Consider this your pocketbook to understanding
your pocketbook OHL schedule. The schedule's formula depending on
your perspective is either more complicated or less complicated than you
might think and unlike the NFL and NHL schedules this one pretty much stays
the same. Very little has changed since Brampton and Mississauga
(the OHL's last expansion) were added to the league in 1998-'99, that was
also the year that the schedule was increased from 66 games to 68.
A pair of visual aids to help you in comprehension
of the OHL schedule process:
First, a breakdown of the schedule by days
of the week Click Here
Second, a breakdown of the nights that each team plays, also the
total schedule of games vs. each opponent Click
Here
2005-2006 Schedule highlights:
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Barrie is the only team out of 20 teams to play
their entire home schedule on only two days of the week.
-
Kitchener is the only team with games scheduled
on 6 different days of the week on home ice, they do not have a Thursday
night game, and only have 4 instances where they play 3 games in 3 days.
-
Saginaw and Sault Ste. Marie are the OHL's only
teams that do not have at least half of their schedule on a single day
of the week.
-
9 out of the 20 teams in the league have home
schedules dominated by Friday night games.
-
There are only 6 Monday games in the 680 game
schedule, all are Thanksgiving Day matchups.
-
All three US based teams have schedules where
Saturday is the most popular night.
-
Friday nights are the busiest night of the week
in the OHL with 215 games, Friday night's are prefered because they are
non-weekday nights, and in Canada unlike Saturday nights, do not run the
teams up against Hockey Night in Canada and the Maple Leafs, in Michigan
it's the exact opposite with the Red Wings playing lots of Friday night
games.
-
There are only three nights in the schedule that
all 20 OHL teams are in action: October 14th, November 4th and March 10th,
all are Friday nights.
-
The Peterborough Petes are the only team in the
Eastern Division to play all in conference teams at least 4 times each.
-
All teams in the Western Division with the exception
of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds play all in conference rivals at least
4 teams each.
-
The London Knights are the only team in the OHL
that do not play any of their opponents 8 times during the regular season.
-
Sudbury-Sault Ste. Marie and Barrie-Owen Sound
are the only teams that play each other 6 times despite being in different
conferences.
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