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The Oakville Blades are ready for the 2021 season

The Oakville Blades are set to start a new season in January 2021
Hockey Players hugging on the ice
Hockey Players hugging on the ice

This year will look a lot different due to COVID-19. Oakville Blades Coach/General Manager and former Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jamie Storr spoke with Oakville News about what the safety protocols for players and staff would be.

He responded by saying; “The start of our league protocol is that everyone needs to have a negative test in order to rejoin our training phase. We then request that everyone must have bi-weekly testing; so players, coaches, and all the staff will be tested every two weeks."

"As soon as the pandemic hit it became difficult to follow the same protocol," he continues, "because you couldn’t have testing unless you were showing symptoms or if you were in a position where you were in close contact with someone who tested positive.” 

Storr re-iterated how he would like to have bi-weekly testing for the players and staff but it all depends on the availability and accessibility of testing kits. “All players wear masks entering and exiting the arena.”

He told me that there are eight players per dressing room, all sitting 6ft apart from one another. Wearing a mask through the whole process of getting dressed and undressed. They have also purchased full shields for players, all players have been training on the ice with face shields and once return to play starts the players will be wearing masks during the games. 

Masks are worn to protect players from one another reducing the risk of potential exposure and spread of the virus.

Storr said, “The league has really done a great job at providing protocols that is a lot stricter than any other return to play model and we feel that it is something that we feel has enabled us to be comfortable in going to work every day and being around the kids (players) and training under these circumstances we feel like because of the protocols it has allowed us to have a safe environment.”

Having fans in the stands is going to be a tricky situation. As of right now, only 50 people are allowed in the facility including players, trainers, coaches and spectators.

Photo: Lukas Bernasiewicz
Photo: Lukas Bernasiewicz

Presently the town is debating on whether the stands should be considered a different part of the facility, separating it from the bench the ice and the dressing rooms. Should it attain such status, the facility would be allowed to have 50 at most people in the stands alone.

I personally would argue that the ice surface is different than the stands because of how Sixteen-Mile Creek Arena is constructed. The stands are very far from the dressing room and the players are protected from the spectators by a plexiglass divider allowing for physical distancing between the players and the fans.

Plans for fans could change over time since Oakville has entered the red zone as of Monday, November 16, 2020.

The Blades are going to be leaning on some key players this year, first of which is their captain Alton McDermot. Alton is a homegrown product from Oakville who spent his younger years playing for the Oakville Rangers and has been playing for the Blades for the past two seasons.

Last season Alton was able to score 24 goals and 37 points in 41 games, an improvement on his last season where he scored 16 goals and had 36 points in 51 games. Alton is also committed to Canisius College in Buffalo on a division one hockey scholarship. 

The Blades are also looking to depend on Brenden Bowie, a forward from Burlington who grew up playing for the Toronto Nationals of the GTHL. In 2016-17 he played for St. Andrew’s College in Aurora, the Maple Leafs have been known for drafting players in the 6th and 7th round from St. Andrews. He then played the next year for Aurora’s OJHL team.

In 2019-20 he played in the British Columbian Hockey League for the Victoria Grizzlies and scored 18 points in 50 games. Brenden is coming back to Ontario this season to play for the Blades in his last year of junior hockey before venturing to St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York on a division one scholarship. 

The Blades will also look to depend on big defensemen Declan Ride. Declan is a 6 ft 5-inch defenseman from Toronto that will be playing in his second season with the Blades. Declan is also committed to Miami University and will look to start there next season. 

Another defenseman the Blades are looking for big things from is Jack Blake. Son of legendary NHL defenseman Rob Blake, Jack is taking a big chance on coming to Canada for his last year of junior before he goes to Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Jack played his last two seasons at the esteemed hockey school Shattuck-St. Marry’s in Minnesota. Some of their alumni include Johnathan Toews, Zach Parise, and some guy named Sidney Crosby. Before then he played three years for LA Jr. Kings. 

Photo - Lukas Bernasiewicz
Photo - Lukas Bernasiewicz

Finally, between the pipes, we have goaltender Adam Harris. Harris is playing in his second season for the Blades after a very good rookie season last year. Harris last season backed up starting goaltender Will Barber and played in 23 games and had 17 wins five losses and one tie. He also posted a .929 save percentage and a 2.08 goals-against average.

Coach Storr had such high praises for his goalie and a favourite of mine was him saying “If Harry was a couple of inches taller he would probably be playing division one this season, so he’s a goalie that will have to continue proving himself because of his size.” The 5” 10 Harris will be looking to prove to schools that his size doesn’t impact his ability to make saves.

The Blades will also be losing some key players from last year. Notably, their top point scorer Harrison Israels, scoring 86 points in 51 games last season. Israels committed to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks for this season. 

They will also be without their number two leading point scorer from last year and Oakville-born Jack Ricketts who scored 70 points in 51 games last season and committed to College of the Holy Cross.

Lastly, they also lost their starting goalie from last year Will Barber who had a 22-8-4 record and a .918 save percentage. Barber is now playing for St. Mary’s University in Halifax Nova Scotia. 

The Blades are really looking forward to a great year despite it being much different than in years past. For some of these players, it is their last chance to show schools that they are ready for a scholarship and for others, it is their last year of junior hockey. They are ALL ready to give it their all and play the best hockey of their lives.


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