The Ontario Hockey league released a statement this morning outlining their revised Return to Play for the upcoming season.
Among the key dates and notes;
– Import players are to arrive at their respective clubs on January 8th for quarantine
– All Ontario/Canadian born players are to report on January 22nd
– OHL Training Camps will commence on January 23rd
– There will be 2 exhibition games for each squad between the start of Training camp & the opening of the season
– The official date for the regular season to commence is February 4.
– OHL Trade Deadline April 8th
– The 40 game regular season will run from February 4th-May 16th
– only 8 teams will make the post season which begins May 19th and runs to June 14th
– The OHL Priority selection will be staged June 5th
Fred Wallace spoke to Attack General Manager Dale DeGray about the revised return To Play plan.
OHL Release
Toronto, Ont. – The Ontario Hockey League today announced an updated timeline on its Return to Play plan for the 2020-21 season as it continues to work with government and health agencies to finalize outstanding matters that help ensure the health and safety of all members of the OHL community.
“Although we are eager to get back on the ice, the safety and well-being of our players, staff, officials, tremendous fans and communities remains paramount,” said OHL Commissioner David Branch. “We remain committed to providing our players with a safe, first-class development experience as they pursue their professional and academic goals, and we look forward to the planned opening of our Regular Season on Thursday, February 4.”
Under the new timelines, OHL Training Camps are scheduled to commence on Saturday, January 23 in preparation for the 2020-21 Regular Season that will feature a 40-game schedule running from Thursday, February 4 through Saturday, May 8. Teams will play primarily against opponents in their geographic region in an effort to reduce travel in consideration of the health and safety of all players and staff. Details concerning the structure of team alignment will be made available upon release of the 2020-21 OHL Regular Season schedule.
A total of eight teams will qualify for the 2021 OHL Playoffs in pursuit of the J. Ross Robertson Cup that get underway on Tuesday, May 11. The OHL Playoffs will consist of three rounds, the first being a best-of-five opening round, followed by two best-of-seven formats to crown a League champion by no later than Monday, June 14. The 2021 Memorial Cup presented by Kia is scheduled to begin Thursday, June 17 in either Oshawa or Sault Ste. Marie.