Memorial Cup being pushed back could allow WHL to make up missed regular season games

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Here’s a quick look at the remaining schedules for the Western Hockey League’s BC Division

Vancouver Giants players celebrate an early-season goal against the visiting Kelowna Rockets at the Langley Events Centre. Three of the Giants' five postponed games this season have had the Rockets as their opponents.
Vancouver Giants players celebrate an early-season goal against the visiting Kelowna Rockets at the Langley Events Centre. Three of the Giants’ five postponed games this season have had the Rockets as their opponents. Photo by Rob Wilton

An email from the Western Hockey League head office on Wednesday promised a scheduling update coming Thursday.

Couple that with Wednesday’s announcement that the start of the Memorial Cup national tournament in Saint John, NB, had been pushed back from June 4 to June 20 and it’s easy to suggest that the Vancouver Giants and their BC Division rivals are getting some extra time to make up games postponed due to COVID-19 issues.

The press release explaining the Memorial Cup scheduling change was in line with that, with Canadian Hockey League president Dan MacKenzie quoted as saying that the dates switch will “allow all three of our members leagues to complete their regular and playoff schedules.”

The schedule on the WHL website listed 30 games as postponed as of Wednesday morning. League commissioner Ron Robison was quoted in a league statement on Jan. 7 that the WHL intended to have each team play its full 68-game schedule.

Here’s a quick look at the remaining schedules for the BC Division. All stats and standings are as of Wednesday morning. The Victoria Royals are slated to visit the Kamloops Blazers and the Kelowna Rockets are hosting the Prince George Cougars Wednesday night.

Vancouver Giants (18-23-2-0, seventh in the Western Conference, one point behind sixth-place Prince George with three games in hand)

Games remaining: 25.

Postponed games: Five (Jan. 7 at Kelowna, Jan. 9 hosting Portland, Jan. 22 hosting Kelowna, Feb. 6 hosting Seattle, Feb. 9 at Kelowna)

Skinny on the schedule: Four of Vancouver’s next five games starting with Friday’s visit from the Royals are against Victoria. A Saturday trip to Kamloops is what separates the quartet. Vancouver has struggled against the Royals so far this season, trailing 2-6-0-0 in the 12-game season series to date. Twelve of Vancouver’s remaining games come against the US Division, including one stretch of 10 of 12 games. Vancouver’s playing 20 of its 68 games this season against the five US clubs.

Kamloops Blazers (33-12-1-0, second place, five points in back of the Everett Silvertips)

Games remaining: 22.

Postponed games: One (Jan. 7 hosting Portland)

Skinny on the schedule: The BC Division champion is guaranteed a top-two playoff seed, regardless of how the US teams finish. Kamloops was 11 points up on Kelowna for that post as of Wednesday morning but the Rockets had five games in hand, and Kelowna and Kamloops meet eight more times this season. Kelowna is 6-0-0-0 against Kamloops this season as well. On the plus side for the Blazers is the fact that their remaining games feature a mere six on the road.

Kelowna Rockets (26-11-1-3, fifth place)

Games remaining: 27.

Postponed games: Five (Jan.7 hosting Vancouver, Jan. 11 at Prince George, Jan. 12 at Prince George, Jan. 22 at Vancouver, Feb. 9 hosting Vancouver)

Skinny on the schedule: The Rockets are slated to play 17 of their 68 games against US Division teams — they have a 14-game series with Kamloops and a 13-game one with Victoria to make up for it — and they’ve almost completed games against those clubs, with just two tilts against the Seattle Thunderbirds and one against the Tri-City Americans all that’s remaining for them.

Prince George Cougars (18-25-2-1, sixth place)

Games remaining: 22.

Postponed games: Two (Jan. 11 hosting Kelowna, Jan. 12 hosting Kelowna)

Skinny on the schedule: The Cougars and Royals are playing a 14-game season series. They play six times from March 11-26 to wrap it up. It’s six straight games for Prince George, but Victoria has a game with Kamloops and two with Kelowna intermingled in that. The Cougars and Royals did play five straight against each other from Oct. 16-27. Prince George is 7-0-0-0 to date against Victoria.

Victoria Royals (12-28-4-1, 10th place)

Games remaining: 23.

Postponed games: Two (Jan. 11 hosting Spokane, Jan. 12 hosting Spokane)

Skinny on the schedule: The Royals’ success against the Giants can be tied in part to special teams. Victoria’s penalty kill is at 90.9 per cent (three goals, 33 chances) against Vancouver, compared to 80.2 per cent (39 goals, 197 chances) overall on the season. Their power play versus the Giants is at 32.4 per cent (11-of-34), which is a boost from its usual 21.7 (39-of-180).

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