The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) is excited to officially announce the 2020-21 COVID-19 Modified Regular Season Schedule.
The 2020-21 regular season schedule has been significantly modified for the upcoming season from previous seasons with the health and safety of everyone involved being the number one priority.
“In the course of our planning for the upcoming season, it became clear that we had to further self-impose schedule modifications and restrictions to ensure that we were moving forward in a safe, structured and responsible manner.” stated MJHL Commissioner Kevin Saurette. “Each organization is to be commended for their absolute commitment to providing players with a safe development opportunity on and off the ice in the face of the difficult challenges ahead.”
The schedule will span over 22 weekends beginning on October 9th and ending on March 13th.
The schedule is split into four five week blocks separated by breaks in the schedule. The first self-imposed break is in the middle of November, followed by the traditional Christmas break and a further self-imposed break at the beginning of February. The implementation of breaks were essential to provide a necessary buffer to recover from potential COVID-19 implications and/or weather related disruption.
The schedule will be formatted into three four-team divisions to allow for:
Significantly limited provincial travel for teams.
Significantly minimizing the number of teams playing each other over a short period of time.
Significantly minimizing risk of exposure between teams.
Significantly reducing the number of potentially postponed (or cancelled) games due to potential COVID-19 implications.
Divisions
Northwest (Dauphin, OCN, Swan Valley, Wayway)
Interior (Neepawa, Portage, Virden, Winkler)
Southeast (Selkirk, Steinbach, Winnipeg Blues, Winnipeg Freeze)
Schedule Format
Each team will play the other three teams within their division eight times during the regular season (Four Home/Four Away).
Each team will play the eight teams outside of their division twice during the season.
Each team will play a 40-game regular season schedule which has been significantly reduced from the standard 60 game regular season schedule (20 Home/Twenty Away).
Each team will play two games a week and will only face one team each week.
Each team will play all of their games almost exclusively during the weekend this season (Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday).
Games scheduled within a teams own division are almost exclusively arranged in four game, two week blocks.
Playoff Format to be announced in the coming weeks.
As is the case for everyone throughout the province and beyond, these past months during the COVID-19 pandemic have placed significant financial stress on each MJHL team and community. Additional stress will be felt as each organization prepares for what will be required for the upcoming season to ensure we return to hockey in a safe, controlled and responsible manner. Teams will need and deserve all the necessary support they can be afforded during this difficult time as we prepare to return to the game we all love.
October 9 vs Winkler
October 10 @ Winkler
October 17 vs Winkler
October 18 @ Winkler
October 23 vs Portage
October 24 @ Portage
October 30 @ Portage
October 31 vs Portage
November 6 vs WPG Freeze
November 7 @ WPG Freeze
November 20 vs Virden
November 21 @ Virden
November 27 @ Virden
November 28 vs Virden
December 4 vs Winkler
December 5 @ Winkler
December 11 @ Winkler
December 12 vs Winkler
December 18 @ Waywayseecappo
December 19 vs Waywayseecappo
January 2 vs Steinbach
January 3 @ Steinbach
January 8 vs Virden
January 9 @ Virden
January 15 @ Virden
January 16 vs Virden
January 22 @ WPG Blues
January 23 vs WPG Blues
January 29 vs Portage
January 30 @ Portage
February 12 vs Portage
February 13 @ Portage
February 19 @ Dauphin
February 20 vs Dauphin
February 26 @ Selkirk
February 27 vs Selkirk
March 5 vs Ocn
March 6 vs OCN
March 11 @ Swan Valley
March 12 @ Swan Valley