The Western Hockey League is scheduled to get its 2021-22 regular season underway on October 1.

With the anticipated lifting of health restrictions in all jurisdictions, it is expected the 2021-22 season will see a 68-game schedule with full capacity in a fan-friendly and safe environment.

There however won’t be interlocking games between the Eastern and Western Conferences, meaning the Kamloops Blazers will only play against the BC Division and US Division teams.

The 2021-22 WHL regular season will conclude on Sunday, April 3, with the playoffs set to begin the following Friday, April 8. It will see the re-introduction of the Conference Playoff format, which was last used during the 2014 WHL Playoffs.

The first-place teams in each of the two divisions in the Conference will be the top two playoff seeds based on their regular season results. The next six teams in each Conference will be seeded from third to eight. The two Conference champions will move on to the WHL Championship Series – the team with the better regular season record will get home-ice advantage.

All of the series in the 2022 WHL Playoffs will follow a best-of-seven format.