Skatin’ Utes honor former player, a fallen Navy SEAL

The Utah Skatin' Utes will will be retiring the jersey of a former player, fallen Navy SEAL Mark Weiss, on Saturday before the game against the Utah State Aggies. 

“Mark was an example to everyone lucky enough to be on the team with him,” said AJ Boldan, the president and general manager for the Utes  “He put the team above everything else.”

During the 2010-2011 season, Weiss was a forward for the Utes while he finished up his degree at the University of Utah. Weiss was on off-duty leave when he died after an accident while spearfishing on Nov. 11. The team decided to retire his jersey, number 2, both in remembrance of Weiss and “to honor his huge impact on the team,” Boldan said. 

Weiss died on Veterans Day, but the Utes wanted to retire his jersey earlier in the season than on that anniversary. Many of Weiss' friends who serve in the military want to attend the ceremony, but have deployments scheduled in October.

While Weiss' death was tragic, Austin Moser, a forward for the Aggies, said that "the ceremony will bring a good atmosphere" for the game and hopes that the Utes can play well to honor the former player.

“Hopefully it will bring more of a crowd to get the boys fired up," Moser said. "Hopefully the boys put up a good fight for their team.”


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