Season ticket memberships will look - and cost - a lot different this season

The Saint John Sea Dogs became on of the first QMJHL teams to release detailed information on season tickets for the COVID-19 impacted 2020-21 season on Tuesday.

Season tickets will be much different than in past seasons, obviously, and they'll also be quite a bit more expensive.

Adult season ticket memberships have been priced at $575, an increase of $76 compared to the 2019-20 season. This upcoming season will also feature four fewer home games due to the schedule being cut to 60 games.

Here's a comparison:

	2019-20 Price	2020-21 Price
Adult	$499	$575
Senior	$444	$495
13-25	$170	$250
Kids Pass	$35	$150

"With the limited number of fans in the arena, and the growing cost of ensuring safety for our fans, players, and staff, prices have changed for this season," read the Sea Dogs news release.

A lot of fans are struggling financially through this pandemic. The price increase is unfortunate, but junior hockey teams, like many businesses, are going to struggle to survive over the next year or two. A lot of businesses will be making similar price increases with their product, no doubt - and it's not like the Sea Dogs can simply say "let's sell more tickets."

According to the news release, TD Station's capacity will be around 25% of seats - which means around 1,500 fans or so. That's less than half of last season's average attendance of 3,345 fans.

There's a strong chance only season ticket members will be watching live games in Maritime arenas this season. "We anticipate that only those who have season tickets will be able to get a seat at the Sea Dogs games this year," said the team.

Pre-season schedule released

The Saint John Sea Dogs will play their first pre-season game of the COVID-19 era on Sept. 1 at TD Station.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League unveiled its 2020 exhibition schedule on Tuesday and, other than it starting and ending later than usual, looks pretty normal.

The Sea Dogs will play seven pre-season contests - two against Bathurst, two against Halifax, two against Cape Breton and one against Moncton. Saint John played seven pre-season games last year as well - but none of them took place at TD Station. All of Saint John's home games will be played in their usual home this time around.

Here's a look at Saint John's schedule:

Tuesday, Sept. 1 vs Bathurst - 7 p.m. at TD Station

Thursday, Sept. 3 at Bathurst - 7 p.m. at KC Irving Regional Centre

Saturday, Sept. 5 at Halifax - 4 p.m. at RBC Centre

Sunday, Sept. 13 vs Halifax - 3 p.m. at TD Station

Friday, Sept. 18 at Cape Breton - 7 p.m. at Centre 200

Saturday, Sept. 19 at Cape Breton - 1 p.m. at Centre 200

Friday, Sept. 25 vs Moncton - 7 p.m. at TD Station

The Sea Dogs have not released details on if fans will be able to attend home pre-season games. Most teams - including the Wildcats and Mooseheads - have said fans will not be allowed to attend training camp of pre-season contests. Several teams have said home pre-season games will be broadcast on YouTube.

The QMJHL's regular season schedule has not yet been released. The Sea Dogs have said, however, that their home opener will take place on Saturday, Oct. 3.

QMJHL teams are expected to begin training camps on Aug. 30.

Notebook: Plenty of questions ahead

Following this week's positive news that the QMJHL is moving forward with its Oct. 1 start, here is some more good news: it sounds TD Station will indeed be installing ice.

This would hardly be noteworthy in normal times, but these are far from normal times. The Gatineau Olympiques, for example, may not have a home for several months. The Charlottetown Islanders will be holding their training camp at UPEI and starting the regular season on the road while Eastlink Centre gets converted from a coronavirus testing site back to an arena.

TD Station, meanwhile, has released public ice rental information, which includes a number of COVID related rules. The rules include the mandatory wearing of face masks inside the building; maintaining a 2m social distance; and different doors for entering and exiting. While some of the rules listed will likely be different for Saint John Sea Dogs home games, this, at least, gives us a bit of an idea of what we may see.

Quebec media has reported that the New Brunswick government has given the province's three QMJHL teams the green light to have fans in the stands. How many fans and how that will all work is the big question.

Sea Dogs president and general manager Trevor Georgie told CBC last week that capacity may be even less than the current season ticket base, which is roughly 1,500 (sponsors included).

Public health guidelines are always changing as well - but hopefully guidelines aren't forced to take a step back come Oct. 1. 

Starting Monday, August 17, physical distancing of 1 metre with the continuous use of a mask in public venues with seating (such as theatres or arenas) will be permitted. No food or drink allowed. ⁰https://t.co/PxSdWB7dz3 pic.twitter.com/zdvgOQobHW

— Government of NB (@Gov_NB) August 14, 2020

WEBCAST UPDATE
No matter how many fans will be allowed inside rinks this season, there's likely going to be more people than ever streaming games.

The QMJHL, along with the OHL and WHL, will have a new webcast provider this season. That new provider will be Verizon - but that's just about all the info known at this time.

As previously reported, it's expected there will be a new minimum standard in place, which includes multiple cameras in each arena and replays.

The QMJHL typically waits until the last minute to release webcast pricing details - often just a day or two before the start of the regular season - but hopefully that improves this year.

Ex-Dogs eliminated from NHL playoffs

Embed from Getty Images

A few Saint John Sea Dogs alumni had their NHL seasons come to a close over the past couple weeks.

Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida), Mike Hoffman (Florida), Nathan Beaulieu (Winnipeg) and Julien Gauthier (New York Rangers) were all eliminated in the Stanley Cup qualifying round.

Huberdeau recorded a goal and two assists in the Panthers' four games against the New York Islanders while Hoffman registered three goals and two helpers. The team has fired Dale Tallon has their general manager, so changes may be on the way this off-season. Florida has not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 1996.

Beaulieu, meanwhile, recorded one assist in four games with the Jets, who were eliminated by the Calgary Flames. Beaulieu's playoff run will likely be remembered by his fight with Milan Lucic more than anything.

Gauthier was held pointless in the three games he played in with the Rangers, who were swept by the Carolina Hurricanes - Gauthier's former team.

QMJHL moving forward with Oct. 1 start

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is moving forward with its plan to return to action later this month.

The league announced this afternoon that training camps will open on Aug. 30 - a few days later than originally planned - and the regular season will kick off on Oct. 1. The QMJHL has been planning on an Oct. 1 restart all summer and has met enough public health protocols to move forward.

"In order to begin the season on October 1st, with training camps and return to school deadlines coming up at end of August, the league had to decide on whether or not to start the 2020-2021 season," stated a QMJHL news release. "The League’s mission is to develop players both academically and athletically while providing the safest possible environment. In view of the urgency of the situation and in line with our mission, the members voted in favour of returning to play on October 1st.

"Following our conversations with both the Provincial Governments and Public Health Agencies, it has been determined that the 2020-2021 season will be played behind closed doors in Quebec, while details are currently still being discussed for the Maritimes."

As expected, work is continuing on getting fans safely into buildings in the six Maritimes cities. It's unclear how many fans or just how that will work at this time. Teams seem to be favouring opening rinks up only to season ticket members, which would help with logistics. The Saint John Sea Dogs recently sent fans a survey regarding ticketing for the upcoming season.

The QMJHL also confirmed reports that training camp rosters will be capped at 34 players; the regular season will be 60 games instead of the usual 68; there will be three divisions of six teams each and teams will not play outside those divisions; the league will announce its playoff format no later than December.

OHL planning on December return; Memorial Cup pushed into June

The Ontario Hockey League has become the latest hockey league to announce its intentions to start the 2020-21 season in December.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the OHL said that it's "planning to return to play on December 1, 2020, subject to ensuring that the players, fans, staff and community are able to play and attend games safely. Over the next four months the league will continue to work with government and health agencies to finalize outstanding issues such as safe attendance at venues and cross border travel for teams and players."

The OHL said that its season will include a 64-game schedule and a 16-team playoff format. The league will reportedly adjust its scheduling to reduce travel, which is something the QMJHL is expected to do.

Just spoke with OHL commissioner David Branch. The Dec. 1 target start date gives the league some runway to deal with the border problem. No out-of-conference games this year and teams to be clustered based on proximity.

— Ryan Pyette (@RyanatLFPress) August 5, 2020

The regular season is scheduled to end on April 29, 2021, which the other CHL leagues will, presumably, roughly target as well. The 2021 Memorial Cup is scheduled to be played June 17-27, 2021 in either Oshawa or Sault Ste. Marie.