Dominance is the word for Empire League’s Jr. Blades By Matt Mackinder
O’Had. “I think our roster indicates that.” The Jr. Blades are also a prime example of how
N
ot many teams can say they’ve had the start to the season the Florida Jr. Blades have had in the
Empire Junior Hockey League (EmJHL). By accruing 37 of a possible 38 points through early December, the Jr. Blades led the entire league with an 18-0-1-0 record. Their only blemish came in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Atlanta Knights back in early October.
Head coach and GM Tad O’Had said this season
is the result of the season the Jr. Blades had a year ago playing in the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League (MJHL), when they finished second in the league and went to the national tournament. “We promised the returning players this year that we would have a better team,” said O’Had. “We went out and recruited some very exceptional players. This season, we’ve had a very exceptional season by junior hockey standards. We have players all over the league scoring charts and our goalie, Joe Keyser, is probably the best goalie in the league. “We’ve just been playing some great hockey to say the least. We still have a lot to prove and we know some teams may not give us any credit, and that’s fine with me. Once we play those teams and show them what we’re about, I think we’ll start getting a little bit more credit.” In glancing at the Jr. Blades roster, sure, Florida
natives are on the team, but so are players from New York, Maryland, Colorado, New Jersey, Illinois and North Carolina. “We recruited from all over after last season,” said
team success can create individual success for the players. “We have had a lot of colleges call us to ask about some of our kids,” O’Had said. “And I mean top-level schools, some big-name schools.” Even if the Jr. Blades weren’t the top dog in the EmJHL in the standings, they’d surely be at the top when it came to conditioning. The team spends close to five hours a day on and off the ice, 5-6 days a week. “(Jr. Blades associate coach and assistant GM) Jake (Laime) and I are very competitive in all we do,” explained O’Had. “We do everything we can to give our players every opportunity they need to suc- ceed and to do it here in Florida. We want these kids to stay here to play juniors and to be honest, a lot of the kids on our team this year did have opportunities to leave and go play elsewhere, but they chose to be here, they wanted to be here. “We were so close last year and that left a sour taste in our mouths. This year, we’re all about tack- ling all challenges head-on and keeping our foot on the pedal all season. We don’t plan on putting it on cruise control any time soon.” Practices for the Jr. Blades are sometimes more intense and demanding than the games. The players know each practice is an audition for that weekend’s games and O’Had is a firm believer that a team plays games how it practices. “We definitely raise the competition level in our practices,” O’Had said. “There is a lot of internal
competition and that’s what we need. Guys don’t take their spots for granted. Instead of looking ahead to certain games or looking back on certain games, we break the season down into sections. “At the end of the day, we know we haven’t ac- complished anything yet. It’s only December. The season still has a long way to go.”
Florida Jr. Blades defenseman Kristian Avellanet assists goalie Joe Keyser in keeping an opposing shot out of the crease. The Jr. Blades were unbeaten in regulation time this season as of early December. Photo/
SwampHockey.com
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