The Ontario Hockey League (OHL) will begin its 2021-22 season on Oct. 7, 2021, with a three-game opening night schedule.
North Bay, Windsor and Barrie will be the venues hosting the initial games with the Battalion taking on the Peterborough Petes, the Spitfires hosting the Sarnia Sting and the Colts against the Niagara Ice-Dogs
Sixteen home openers have been scheduled for the league’s first set of games during the Thanksgiving long weekend.
“It’s an exciting time of new beginnings for our League,” said Commissioner David Branch. “The OHL continues its tradition of developing the world’s best young student athletes and we’re very much looking forward to having players back in OHL communities as they pursue both their hockey and academic-related goals.”
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the OHL’s divisional alignment will remain the same in 2021-22, with the League’s 20 teams playing a 68-game unbalanced schedule predominantly consisting of intra-conference play.
Some cross-conference matchups will happen in instances where opponents are close geographically.
The three American-based teams — the Erie Otters, Flint Firebirds and Saginaw Spirit — will open the season facing each other exclusively through the end of October.
The bulk of the league’s games will happen on Friday nights, with 206 games scheduled followed by 164 games on Saturdays and 126 on Sundays.
The league will break December 19 through 27 for the holidays.
The final day of the regular season will be Sunday April 3.