Rebels announce full 2026-27 schedule

This season will include two holiday matinee games at the Centrium, such as Thanksgiving Monday vs. Edmonton on Oct. 12 and Family Day vs. Medicine Hat on Feb. 15. Puck drop for both games is 2 p.m.

Red Deer will also head south of the border for a six-game trip through the U.S. Division starting Friday, Jan. 22, 2027, versus the Tri-City Americans and wrapping up Saturday, Jan. 30, versus the Spokane Chiefs.

They’ll welcome B.C. Division teams to Red Deer this season starting with the Victoria Royals on Oct. 16. The Penticton Vees make their first-ever visit to Red Deer on Oct. 23, followed by the Kamloops Blazers on Nov. 3, the Prince George Cougars on Dec. 4, the Kelowna Rockets on Jan. 19, and the Vancouver Giants on March 5.

Rebels season tickets for the 2026-27 season are now on sale at reddeerrebels.com/season-tickets.

You can listen to all of the Red Deer Rebels games exclusively live on 106.7 REWIND Radio.

According to the Western Hockey League, over 80 per cent of the regular season schedule will be played on weekends or holidays. In addition, the schedule will be extended by one week to enhance the WHL player experience by allowing additional time for training and skill development.

The season will conclude on Sunday, March 28, 2027, with the WHL playoffs set to begin on Wednesday, March 31, 2027.

Among other changes announced by the WHL for the upcoming season are air travel for select road games, a ‘no return’ three-on-three overtime pilot, and moving the first round of the WHL playoffs to a best-of-five series.

Teams will be allowed to use air travel for just one set of road games per season; however, the bus trip must be greater than 10 hours and applies only to out-of-conference travel.

Meanwhile, the ‘no return’ three-on-three overtime pilot project will be featured in the preseason. This means teams won’t be able to deliberately carry, pass, or shoot the puck outside the blueline once they enter the offensive zone during overtime. The WHL general managers will then vote to decide whether to include it in the regular season.

Finally, the change to move the opening round of the playoffs to a best-of-five format is to accommodate the extended regular season. This change will ensure the playoffs will end around the same time it typically does.

The league reported that during the 2025-26 season, more than 3.2 million fans attended regular season games, representing a four per cent increase from the previous season.

The WHL averaged 4,144 attendees per game in the regular season, representing the highest average attendance of any Junior League in the world.

by Ian Gustafson

Rebels announce full 2026-27 schedule

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