Collingwood’s Junior ‘A’ hockey team is lacing up for a new season with their official home opener scheduled for Friday, Oct. 1.
The Collingwood Blues have started development camp with 80 prospects and will be narrowing down the numbers over the coming weeks to come up with the 2021/2022 roster.
The official Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) regular season schedule begins Oct. 1 with 18 of 22 teams in action that night. Collingwood will host Pickering.
This year, Collingwood will host a pre-season tournament called the Cottage Cup on Sept. 17 and 18.
Blues board chair Terry Geddes said there will be six teams participating in the local tournament.
The start of 2022 will bring the OJHL All-Star celebration weekend to Collingwood on Jan. 14 and 15.
Something Geddes is looking forward to.
“We want to make sure that is a special event,” said Geddes.
In the upcoming season, each OJHL team will play 54 season games with the regular season ending March 5. The top four teams make it to playoffs.
The playoffs were cut short in 2020, and there was little-to-no season play for 2020/2021.
Geddes said he and the team’s leadership remains optimistic for the organization’s recovery and a strong showing this season.
“We’re extremely optimistic based on the response of the community, the player talent, and those returning,” he said. “We’d like to have as normal a season as possible and get back to hockey night in Collingwood on Friday nights.”
He said the team will work with the health unit for capacity limits for spectators, and he hopes to max out those limits during home games.
More announcements are coming regarding the Blues roster and home game ticket sales.
