As the Florida Jr. Blades prepare to enter their fifth season coaches and players have high expectations. The franchise is coming off of the USPHL- Empire division championship and a trip to USA Junior Hockey nationals.

“Competition and a desire to win are part of our organizations culture,” said general manager Tad O’Had. “Each year the team is built to be contenders and to develop players to the next level. It starts at training camp and continues throughout the season.”

Players report to training camp for a grueling two weeks of physical conditioning, team building and practice.

“Training camp is one of the most intense experiences,” said veteran Jake Carter. “This is my third season with the Blades and I can say that we bond as a team during training camp because it forces us to rely on each other. We succeed together and fail separately.“

Players report to the training center where the performance sports coaches and trainers of Athletic Republic begin doing tests for power, strength, agility, speed and explosiveness. The measurements form a baseline for each player that they are compared against quarterly.

“We’re structured around development so it’s important to know where our players are starting from at the beginning of the season,” said head coach Todd Pococke.

Training camp includes off-ice conditioning and practice, on-ice practices, team building activities and strongman competition.

“The strongman competition is annually one of the players favorite events,” said assistant coach Tyler Carlston. “This year we retooled it and the results were very close between the two teams.”

When asked about the rookie mix for this season coaches Pococke and Carlston were optimistic.

“We’ve got a very good mix of returning guys and new faces this season,” said Carlston. “The new guys have wasted no time stepping in and getting used to the Junior Blades mentality of work for results."

The team will open their season against the Tampa Bay Juniors in a home-and-home series before travelling to the southern showcase.

“The players are already starting to show natural chemistry with each other and some “natural” lines are forming,” said Pococke. “We’ll continue to watch the players develop and tinker with the formula, but we’re confident in the competitiveness of our team.”

After such a successful 2013-14 season expectations are high for the Jr. Blades.

“We had a tremendous season and people in a way expect us to back slide because when you do that, well it’s easy to “slide” while still having a good season,” said captain Eddie Kawczak. A smile stretches across his face, “We’re up to the challenge.”