How Alberta's time zone change will affect Edmonton Oilers games
Edmonton Oilers fans will have to keep an eye on the clock moving forward.
Alberta officially moved away from daylight saving time over the weekend, refusing to turn back the clocks, which has resulted in the province being on a new time zone. Gone are the days of Mountain Time, as it will now be known as “Alberta Time” and will be abbreviated as “ABT” moving forward.
The change has caused the province to be one hour behind Ontario rather than the previous two hours. With B.C. also refusing to turn back the clocks, Alberta will remain an hour ahead of the Canadian West Coast.
For the Oilers, there will be a change in the time zone difference with teams on the American West Coast, notably with the states of Washington, California, and Nevada. Historically, those states were just an hour behind Alberta, but the time zone change has increased that to two hours.
So, how will Oilers games be affected? It won’t take long for fans to find out…
Later start times incoming
The biggest change that Oilers fans will immediately notice is games starting later than usual.
Before, the latest time that an Oilers game would be scheduled for was 8:30 p.m. MDT and would usually feature a team on the West Coast. With Alberta Time becoming the new standard, puck drop will be pushed back to 9 p.m. ABT for a select number of games.
The first 9 p.m. ABT puck drop for the Oilers this season will be on Nov. 7 against the Vancouver Canucks. A total of seven Edmonton games will be pushed back to that later-than-usual start time:
- Nov. 7 vs. Vancouver Canucks
- Nov. 28 at Seattle Kraken
- Jan. 20 at Vegas Golden Knights
- Jan. 21 at LA Kings
- Jan. 23 at San Jose Sharks
- March 6 vs. Chicago Blackhawks
- March 13 at Seattle Kraken
There is a stretch in January, during an Oilers road trip, where the Oilers will play three consecutive games with puck drop coming at 9 p.m. ABT as they travel through California and Nevada.
Stephen R. Sylvanie/Imagn Images
That isn’t the only area where the time zone will come into play, as it has also effectively eliminated weeknight games with an early 5 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. puck drop. Those usually came when the Oilers were on the road against Eastern Conference teams, but the time zone switch has moved most of those games to either a 6 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. ABT start.
There are, however, still plenty of earlier starts scheduled for select weekend games.
Most home games remain unchanged
The good news for Oilers fans is that, for the large part, they will not have to change their routine that much.
Outside of two later starts and a handful of matinee games over the weekend, the Oilers will keep a fairly consistent start time for their home games at Rogers Place. Fans have become accustomed to either 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. start times over the years, and that will largely stay in place for home games moving forward.
Sergei Belski/Imagn Images
Of the remaining 34 home games, 22 will start between the hours of 7 and 8 p.m. ABT, which won’t be that big of a change for fans wanting to tune in.