Even though they’ve been practicing since Sunday and have minimal active cases of COVID-19 amongst their ranks, the Saskatoon Blades got the official go-ahead late Monday from the W-H-L to resume full team activities.

The Bridge City Bunch were paused by the league, along with 14 other teams, last Thursday…including the Prince Albert Raiders. Most of those squads, including P-A, were taken off pause Monday night. Four games scheduled for Tuesday night have been postponed while 18 future games were either re-scheduled or postponed. None of those involve the Blue and Gold, whose next scheduled action is a Friday visit to Swift Current. The Raiders are idle until Friday in Lethbridge. Following is Monday’s news release from the W-H-L…..

WHL ANNOUNCES RETURN TO TEAM ACTIVITIES FOR EIGHT CLUBS; CHANGES TO 18 WHL REGULAR SEASON GAMES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 2022

Calgary, Alta. – The Western Hockey League announced today that the Edmonton Oil Kings, Everett Silvertips, Medicine Hat Tigers, Prince Albert Raiders, Red Deer Rebels, Saskatoon Blades, Spokane Chiefs and Winnipeg ICE have all been cleared to resume all team activities, in accordance with WHL COVID-19 Protocols.

The aforementioned join the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Moose Jaw Warriors, Portland Winterhawks, Regina Pats, Swift Current Broncos, and Tri-City Americans, who previously returned to team activities. At this time, the 14 WHL Clubs listed above are all participating in team activities.

The WHL announced the rescheduling of the following 13 WHL Regular Season games:

Saturday, January 15

• Winnipeg at Moose Jaw (originally scheduled for Wednesday, March 30)

Sunday, January 16

• Kamloops at Portland (originally scheduled for Wednesday, January 12)
• Moose Jaw at Regina (originally scheduled for Sunday, January 30)

Monday, January 17

• Prince Albert at Red Deer (originally scheduled for Wednesday, January 12)

Tuesday, January 18

• Winnipeg at Swift Current (originally scheduled for Tuesday, December 30)
• Calgary at Regina (originally scheduled for Tuesday, January 11)

Wednesday, January 19

• Calgary at Moose Jaw (originally scheduled for Wednesday, January 12)
• Victoria at Prince George (originally scheduled for Friday, January 7)

Wednesday, February 2

• Swift Current at Lethbridge (originally scheduled for Sunday, January 2)

Monday, February 7

• Red Deer at Brandon (originally scheduled for Saturday, January 1)

Thursday, February 17

• Moose Jaw at Lethbridge (originally scheduled for Friday, January 7)

Tuesday, February 22

• Edmonton at Red Deer (originally scheduled for Friday, January 7)

Monday, March 28

• Lethbridge at Red Deer (originally scheduled for Saturday, January 8)

Additionally, the WHL announced today the postponement of the following four (4) WHL Regular Season games as a result of capacity restrictions in the province of Manitoba:

• Saturday, January 15 – Regina at Winnipeg
• Sunday, January 16 – Regina at Winnipeg
• Friday, January 21 – Regina at Brandon
• Saturday, January 22 – Regina at Brandon

The four postponed games listed above will be rescheduled at a later date.

The WHL also announced today a start time change for Saturday’s game between the Brandon Wheat Kings and Edmonton Oil Kings at Rogers Place. This game will now begin at 2 p.m. MT