Knik Archer usually books out his client schedule a year in advance.

The Salt Lake City tattoo artist has recently made some exceptions, though, for fans of the NHL’s newest franchise.

Anything for his fellow Utah Mammoth diehards. While Archer grew up watching the Pittsburgh Penguins (his dad is from the area), he swiftly changed allegiances when the Mammoth arrived last April.

“I got season tickets for the inaugural season and just became a full-blown fanatic,” Archer said.

And so, you can see hockey lovers slipping into 27 Tattoo Studio at random hours to get their team permanently inked by Archer.

“I welcome it. I’ll do as much as people want,” Archer said. “For Mammoth tattoos, I’ve just been sweeping people in later in the day or after a day’s schedule. I have fun getting to hang out with hockey fans and talk hockey while putting a Mammoth tattoo on them.”

James Malone went to Archer to get the Mammoth logo on his arm. Malone, who was born and raised in Utah, has been playing hockey in the state for 30 years and was “all in” when the NHL arrived in Salt Lake.

Malone also got season tickets and saw the instant embrace between the team and its followers. From the neighbors who brought the players bread and other gifts to their homes, to Mikhail Sergachev’s love for his new backyard and chicken coop, Malone said he felt the connection.

“It became such a community thing,” Malone said. “It instantly made me feel like, ‘Man, this is my team.’ They are here for us. Seeing their excitement just got into my blood.”

When the public voting for the team name and logos opened in February, Malone was initially pulling for Outlaws. However, as the Mammoth branding was announced, Malone said it “just clicked.” He liked it enough to message Archer on Instagram after seeing a Mammoth tattoo he had previously done.

Soon enough, Malone was in the chair himself.

(Kelly Quiel) Knik Archer designs the Utah Mammoth tattoo that Kelly Quiel got behind her ear at 27 Tattoo Studio.

“This was my first and only sports one until we win a Cup. Then I’ll have my guy do some adjustments,” Malone said. “I put it on my forearm because I don’t want to hide it. I wear short-sleeve shirts year-round, and you can know my loyalty right there. It’s here and I don’t care. I’ve got my pride in my team. Wherever it goes, whatever may happen — that is part of me.”

Malone opted for the official Mammoth head mark with the team’s “Mountain Blue” on the outline. Archer had to experiment with the ink colors he had in the shop to get the right shade that matched Utah’s merchandise. He has since found the perfect combination and has had a total of eight people come in for Mammoth-related tattoos.

“I mix my own [colors]. The first one I did, I mixed three different pigments to get that blue,” Archer said. “I’ve actually simplified it and mix two different pigments to get the blue now. Mainly because when tattoos settle on the skin, they kind of mute out a little bit. The blue that I was first using was perfectly spot on, but then I was noticing when it healed, it just felt like it needed a teeny bit more brightness.”

(James Malone) Mammoth tattoo done for James Malone on his arm by Knik Archer at 27 Tattoo Studio.

Kelly Quiel is one of the latest customers to get the “Mountain Blue” inked on her skin. Quiel started playing hockey in high school — her husband was on the same team — and picked it back up in 2016 when she joined a women’s program.

“Hockey has been a big part of our family’s identity for a really long time,” Quiel said.

It is no surprise, then, that Quiel wholly embraced the Mammoth during their inaugural season. She was looking for a way to represent this moment in time, Quiel said, but didn’t want to get the whole logo tattooed. So, she went with a small outline of Utah with an “M” carved into the bottom, placed behind her ear.

(Kelly Quiel) Kelly Quiel shows her Mammoth-inspired tattoo done by Knik Archer.

“It felt like a big deal this past year. When they had the logo and it had this little Utah in it — Utah has meant so much to me for so long. And to have a little nod to our hockey team, it just had to be done,” Quiel said. “I kind of pictured myself getting a Utah tattoo anyway, and then I just loved the subtlety — the nod of the ‘M.’”

Quiel had never gotten a tattoo before setting up her appointment with Archer. And since she was already there for one, Quiel decided to get multiple.

“Truly insane. I got three all at the same time,” Quiel said with a laugh. “I have one for my grandmas and one for my kids. So my top three favorite things — my kids, my grandmothers and my hockey team.”

For Jerry Van Ieperen, a Utah Mammoth fan who originally cheered for the Calgary Flames, he wanted his tattoo to represent his entire hockey journey.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah fans celebrate the first goal of the season as Utah Hockey Club's first NHL season kicks off at the Delta Center against the Chicago Blackhawks in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024.

Van Ieperen’s sister took him to his first hockey game (the Salt Lake Golden Eagles) when he was 10 and, at the time, they were the affiliate for the Calgary Flames. That was automatically his NHL team, he said.

“I honestly thought I would be a Flames fan for a few years, and as there is more and more coverage of the Mammoth, I would convert over,” Van Ieperen said. “But it happened pretty fast. I went all Utah.”

Van Ieperen envisioned with a rough idea of what he wanted the artwork on his upper arm to look like and brought it to an artist at True Culture Tattoos in West Valley City.

“He came up with a design and I was blown away,” Van Ieperen said.

The tattoo — which took six hours to complete — features a Mammoth storming out of the mountains with two hockey players skating below. One has on a Calgary Flames jersey with the No. 12 for Van Ieperen’s favorite NHL player, Jarome Iginla. Jarome’s son, Tij Iginla, is now in the Mammoth system. The Utah jersey in the tattoo is No. 24 as an acknowledgement of the franchise’s inaugural season.

(Jerry Van Ieperen) Mamoth tattoo done for Jerry Van Ieperen by Danny at True Culture Tattoos.

“I hadn’t been in a tattoo place in 20 years, so I had been kind of reading what to expect. I had seen a lot of people say that when they got a big tattoo, they had regret. I was kind of expecting to go home that night, like, ‘What have I done?’ But I have had no regret,” Van Ieperen said. “I think people are just proud that there’s an NHL team and they want to display that.”

Mammoth fans were quick to silence the doubters who did not think Utah could be an NHL market. The sold-out crowds, rowdy cheers and newfound traditions began to build a culture around the team and the community that supported it.

And, now, some have made that commitment permanent.

“Utah supports its own,” Malone said. “When you give Utah something of our own, we love it, we cherish it and we hold onto it.”