Storm celebrate Game 3 victory against Spruce Grove. Photo Credit: Shane Clausing

By Shane Clausing

Storm schedule

AJHL releases 2020-21 schedule; Storm to open at home September 18

Jul 10, 2020 | 1:54 PM

While a cloud of uncertainty remains over the 2020-21 AJHL season, the Junior ‘A’ hockey league released its regular season schedule on Friday for the upcoming season.

The schedule has the Grande Prairie Storm opening up at home with back-to-back games against the Fort McMurray Oil Barons on September 18 and 19.

Once opening weekend is complete, the Storm will travel to the Capital Region to face the Spruce Grove Saints and Sherwood Park Crusaders on September 25 and 26.

The Storm will finish the month of September at home against the Whitecourt Wolverines on September 29.

The club’s longest home stand of the season will last from November 13 to 21, where they will host Bonnyville, Spruce Grove and Sherwood Park.

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The Storm’s longest road trip of the season will last eight games from December 15 to January 6. Four of those games will happen before the Christmas break, while the other four games will happen after the Christmas break.

The new schedule also features three afternoon home games for the Storm.

The Drayton Valley Thunder will visit Grande Prairie for the second half of a back-to-back at 2:00 p.m. on December 6. Another afternoon game will take place on January 10 against Bonnyville, also at 2:00 p.m.

The third and final afternoon game of the season is scheduled for Wednesday, February 3 when the Storm host the Whitecourt Wolverines at 12:00 p.m. for the club’s first-ever Hockey Hooky game. According to a release from the AJHL, the club has partnered up with local schools to allow students to experience an afternoon of hockey.

The Storm will close the regular season at home against the Spruce Groves Saints on February 27. The AJHL playoffs are scheduled to begin on March 5.

The AJHL will consist of 15 teams for one more season, with the Blackfalds Bulldogs (formerly the Calgary Mustangs) reentering the league in the 2021-22 season.

Teams are scheduled to play 58 regular season games, which is a drop from the 60 games normally played in a season.

The new modified schedule includes one game against each opponent from the opposite division and two games at the AJHL Showcase. The Showcase is scheduled to take place in Canmore, Alberta from January 5 to 7.

This year’s schedule has also been designed to remove pre-determined blocks of games should the season be delayed because of COVID-19.

No date has been set on when AJHL training camps could open up and if fans will be allowed in the stands by the start of the season.

A list of the full schedule can be found here.