The Wenatchee Wild will play the first 11 games of their season on the road in Canada after the team rescheduled its October home games.
It is important to note that the BCHL begins its season nearly a month later than other Tier II leagues in Canada. Many of the CJHL leagues will begin their seasons next week.
The Wild and the BCHL are investigating whether or not it can be cost effective for Canadian teams to fly to play in Wenatchee beginning in November while they also hope the land border will reopen with the United States allowing for regular coach travel.
Experts on both sides of the border do not expect the United States to open its borders for land travel before January 1, 2022. Some are now speculating that the closure could last until spring of 2022 when many feel the worst of the COVID pandemic will be behind us.
While the Wild are obviously making every effort to provide a full season for its players, the expense involved for other teams to fly into Washington and then bus to Wenatchee will be astronomical. Wenatchee though very nice is also very isolated, and transportation costs will likely prohibit many teams from this potential solution.
The schedule changes include:
- Saturday, October 9th Penticton @ Wenatchee will now be at Penticton. The February 9th game against the two teams that was supposed to be played in Penticton has been rescheduled to February 23rd in Wenatchee in a corresponding move.
- Saturday, October 15th Surrey @ Wenatchee has been rescheduled to November 24th
- Saturday, October 23rd Salmon Arm @ Wenatchee has been moved to December 8th
- Saturday, October 27th Trail @ Wenatchee has been rescheduled to January 26th
This move buys time, the question really is if it is enough time.
