As for Belanger, he may not get any time on ice this season. If the pandemic trajectory continues on as predictions indicate then no OHL hockey.
The current numbers certainly seem to indicate that this is a very real possibilty.
I hope not but this is the current scenario.
Considering the QMJHL is currently playing, I am not too worried about the OHL starting.
There is still a lot of work to do with respect to piecing together a season and how they schedule games. There is also a lot of work to do with the Province for funding so the league can afford to run.
I don’t think the Virus will stop the league from playing games. If they do not start it is because the league will not have obtained required funding similar to wha the QMJHL received.
The American Teams will probably need to temporarily relocate to Canada for this season. IF they don’t, then they will have to create a three team division and play all their games against each other.
It is also likely the league creates smaller divisions with an emphasis on divisional play. For the East, it is likely going to be Ottawa, Kingston, Peterborough and Oshawa. Hamilton will end up in a Division with Niagara and Mississauga in some manner. Then there will likely be Conference games and/or rival games to round out the schedule bit there won’t be any formal games for outside your conference unless they are rival games...
We don’t know where the US based teams would play but one potential destination would be Cornwall. I believe Chatham has also reached out to offer their town as a temporary location. The relocation may juggle the divisions as well. If Cornwall is used, we could see an Ottawa, Cornwall & Kingston division.
There are a lot of variables that need to be considered right now but the main one is the Provincial funding. The league needs some help financially.