OHL will inevitably follow. There won't be a postseason unless they want to condense it to top 4 in each conference or less. that's if they're lucky
Depending on when a “green light to play” happens, a more fair and just scenario may play out than just the top four in each conference taking part
On sportnet.ca there are suggested scenarios where an NHL post season could be done in a short period of time that would include more than the traditional 16 playoff teams. The same type of unconventional playoff could be done in the OHL.
One compressed playoff scenario that could happen for the OHL could be the top two teams in each conference, irregardless of division, would get byes into a second round The remaining eight teams in the conference play two quick preliminary rounds of 2 out of 3 series to determine who the 3rd and 4th seeds would be in each conference.
Using the western conference as an example:
3rd vs 10th. 4th vs 9th, 5th vs 8th, 6th vs 7th.
London - Bye
Saginaw - Bye
3. Kitchener vs 10.Sarnia
4. Flint vs 9. Soo
5. Windsor vs 6. Erie
6. Guelph vs 7. Owen Sound
The four winners would play another 2 out of 3 to produce the remaining two teams who would then go on to play against the teams who had the bye. That would take about 10 days max. Lower seed in each round would get the opening game. One day off then games two and three played in the higher seeds building on back to back nights.
I include all teams because nobody was able to finish the regular season. This is an extenuating circumstance. A one time occurrence. There was no closure. This would at least give every team, especially graduating players, a chance to play together again one more time, and, just as important, in front of their home fans.
Conference semi finals and finals would be 3 out 5’s and league final could be 4 out of 7. The teams who had byes may be at a little bit of a disadvantage because of rust. But, evening things up is the possibility that their opponents could’ve played as many as six games in eight days.
The 8 weeks suggested by MLB would take us to a May 10th start. (I’m assuming teams would be able to start a closed door mini camp around May 1st. Nobody but teams and personnel would attend to keep the numbers under the 50).
The two rounds of 2 of 3’s would start on May 10 be done by May 18. The two rounds of 3 of 5’s (2-2-1 over the course of eight days with one off day between rounds) would start on May 20 and be done by June 5.
The final would start on June 7 and wrap up by June 17. The Memorial Cup to be played starting on Saturday, June 20.
That would be a ton of hockey in a short amount of time. But it could be done.
Of course, I don’t see any of this happening because I think the season is done. But it is surely a better scenario than only the top four teams in each conference competing in playoffs.
As was said earlier, it gives us something to talk about.
