NWHL releases 2021 bubble season schedule, beginning Jan. 23

The NWHL has its eyes set on expanding to Canada, and likely the Greater Toronto Area. (Michelle Jay/NWHL)

The National Women's Hockey League has released the schedule for its upcoming "bubble" season, which begins Jan. 23 in Lake Placid's Herb Brooks Arena.

The two-week condensed regular season and playoff slate begins with the league's newest team, the Toronto Six, hitting the ice for the first time since being introduced to the hockey world last April.

A fifteen-game regular season will conclude on Jan. 30, followed by a seven-game round-robin involving all six teams. Following a re-seeding based on the results of that round-robin, the top four teams will compete for the Isobel Cup in the semifinals (Feb. 4) and Final (Feb. 5).

The NWHL announced it would be playing a shortened, bubbled-up season (as we've seen other leagues do in their returns to play), back in November. While no fans will be in attendance, teams are filling the stands with "fan faces" in the form of cardboard cutouts of those cheering on from afar. The league is also offering virtual passes for viewers to connect remotely to their favourite team with a variety of virtual experiences.

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