Image credit: WHL

By Earl Seitz

WHL delays season start

WHL delays season start until January

Oct 14, 2020 | 4:11 PM

KAMLOOPS — There will be no games in the Western Hockey League until 2021.

For the third time the league has delayed the season start because of COVID-19.

The new scheduled start date is now Friday, January 8.

That’s more than a month later than the other most recent scheduled start of December 4.

All games will be played exclusively with the boundaries of each of the four divisions.

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That means the Kamloops Blazers will only play games against Kelowna, Prince George, Vancouver and Victoria.

The number of games in the season and the schedule of games in each of the four divisions will be announced at a later date.

Players won’t report to their tems until after Christmas.

There is still no decision on whether fans will be allowed to attends games.

The league says it will continue to work with each of the governments and health authorities in each of its four provinces and two U.S. states in obtaining the necessary approvals to commence play.

The delay means teams won’t lose players during their season to the World Junior Tournament, scheduled for December 26 to January 5 in Edmonton.

This afternoon’s announcement by the Western League follows one earlier today by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The QMJHL has postponed games in two of its three divisions until October 28th.

The postponement affects 12 teams in the east and west divisions.

Five of the six teams in the Maritimes Division will continue to play.

The exception is the Moncton Wildcats, who have been designated as a COVID-19 orange zone team, with all sporting activities in the zone on hold.