. “This has been the ultimate team effort for the ultimate team sport. And while you may be thrilled to have us, we’re thrilled to be part of Utah and are grateful.”

The rollout of Mammoth even included a fan holding a Stanley cup — lower-case “C” — Yeti coolers' biggest competition in that market. In the midst of a formative day in the organization's history, Ryan Smith almost seemed to want to manifest another one sometime in the future, not for a mug but the sport's most hallowed trophy.

“When we etch Utah Mammoth in Lord Stanley’s Cup," he said, "that’ll be a good one.”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

Chairman of Smith Entertainment Group Ryan Smith and co-founder Ashley Smith join NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, from left, as they announce the Utah Mammoth as the new name and branding identity of Utah's NHL franchise, Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Chairman of Smith Entertainment Group Ryan Smith and co-founder Ashley Smith join NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, from left, as they announce the Utah Mammoth as the new name and branding identity of Utah's NHL franchise, Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Chairman of Smith Entertainment Group Ryan Smith, Co-Founder Ashley Smith and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, from left, announce the Utah Mammoth as the new name and branding identity of Utah's NHL franchise, Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Fans watch outside Delta Center watch the live press conference announcing Utah Mammoth as the new name and branding identity of Utah's NHL franchise, Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

FILE - The Utah Hockey Club logo is seen on the helmet of center Nick Schmaltz (8) during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn, File)

FILE - A general view of players entering the ice before an NHL hockey game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Utah Hockey Club, Monday, March 10, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate, File)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Richard “Dick” Codey, a former acting governor of New Jersey and the longest serving legislator in the state's history, died Sunday. He was 79.

Codey’s wife, Mary Jo Codey, confirmed her husband’s death to The Associated Press.

“Gov. Richard J. Codey passed away peacefully this morning at home, surrounded by family, after a brief illness,” Codey's family wrote in a Facebook post on Codey's official page.

"Our family has lost a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- and New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him," the family said.

Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.

Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.

Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.

At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.

Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.

Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.

After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.

“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”

Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.

Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.

His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.

“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”

Jack Brook contributed reporting from New Orleans.

FILE - New Jersey State Sen. and former Democratic Gov. Richard Codey is seen before New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the statehouse, in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)