The WHL had to act fast in scheduling the East as the matches start in a week. It helps that the teams will all play in Regina, Saskatchewan in a hub with practices next door. There will be no fans in attendance and protocols will be enforced as they plow through all 84 games.
It appears that they will be housed with billets with no stops permitted to the venues and back. The games will start March 12 and end on April 28 with Prince Albert vs. Swift Current. Most of the days will see two games per day and only a couple of those days will see one game played.
The teams will cram this schedule with a maximum of two days off between games. The games will start at 4pm CST or 8pm CST so that practices can happen during the day.
The enhanced testing that they have implemented in the Central Division and the US Division will be followed in the Eastern Division as well which is now being adhered to with the BC Division.
They have not firmed up the schedules for the Central Division beyond what has been reported and are just now figuring out the BC Division.
To date, they have administered tests on all teams and have found no positive tests. The quarantine period for the BC teams would be the last one to go and should be on the end of quarantine by March 16 so that a mini training camp can take place as the go ahead was given March 2 with the games slated to start March 26.
The US Division schedule has been fully announced already and will begin March 19.
They will soon have all the schedules lined up for all the teams and will post everything up within a week or two which will then finalize all the scheduled games.
Because of the earlier starts on some of these schedules, the “season’s” conclusion will fall roughly in that two month block. We can then expect the Central Division ending first and the US Division ending last.
