This afternoon the Western Hockey League Board of Governors announced the WHL Regular Season is scheduled to commence on Friday, January 8, 2021.
Included in the announcement were some changes to the format for the divisions. The East Division will now include the Swift Current Broncos, creating a seven-team division with the other Saskatchewan and Manitoba teams. The Central Division will consist of only the five Alberta based teams. The BC and US Divisions will remain unchanged. The teams will play exclusively within their division for the entirety of the 2020-21 season.
Details regarding the schedule of games in each of the four WHL Divisions will be announced at a later date.
The WHL continues to work with each of the Governments and Health Authorities in the Provinces and States in Western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest, respectively, on obtaining the necessary approvals to commence play.
“The WHL is very excited to be opening our WHL Regular Season on January 8,” commented WHL Commissioner Ron Robison said in the WHL’s press release. “The WHL is a world-class development league and we remain fully committed to providing our players with the highest level of training, coaching, and competition in the system.”
The release goes on to state that all WHL players will be reporting to their WHL Clubs following the Christmas Break (Usually December 27th) to begin training for the opening of the WHL Regular Season, scheduled for January 8th, 2021.
There was no further announcement regarding the number of fans in the building, the league had previously stated that 50% capacity was required to be viable to commence their season.
