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FROM STAFF REPORTS

The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) has announced that the 2020-2021 season will be comprised of five teams and feature a 42-game regular season schedule.

The SPHL is set to drop the puck for the 2020-2021 regular season on Saturday, Dec. 26 with the Birmingham Bulls, Huntsville Havoc, Knoxville Ice Bears, Macon Mayhem and Pensacola Ice Flyers set to play the abbreviated schedule.

Due to state and local restrictions related to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic that limit their ability to host spectators and the projected economic impacts to those teams, the Evansville Thunderbolts, Fayetteville Marksmen, Peoria Rivermen, Quad City Storm and Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs will sit out the upcoming season and prepare to return for the 2021-2022 campaign. All players named to a protected list or signed to a training camp tryout will become free agents, however the five teams not playing will be able to retain the rights to their protected list players for the 2021-2022 season.

“This is a tough day for the SPHL, particularly because the circumstances that forced these decisions are out of our control,” said SPHL Commissioner Doug Price. “When we were forced to suspend play back in March, we immediately turned our focus to the upcoming 2020-2021 season. We waited as long as possible for things to improve so that all of our teams could play this season, but I don’t think any of us imagined we would still be facing these restrictions seven months later.”

“Between the delayed start and the numerous cancelled events also booking replacement dates in 2021, there just was not enough time nor availability to have a full 56-game schedule without creating additional hardships for the five teams attempting to play this season,” added Price.

Additional information on the 2020-2021 season, including schedules and a playoff format, will be announced in the near future.

“After a healthy discussion among our Board of Governors, we just felt there are too many variables out of our control at this time to attempt starting on time,” added Price. “Delaying the season was a difficult decision, but I believe it was the responsible thing to do when taking everything into consideration.”

The 2020-2021 regular season schedule and playoff format will be announced at a later date.