If the St. John’s Edge get into next March with any kind of a decent record, watch out.
The National Basketball League of Canada released its 2018-19 schedule Monday and it shows the Edge finishing up their regular-season with a eight straight games at St. John’s in March, a stand that represents 40 per cent of its 20 games at Mile One Centre, where the team enjoyed a significant home-court advantage in 2017-18, its inaugural year in the circuit.
St. John’s will start the new season and its 40-game schedule Nov. 18 on the road in London, Ont., against the two-time defending champion Lightning, the team that defeating the Edge in a Central Division final, ending the expansion team’s inaugural year.
It’s one of five road swings — ranging from two to six games in length — for St. John’s.
There are also five home stands, including a couple of two-gamers, two more that are four-games long and that whopper in March.
The Edge’s first home games are Nov. 23 and 25, when they host the Moncton Magic at Mile One.
For Edge fans, the biggest difference this season will be the ability to check out all of the other nine teams in the league.
Last season, the Island (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) Storm, Cape Breton Highlanders and Saint John Riptide didn’t travel to St. John’s at all, but each has Mile One visits this season. In fact, the Storm will be here twice for a couple of back-to-back contests and will be the Edge’s most frequent opponent — they’ll square off six times overall.
Moncton, Halifax, Saint John and Cape Breton will each take on the Edge five times, while London and the Windsor Express will supply the opposition on four occasions.
St. John’s takes on the KW (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.) Titans and the Sudbury Five, the league’s newest entry, three times each.
The unbalanced schedule is a product of a league realignment. As reported by The Telegram earlier this month, the NBL Canada is scrapping its two-division system and going with one 10-team conference, in large part to address the league’s geographic inequality, with four teams in Ontario and six in Atlantic Canada.
Notes
Thirteen of the Edge’s 20 home games are on weekends. There are three on Tuesdays and two Wednesdays and one contest on a Monday and Thursday … The vast majority of games at Mile One have 7 p.m. starts. Of the remainder, there are three Sunday games with 2 p.m. tip-offs and another that gets underway at 3 p.m. One Saturday game will start at 6 p.m. …
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Schedule
The St. John’s Edge’s 2018-19 Home and Away schedules, segmented into home stands and road trips:
Home
Date, Time, Opponent
Friday, Nov. 23, 2018 7 p.m. Moncton Magic
Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018 2 p.m. Moncton Magic
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Friday, Dec. 14, 2018 7 p.m. Island Storm
Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018 2 p.m. Island Storm
Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018 7 p.m. Sudbury Five
Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018 7 p.m. Sudbury Five
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Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019 6 p.m. London Lightning
Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019 3 p.m. London Lightning
Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019 7 p.m. Halifax Hurricanes
Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019 7 p.m. Halifax Hurricanes
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Friday, Feb. 15, 2019 7 p.m. Windsor Express
Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019 2 p.m. Windsor Express
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Sunday, March 3, 2019 7 p.m. Cape Breton Highlanders
Monday, March 4, 2019 7 p.m. Cape Breton Highlanders
Tuesday, March 12, 2019 7 p.m. KW Titans
Wednesday, March 13, 2019 7 p.m. KW Titans
Friday, March 15, 2019 7 p.m. Saint John Riptide
Sunday, March 17, 2019 7 p.m. Saint John Riptide
Saturday, March 23, 2019 7 p.m. Island Storm
Sunday, March 24, 2019 2 p.m. Island Storm
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Away
Date, Time, Opponent
Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018 2 p.m. London Lightning
Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018 7 p.m. Windsor Express
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Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018 7 p.m. Moncton Magic
Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018 2 p.m. Halifax Hurricanes
Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018 7 p.m. Cape Breton Highlanders
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Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018 7 p.m. Moncton Magic
Sunday, Dec. 30, 2018 7 p.m. Halifax Hurricanes
Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019 7 p.m. Cape Breton Highlanders
Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019 7 p.m. Saint John Riptide
Friday, Jan. 4, 2019 7 p.m. Island Storm
Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019 2 p.m. Saint John Riptide
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Monday, Feb. 4, 2019 2 p.m. Cape Breton Highlanders
Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019 7 p.m. Island Storm
Friday, Feb. 8, 2019 7 p.m. Moncton Magic
Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019 2 p.m. Halifax Hurricanes
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 7 p.m. Saint John Riptide
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Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 7 p.m. Windsor Express
Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 7 p.m. London Lightning
Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019 7 p.m. KW Titans
Monday, Feb. 25, 2019 7 p.m. Sudbury Five
