League Scheduling

Have you ever thought of what goes into planning out an entire league schedule? Some of the things that have to be considered include "blackout" dates at arenas for other events, travel time and distance from one game to the next especially how it impacts the health and welfare of the players. Multiply all of that by seventeen with all the teams that are criss-crossing the province and you end up with a knot that takes some time to unravel and sort out into its logical conclusion.

Adding to all of that is the need to time out the season to end on such a date that will allow for the regular season to flow into the post season with its regional playdown before the RBC Royal Bank Cup.

All in all it has to be a little daunting, so keeping that in mind, what do you suppose is the best way to actually complete this task?

I have heard of a few different methods and last year the league took that task on to come up with a schedule that was fair to all teams while meeting the criteria set forth. In previous years I have heard that it was not nearly as friendly with team governors locking themselves in a room to sort out sixty games each.

I would think that allowing the league to do the proverbial leg work would be a more civilized approach to scheduling. Throw in the blackout dates and make some rules about how many games can be played in a week, or in a row, whether they’re at home or on the road, and then let a computer program sort it all out.

So now you're asking, "why is he blabbering on about a league schedule that won't be ready until July?" Well as it turns out, apparently this year's schedule will have to be done in the old-fashioned roll-up-your-sleeves and get-dirty method.

I say why does it have to be that way? Instead of ending up with perhaps a few computer generated dates that are less than an ideal; there will now be a face to place on those undesirable dates and that is not good for the growth of the league. We are talking about a group of people that like to play things close to the chest as it is. Now everybody will be trying to sort out why can't play this date or that date.

I just can't see it ending well ... maybe that isn't a bad thing. After all how many times have you thought about just locking them up in a room and letting them duke it out.