Lukas Bernasiewicz
The Oakville Blades have been on a tear over the last two weeks.
The team is now on a six-game winning streak and has started to become one of the top teams in the Ontario Junior Hockey League.
With their current 7-2-0-1 record, they are in third place in the Western Conference and have only played 10 games, while both teams above them in the conference have played 12 or 13.
"I think over the last two weeks, we have really banded together and figured out how to play with one another," said Blades captain Sean Clarke.
"The first two weeks were hard, but those losses taught us a lot about how to play together as a team."
This winning streak is a massive improvement on where the team was at this point last season.
During this point in the 2022-23 season, Oakville was in the midst of a 10-game losing streak that derailed their season and led the team to lose 36 games by the season's end.
So, what has gone differently?
Even though the team has only played 10 games, you can feel a different vibe with this team and a different aura around them.
The team looks like they have something to play for and something to strive towards.
They obviously do since the team will be hosting the Centennial Cup in the spring of 2024, but this team doesn't want just to be known as the host team that got in automatically; they want to be known as the host team that won the Centennial on home ice.
With the way that the team is playing so far, it is not far-fetched to believe that this Oakville Blades team may be the team to go on a deep playoff run in the OJHL playoffs and also go on a deep run in the Centennial and potentially win both the Buckland Cup as champions of the OJHL and the Centennial Cup champions of Junior A hockey.
Are we way too early in the season to be thinking that way, most likely?
But from what this team has proven so far in a very small sample size, the Oakville Blades are not afraid of any team and should not be taken lightly.
Blades coach Scott McCrory said at the beginning of the year that he wanted to make the Blades a team that "the town is going to be proud of." So far, he and his team have done a great job.
The Blades play the Caledon Admirals on Friday, October 13. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. in the 16 Mile Sports Complex.
