The Utah Mammoth entered their first-ever playoff run with a clear mission: gain invaluable postseason experience. Head coach André Tourigny, when asked about his team's mindset before their debut playoff game, pointed to their pedigree in high-stakes environments. "They've been in really high-stakes games, really important games," Tourigny said, referencing their backgrounds in international tournaments like the Olympics, World Championships, and World Juniors, as well as CHL and NCAA playoffs.

But after six intense playoff games, it was the Vegas Golden Knights—a team steeped in Stanley Cup Playoff experience both on the ice and behind the bench—that advanced to the second round. For the Mammoth, the 2025-26 season was always about building that playoff muscle, and the only way to do it is to live it. Seven players made their postseason debuts during the first-round series against Vegas.

"You hear about how hard it is to win the Cup, but once you're actually in it, it takes everyone," said Logan Cooley, who made his playoff debut this season. "It takes every shift, every game. You can't take a shift off. That's definitely eye-opening for me and I think as a group, too."

How does that compare to the pressure of international tournaments or NCAA championship games? "It's a completely different game," Cooley explained. "Those experiences definitely help prepare you for high-pressure, do-or-die moments, but I think playoffs are just a different animal—the physicality, the speed. I don't think anything could really compare to that."

Tourigny himself is learning on the job, making his first playoff run as an NHL head coach after a career largely spent in the CHL and international play. He noted a key difference: in regular season or international play, you face a new opponent every game. In a playoff series, you see the same team up to seven times in a row, and they quickly catch on to your tendencies. For the Mammoth, every shift, every adjustment, and every lesson learned is building a foundation for future runs.