While rumours have been floating around, Moose Jaw Warriors general manager Alan Millar said that the Western Hockey League and the Warriors are aiming for a January start to the season.

The Western Hockey League made the announcement of the firm date of Jan. 8, 2021 several weeks ago, before COVID-19 cases spiked in all four Western Canadian provinces. John Shannon, former Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada tweeted that the league was meeting and would push the date back a few weeks.

“We’ve had a number of calls amongst the general managers and the governors over the past couple weeks,” Millar said from Red Deer, Alta., where he and other Team Canada World Junior staff and players are in isolation for the next several days. “I think we all know there has been some additional challenges with the spike of COVID-19 across the country, and a number of more restrictions and shutdowns, and obviously that’s impacted the game at the minor hockey level (and) the Saskatchewan junior level at home. Certainly, there are still some challenges. That reflects, what do fans look like in the building, what does the schedule look like?”

In the plan released by the league a few weeks ago, the Saskatchewan and Manitoba WHL teams would have been confined to their own division, but teams are still not allowed to travel across provincial borders, and minor hockey has shut down competitions until Dec. 17th.

“Our group still works diligently and very motivated with health and safety in mind, as a priority, but at the same time it’s important to play, it’s important to have some type of a season for our players and for our fans. And we continue to work towards the WHL season getting back in January.”