QMJHL distance traveled

Might as well complete the entire CHL on this now - here's the distance traveled by the QMJHL teams:

		km	miles
1	Cape Breton	29855	18551
2	Rouyn-Noranda	27111	16846
3	Halifax	24600	15286
4	Val-d'Or	23813	14797
5	P.E.I.	23719	14738
6	Acadie-Bathurst	22825	14183
7	Lewiston	22288	13849
8	Saint John	22214	13803
9	Gatineau	21572	13404
10	Moncton	21309	13241
11	Shawinigan	21014	13057
12	Québec	20933	13007
13	Montréal	20478	12724
14	Victoriaville	20334	12635
15	Baie-Comeau	20070	12471
16	Rimouski	20008	12432
17	Drummondville	19982	12416
18	Chicoutimi	19644	12206

Overall the QMJHL clocks in exactly where I expected they would - most of the teams in the QMJHL travel more than any OHL teams but less than most WHL teams. Couple big exceptions though, most notably Cape Breton, who have the distinction of being the most-traveled team in the entire CHL. Yes, they travel 39 more kilometers than Prince George does. And Rouyn-Noranda would be in the WHL's top four as well if they played in that league with that mileage. 

Of course these numbers are not written in stone and there are undoubtedly going to be some mistakes made on my part when trying to figure out whether a team stays over in a hotel after a game or returns home, etc, etc. So they are just estimates.....but I used the same approach for all three leagues so if I made mistakes, hopefully I made them equally everywhere.

One thing I did notice about the QMJHL schedules was that, like the OHL, they are very efficient with their road trips. Most teams in the QMJHL do not take the kind of 4 or 5 game road trips we see almost every team in the WHL take once or twice a year. Yes, some QMJHL teams do - but even when they do, it seems to be a Wednesday, Friday-Saturday-Sunday trip and then back home. You see WHL teams spend 8 or 9 days on the road to play 4 or 5 games sometimes. So, the OHL and QMJHL seem to be more efficient in their road trips but perhaps the smaller distances makes that easier.

I gave the longest and shortest distances in the WHL and OHL in earlier posts, so I'd best do it for the "Q" as well: longest driving distance between two cities in the QMJHL is (no surprise) Cape Breton to Rouyn-Noranda, which comes in at 2086 km. Shortest distance is Drummondville to Victoriaville, at 62 km. All distances, for all three leagues, come from Mapquest.

So, to wrap this up and rank the entire CHL.....I've taken the total km and divided it by the number of road games each team plays (to account for the fact that the WHL plays a 72 game schedule while the other two leagues play 68 games) and calculated the average driving distance per road game per team:

	team	league	km	games	avg km/game
1	Cape Breton	QMJHL	29855	34	878.1
2	Prince George	WHL	29816	36	828.2
3	Rouyn-Noranda	QMJHL	27111	34	797.4
4	Brandon	WHL	28548	36	793.0
5	Kootenay	WHL	28124	36	781.2
6	Edmonton	WHL	26931	36	748.1
7	Spokane	WHL	26856	36	746.0
8	Prince Albert	WHL	26785	36	744.0
9	Halifax	QMJHL	24600	34	723.5
10	Swift Current	WHL	25757	36	715.5
11	Tri-City	WHL	25602	36	711.2
12	Portland	WHL	25451	36	707.0
13	Kamloops	WHL	25393	36	705.4
14	Val-d'Or	QMJHL	23813	34	700.4
15	P.E.I.	QMJHL	23719	34	697.6
16	Lethbridge	WHL	24957	36	693.3
17	Medicine Hat	WHL	24825	36	689.6
18	Red Deer	WHL	24465	36	679.6
19	Saskatoon	WHL	24441	36	678.9
20	Acadie-Bathurst	QMJHL	22825	34	671.3
21	Regina	WHL	24111	36	669.7
22	Lewiston	QMJHL	22288	34	655.5
23	Saint John	QMJHL	22214	34	653.4
24	Vancouver	WHL	23096	36	641.5
25	Calgary	WHL	22941	36	637.3
26	Gatineau	QMJHL	21572	34	634.5
27	Moncton	QMJHL	21309	34	626.7
28	Everett	WHL	22447	36	623.5
29	Moose Jaw	WHL	22425	36	622.9
30	Kelowna	WHL	22346	36	620.7
31	Shawinigan	QMJHL	21014	34	618.1
32	Québec	QMJHL	20933	34	615.7
33	Seattle	WHL	21913	36	608.7
34	Montréal	QMJHL	20478	34	602.3
35	Victoriaville	QMJHL	20334	34	598.1
36	Baie-Comeau	QMJHL	20070	34	590.3
37	Rimouski	QMJHL	20008	34	588.5
38	Drummondville	QMJHL	19982	34	587.7
39	Chicoutimi	QMJHL	19644	34	577.8
40	Sault Ste Marie	OHL	19491	34	573.3
41	Ottawa	OHL	18579	34	546.4
42	Chilliwack	WHL	19231	36	534.2
43	Sudbury	OHL	17302	34	508.9
44	Erie	OHL	17089	34	502.6
45	Saginaw	OHL	16370	34	481.5
46	Plymouth	OHL	16325	34	480.1
47	Windsor	OHL	16198	34	476.4
48	Sarnia	OHL	15672	34	460.9
49	Kingston	OHL	15614	34	459.2
50	Belleville	OHL	14923	34	438.9
51	Niagara	OHL	14486	34	426.1
52	London	OHL	14437	34	424.6
53	Kitchener	OHL	14281	34	420.0
54	Guelph	OHL	13961	34	410.6
55	Owen Sound	OHL	13947	34	410.2
56	Oshawa	OHL	13491	34	396.8
57	Barrie	OHL	13387	34	393.7
58	Peterborough	OHL	13214	34	388.6
59	Brampton	OHL	12503	34	367.7
60	Mississauga	OHL	11784	34	346.6

When you look at those numbers at the top of the list and you realize that the Cape Bretons and the Prince Georges of the league are driving more than 800 km on average to play each road game....I think it gives us fans another perspective on the level of dedication these players have to the game. These guys are averaging 8 or 9 hours - at least - of bus travel for every three hour road game they play. That's commitment.