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Gone, however, is last yéar‘s MVP, Gord Kalverda. He came to Oakville last year to play for coach Greg Ireland and when Ireland departed to coach Caledon this season Kalverda wanted to follow suit â€" and he got his wish with the Blades engineering a threeâ€"team swap involving Oakville, Caledon and Burlington. Although the Blades were looking to beef up on defence, they ended up with another offensive threat that may very well be able to score more goals than the The rookies include Brampton‘s Dave Smith, one of the best underâ€"17 players in the province, and a bunch of local kids from the town‘s successful midget program (more on them later). fold. And offence is the area most improved through rookâ€" ies and trades. The team should have no problem scoring goals with offensive talent that runs four lines deep, he said. The offence is the area least affected by offâ€"season departures with top guns Kent Williams, Jason Slaney, Matt Interbartolo, Corey Waring and Matt Swain back in the Walker bases his feeling of a topâ€"three finâ€" ish on "historical perspective. You get a feel for the type of team you have." The Blades, in their first full year of affilâ€" iation with the Minor Oaks Hockey Association (MOHA), are planning a major opening night extravaganza that will include country singer Caroll Baker singing the national anthem and a Toronto Maple Leaf player dropping the puck for the opening faceâ€"off. Fans can get in free with a donaâ€" tion of food or money to the Fare Share fqod bank. The Blades opened the regular season Friday night in Milton and will host their own home opener, against the Burlington Cougars, next Friday night at Oakville Arena. It was the Kilty Bees that ended the Blades impressive playoff run last spring with a sevâ€" enth game win in the divisional finals at noisy Mountain Arena. espite winning only one exhibition Dgame, Oakville Blades manager Murray Walker has the Provincial Junior A hockey team pegged for a topâ€"three finish. x Admittedly, the Blades‘ one win couldn‘t have come at a better time, against a better team â€" a 7â€"3 win Tuesday night in their final exhibition game against last year‘s class of the division, the Hamilton Kilty Bees. By NORMAN NELSON Beaver Sports Editor Blades should achieve many goals this season B.J. Hamilton (Oakville Midgets) Jay Interbartolo (Mississauga Bntms)} Matt Interbartolo (Oakville Blades}) Marcel Kars (Oakville Midgets_ _ John Morrison (Caledonia Junior C) Saha Perisic (Don Mills Midgets) Andrew Shortt (Oakville Blades) Jason Slaney (Oakville Blades) Dave Smith (Brantford Bantams) Brent Strike (Oakville Midgets) Matt Swain (Oakville Blades) Mike Robinson (Oakville Midgets) Chris Thompson (Ajax Bantams) Brian Vines (Oakville Midgets) Corey Waring (Oakville Blades) Kent Williams (Oakville Blades) THE STARTING LINEâ€"UP (last year‘s club in brackets): Steve Bewley (Oakville Midgets) Mike Byrne (Oakville Blades) Kevin Cole (Oakville Midgets) Curtis (Oakville Midgets) Paul Dolan (Mississauga Midgets) Mike Gamble (Burlington Cougars) EXHIBITION RECAP: Sept 20: Blades 7, Hamilton 3 Sept 19: Markham 7, Blades 7 Sept 16: Barrie 5, Blades 3 Sept 12: St. Michaet‘s 5, Blades 2 Sept 11: Blades 8, Markham 8 Sept. 9: Blades 5, Hamilton 5 Sept. 8: Barrie 12, Blades 7 Sept. 7: Caledon 10, Blades 6 ¥© 1994 McDonald‘s Restaurants of Canada Limited That shouldn‘t be a big surprise, given that the tripleâ€"AAA midget team won the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) title and put in a respectable performance at the Air Canada regional cup in Ottawa last spring. Movmg up from that team are Kevin Cole, 1 Darryl â€" Curtis, â€" B.J. Hamilton, Marcel Kars, Brent Strike and Mike 1 Robinson. About a dozen players in the starting lineâ€" up have graduated out of the Minor Oaks Hockey Association (MOHA). "The reason we‘re starting with three is that all three deserve the right to be there," explained Walker. Another aspect about the Blades that local fans will appreciate is the strong local flavor. In goal, there are still three rookies fighting for the job â€"Steve Bewley from Oakville‘s tripleâ€"AAA midget team, Chris Thompson from the Ajax Major Bantams and Jay Interbartolo (brother of Blades forward Matt Interbartolo) from the Mississauga bantams. The numbers, at the moment, stand at no veterans in goal and just two on defence â€" Andrew Shortt and Mike Byrne. On paper, he said the team usually likes to start the season with one veteran goaltender and four â€" "or at the very least three‘ â€" defencemen. Coming over to the Blades from Burlington (which received cash from Caledon, to complete the threeâ€"way transacâ€" tion) is Mike Gamble, who played Major Junior A last year with Windsor and Ottawa before joining Burlington for the last few regâ€" ular season games. He was one of their top playoff performers. "He‘ll be a guy to keep your eye on," said Walker. The key for the Blades this year will not be whether they can score enough goals, but whether they can keep enough out. nowâ€"departed Kalverda. As far as the exhibition season, Walker said he was not at all displeased. All comers got a fare shot at some exhibition games and that resulted in some early, high scoring losses. As training camp wore on and better teams were iced so did the results improve. Some of the veterans are also MOHA graduates and they include captain Kent Williams, Matt Swain and Andrew Shortt. There‘s also one player from Oakville‘s other tripleâ€" AAA midget team â€" goalâ€" tender Steve Bewley â€" as well as a bantam graduate, Brian Vines. "He‘s going to have a go at it," said Walker. "We think he‘s ready." Blades captain Matt Swain takes a shot in an exhibition loss against St. Mike‘s. The Blades opened the regular season Friday in Milton and will host their own home opener Friday at Oakville Arena. (Photo by Riziero Vertolli) The team reawakened in time to score the clincher in the last minute. Alex Clafton booted in the goal on a pretâ€" ty setâ€"up that included a superb cross by Wes DeJonge followed by a skillâ€" ful header off Steve Woodall. Two quick goals in the second half by the Virginia team, however, sent a shock wave through the Canadian team and their contingent of fans. Things seemed pretty much under control for Oakville after Paul Toste scored the much needed opening goal followed by an insurance marker from Kory Jazbec. The championship game against the Prince William, Virginia team kept the specâ€" tators on the edge of their seats. An Oakville underâ€"16 boys allâ€"star soccer team took home the championship at a recent tournament in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Allâ€"star team conquers America Coaches Bill Noble and Brian Clafton were pleased with both the efforts of the team and the large fan supâ€" port. Keeper John Valley, with the help of his tough defenâ€" sive line and determined midfield crew, captured two shutouts in the tournament. Tournament champs. Back row: Bill Noble (head coach), Tomas Filipuzzi, Steve Woodall, Alex Clafton, David Clerc, Mike Perez and John Valley. Second row: Brian Clafton ( coach), Mark Burnatowski, Wes DeJonge, Tim Skrins and Gary Rai. Front row: Richard Monterio, Kory Jazbec, Paul Toste, Tom Watson and Jeff Potter. In preliminary action, Quaker State Quality everfiime‘" Mike Perez notched Oakville‘s only goal as the (See ‘second game‘ pg. 27) In the tough opening match against Hampton, Pennsylvania, keeper John Valley made some spectacuâ€" lar saves to keep Oakville in the game. Oakville posted a tie and two shutouts. 260 Speers Road