The Prince George Cougars will have some new rules to learn for the 2026-2027 season, which will begin with a two-game home stand against the Penticton Vees on September 18.
The Western Hockey League released the full schedule for the 2026-2027 regular season today.
We sent Levvy to St. Mary’s Elementary School to help us with some of our home dates this season.
To nobody’s surprise, it didn’t disappoint. pic.twitter.com/IeM0gw6M2D
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) June 30, 2026
For the Cougars, the home schedule includes:
- One Sunday game (1:00 p.m.)
- 11 Saturday games,
- 12 Friday games,
- Four Tuesday Games,
- Six Wednesday games.
For the Cougars, the longest homestands of the season will be seven games, something that will occur twice in the season.
The first of these seven game homestands will start on November 4 against the Moose Jaw Warriors, and will conclude on Wednesday, November 18 against the Regina Pats.
The second seven-game home stand will take place in March, starting on March 2 and 3 with a double header against Spokane, and wrapping up with a double header on March 19 and 20 against Victoria.
The longest road trip of the season will come in the later part of January, starting on January 22 in Seattle. This six-game road trip will end with a Saturday tilt against the Portland Winterhawks on January 30.
This season, the Cougars eastern swing will take the Cats through Alberta, starting against the Medicine Hat Tigers on December 1, and ending on December 8 against the Edmonton Oil Kings.
The full Cougars schedule can be found here.
Additionally, the WHL released a “State of the Western Hockey League” report from Commissioner Dan Near, outlining some new rules and changes for the upcoming season.
One-week extension of the regular season
The puck will drop for the 2026-2027 regular season on Friday, September 18, and the final buzzer will sound on Sunday, March 28, 2027.
This will put the beginning of the 2027 WHL Playoffs on Wednesday, March 31.
There will also no longer be a tiebreaker game to break a tie for a conference’s eighth seed.
According to the WHL, the “decompressed” schedule will create additional rest and recovery for players, as well as the opportunity for additional strength and conditioning, along with supporting education priorities.
First-round of WHL Playoffs – Best-of-Five
Beginning this season, the first round of the WHL playoffs will be a best-of-five series, accommodating the extra week of the regular season.
According to the league, this will allow the playoffs to be completed on its existing schedule for the WHL Champion to participate in the Memorial Cup.
The first round format will vary based on the geography of the competing teams, availability of facilities, and preferences of the higher-seeded club.
The following formats are currently approved: (H=Home, A=Away)
- 1-2-1-1 (A-H-A-H)
- 2-3 (A-H) for longer distance series
- 2-2-1 (H-A-H)
- 1-1-1-1-1 (H-A-H-A-H) for close distance series only
Air travel for Select Road Games
Also new this season is a change that could affect the Cougars as the WHL’s most remote team, as well as some teams who will travel to Prince George.
Beginning this season, teams will be able to travel via air for one set of road games to start and return home.
These trips must be greater than ten hours by bus, and applies to out-of-conference travel only.
“No Return” three-on-three overtime pilot
Finally, the WHL will be testing a new overtime rule aimed at enhancing the fan experience.
Under the “no return” three-on-three format, once a team has gained the blueline, a player cannot deliberately carry, pass or shoot the puck outside the blueline.
Should this happen, play will be immediately whistled down (unless the opposing team collects the puck first) and the resulting faceoff will occur in the defensive zone of the offending team, with no line change permitted.
The team benefiting from the offensive zone faceoff will also be able to pick which circle the faceoff occurs in.
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