U Sports, the governing body of college sports in Canada, announced this week that it was canceling all of its fall championships.
As part of the announcement, men’s and women’s hockey, which like the NCAA typically begins play in the fall and extends into the winter, will not begin before Jan. 1, 2021. That means October exhibition games regularly scheduled against NCAA programs will likely not happen this year.
While not every NCAA program plays an exhibition game, the vast majority do. Typically, teams will travel down from Canada and play two games in one weekend, usually accounting for about 50 games.
While the announcement was not specific to exhibition games, it’s likely that U Sport programs will not be available to play NCAA programs this fall if they aren’t active as programs until at least Jan. 1.
U Sports said that a decision on the hockey season would be made by Oct. 8.
