January 2021 is the month of hockey news. If you blink, you miss something. I wouldn’t have it any other way. We’ve had too many months lately with zero news. 

Today, the AHL Board of Governors reconvened on their conference call to knock out more season details, and the teams announced their intentions for the 2020-21 season. 

The best hockey news I’ve received in a long time is that the IceHogs will be playing this season. With everything up in the air due to COVID-19, I was starting to get a bit nervous with no news. But, at last, it has arrived!

It’s still left to be seen what the roster will look like, what the schedule will be, or anything related to fan attendance. The NHL is allowed to carry an expanded roster, and the Blackhawks have some injuries to deal with along with goaltending spots to solidify. So, we can’t talk about the IceHogs roster yet. Stay tuned for that!

Here’s what we do know:

• The AHL plans to begin on Friday, February 5th

• We have division alignments

• Charlotte, Milwaukee, and Springfield are sitting out this season. They will return for 2021-22

The divisions are as follows:

Atlantic

• Bridgeport Sound Tigers

• Hartford Wolf Pack

• Providence Bruins

Canadian

• Belleville Senators

• Laval Rocket

• Manitoba Moose

• Toronto Marlies
  

North

• Binghamton Devils

• Hershey Bears

• Lehigh Valley Phantoms

• Rochester Americans

• Syracuse Crunch

• Utica Comets

• Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
  

Central

• Chicago Wolves

• Cleveland Monsters

• Grand Rapids Griffins

• Iowa Wild

• Rockford IceHogs

• Texas Stars

Pacific

• Bakersfield Condors

• Colorado Eagles

• Henderson Silver Knights

• Ontario Reign

• San Diego Gulls

• San Jose Barracuda

• Stockton Heat

• Tucson Roadrunners

Stay tuned for further updates. I’ll have them here for you as soon as they come in! You can also follow along over at https://twitter.com/vfcentericepod