Parkite Colten McIntrye was playing goalie for the Miners Red team just four years ago.
He won three state titles with the preps team before head coach Mike Adamek told him and his family that it was time to move up to a higher level.
McIntyre would go on to play for the Long Beach Sharks of the North American 3 Hockey League and the Connecticut RoughRiders of the Eastern Hockey League. The EHL is a high-level junior league designed to prepare players for higher levels or college hockey.
McIntrye trained in Utah with those teams, whose players are some of the best in the world. And since the Mammoth came to Utah in 2023, he’s practiced with their players as one of the best goalies in Utah. Before this season, some of those players put in word for him with the team, and McIntrye has since become the Mammoth’s emergency goalie.
McIntrye is with the team at all home and away games in case of injury to one or more of their goalies. Not all teams carry emergency goalies in the NHL, a rule changing for the 2026-27 season. When Mammoth goalie Karel Vejmelka suffered an upper-body injury last Tuesday, McIntrye got the call to head to the Ball Arena in Denver early, where the Mammoth were taking on the Colorado Avalanche, and suit up for the first time.
“It was absolutely unreal,” McIntyre said of his first game suiting up. “I was kind of rushing to get over the rink and get gear on and stuff, so it took a second for it to hit. But, I think once I did the rookie lap and then got into butterfly to start stretching and took a look around, I really thought to myself for a second how cool this was.”
A rookie lap is a famed NHL tradition where the team makes the debuting rookie take a few laps, often helmet-less, around the rink before everyone else joins for warmups. McIntrye said the team was more than welcoming and excited for him, making the whole ordeal less stressful.
“It just felt other worldly; it didn’t feel like I was there,” he added. “I’m like ‘I should be watching from somewhere.’ … I just feel like the luckiest guy in the world to be able to experience that.”
McIntrye was also able to see up close how his teammates prepare for battle. He’s looking to hopefully make nights like last Tuesday the norm as his career progresses. McIntrye will be battling for the Mammoth’s full-time third string goalie role next season.
“Of course I’ve never experienced anything like that,” McIntrye said. “One thing that really helped is one of my teammates, Ian Cole, who I’ve been pretty close with over the past few months, said to me when I was getting dressed like ‘Hey dude, it’s just another hockey game, you’ve got nothing to worry about.’”
McIntrye in that moment with Cole, an elder statesman on the team, said he’s been fielding shots from NHL players for years now. He feels like he’s handled the massive jump from junior hockey to his new role well. Other than last Tuesday, McIntyre’s favorite moments of the young season have been meeting new people and seeing new places as the team travels.
“Coming from where I was in the preseason during summer skates to where I am now, I’ve been lucky enough to face these shots from these guys every day, and I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better,” McIntyre said. “I’ve also heard that from a couple teammates and our goalie coach as well, which means just the absolute world coming from them because they’re the best in the business.”
McIntrye credited his parents, twin sister and the youth programs in Park City for helping him reach the NHL stage. He and his sister Tiana started playing with the Ice Miners programs when they were about 8 years old. Tiana now plays for the University of Delaware and is the first woman from Utah to play at the D1 level.
The McIntrye family is happy to be representing Utah hockey on their stages. McIntrye hopes the Mammoth continue to grow hockey in the state so that players like him don’t have to leave for other teams to make the NHL in the future. He said he’s seen an increase of kids playing hockey in his neighborhood and at local rinks picking up hockey sticks in recent years.
“They’ve supported us at every turn of the way,” McIntrye said about his parents. “Raising a goaltender and a female hockey player (Tiana) is incredibly difficult, especially in the state of Utah. … They let us go out East and continue to pursue our dreams.”
“In a long line of really good goaltenders, he was the first,” Adamek said about McIntrye. “He’s only 21 years old. … I think the coolest thing it does is show our little kids ‘Hey, you can grow up in Park City, Utah, and still make it and accomplish some of your crazy, humongous dreams.’”
Adamek believes there are players for the Miners Red and Miners White teams that will progress up the ranks like McIntrye. He tabbed Miners White goalie Nico Scott as the potential next Colten McIntrye, if not better.
McIntrye encouraged fans to continue supporting the Mammoth at home and on the road as the league’s midseason point nears. The Mammoth fell at the Delta Center to the Nashville Predators 4-3 on Monday night; McIntrye didn’t dress. The Mammoth are 18-18-3 and will next face the New York Islanders on New Years Day (Thursday) on the road.
“I think the fans are the reason why the guys put on the jersey and go out there feeling that energy every night,” McIntyre said. “People yelling your name and telling you to go harder, I just like it. … It really motivates all the guys to give it their all because they want to do well for the state. They want to show people that Utah as an entire population is a great place for hockey and we want a (Stanley) Cup.”