Big change made to Maritime playoffs

SAINT JOHN - The delayed reopening of the Atlantic Bubble has forced the QMJHL to make yet another change to its playoff format - and it's a big one.

The QMJHL's two Nova Scotia clubs will end their seasons this weekend while the three New Brunswick teams will play a nine-game round robin tournament with the winner advancing to the Maritimes Division final to take on the Charlottetown Islanders.

From the league:

With the reopening of the Atlantic bubble delayed until May 3rd, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced today that the regular season in the Maritimes Division will come to an end on Sunday, April 18th.

The Halifax Mooseheads’ and the Cape Breton Eagles’ seasons will officially come to an end on Sunday. They will not take part in the 2021 President Cup Playoffs. The three New Brunswick-based teams will play in a nine-game round-robin tournament with the winner facing off against the Charlottetown Islanders in the Maritimes Division final. The league will determine the format of the round-robin tournament and the schedule in the upcoming days.

The QMJHL President Cup semifinals will group three teams from Quebec and one team from the Maritimes in a single protected environment event. Teams will be seeded based on the 2020-2021 overall standings. The date and location of the event will be determined at a later date.

The delayed reopening of the Atlantic Bubble - which was originally scheduled for this coming Monday - meant that the New Brunswick teams would not play the Nova Scotia clubs or the Islanders again in the regular season. There was a chance the league could pull off its previously announced playoff format if the bubble does reopen on May 3 - but there's certainly a chance that gets pushed even further.

There are plenty of questions still to be answered about this nine-game tournament. Perhaps the biggest: what happens when it ends? What if the bubble is still not open? Fingers crossed the bubble reopens and there is a true Maritimes Division final.

No matter how you feel about this format, it's still better than what the WHL and OHL will likely have to do: which is no playoff games at all.

The playoffs are scheduled to begin April 23 for four of the six Quebec-based playoff series.