Permanent daylight time brings late NHL start times in Western Canada

Alberta's move to permanent daylight time will turn the Calgary Flames and their fans into night owls a few times this NHL season.

The puck drops at 9 p.m. on eight Flames games, including two at the Saddledome.

"Professional athletes got to do what we got to do to get ready," said Flames captain Mikael Backlund. "There's caffeine out there."

Flames forward Ryan Strome, who has children aged six, five and two, may have time to help out with bath chores before he heads to the Saddledome for a late game.

"They always want to come to games, and the nine o'clock games they definitely can't come to," Strome said. "That's probably the biggest adjustment, is that my tickets will be free those nights because my family can't go."

Alberta's decision to stop moving clocks back an hour in November and ahead in March and stay on daylight saving time — a move also adopted by B.C. and Manitoba — threw a few wrinkles into an NHL schedule driven by broadcast rightsholders.

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It's injected variety into when the puck drops for the NHL's teams in Western Canada, and when their fans turn on their screens to watch them.

"It's out of our control," Flames president and chief executive officer Robert Hayes said. "I've always said in my business career, 'let's focus on the things we can control,' and we can't control that.

"A decision was made by the province ... and decisions were made by others that this is the time we're going to start hockey games."

Only once before an Eastern road trip starting Dec. 10 do the Flames have back-to-back games starting at the same time.

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