NIAGARA FALLS — The gains have been tiny, but meaningful. Sliding out of the basement in the vaunted Golden Horseshoe Conference of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League in each of the last two seasons has to stand for something, right?

But as has long been the case for the Wheatfield Blades Junior B hockey team, the road is never easy, and with a new head coach and assistant general manager at the helm, the local club expects to put a young, but ever-improving product on the ice at Hockey Outlet when the season begins in earnest on Thursday.

With former assistant coach Todd Clayton now at the helm, and Christopher Spence as his assistant GM and head scout, the Blades have brought in a largely new crop of players they hope will blossom in the future, giving the organization a chance to compete with the league’s powerhouses.

“Other teams might have a few more 20-year-olds,” Spence said. “We’ve got some really good 16-year-olds, but we hope we’re building a good young corps, then we’ll be able to be competitive as things go along.”

Some of that talent is even from its namesake of Wheatfield. After leading the Western team to a gold medal in the recent Empire State Games, Bryan Komasara is ready to help the Blades take another step, and the former Niagara-Wheatfield defenseman should be one of the pillars the program can build upon. Another Niagara-Wheatfield product, Nick Schiro, has amassed 230 penalty minutes in the last two years and has become a force other teams can pick out of a crowd.

“He’s a big strong, defensive guy who shoots the puck hard,” Clayton said of Komasara. “And Nick Schiro, I think he’s opened a lot of eyes around this league. He’s a standup guy.”

While the team’s defensive unit should be solid, questions abound up front, as with Kyle Kozlowski gone there’s a huge void in the offense. Two years ago, Kozlowski led the team with 51 points in 50 games, and last season he was even better, registering 67 points in 49 starts.

But Kozlowski has headed off to New England College and the Blades will look to the likes of Mitchell Eisenburg, a 16-year-old who was impressive in the Ontario Hockey League camp of the Erie Otters last week. Eisenburg was a ninth-round pick of the OHL team, but can use a year of seasoning at Junior B.

The goaltending duties will be handled by a rotation as Jake DiDomenico and Eric Moeller while Austin Willison might also get his chances.

As for Clayton, he’s plenty familiar with the league’s style. After playing for Welland, he later coached the same Jr. Canadians. He served as an assistant last year in Wheatfield under then-coach Chris Johnstone, who has since taken the head job in Thorold.

“Todd’s mostly a teacher. He really teaches the kids,” Spence said of Clayton. “Once he shows the kids a mistake they’re making, he doesn’t want to see it again. We’ve already seen a lot of progress. Just from our first practice to now.”

The team has more local products than in past years, and Clayton said that’s a concerted effort to boost the profile in the community.

“I can tell you from our preseason games, our fanbase has probably tripled over last year,” Clayton said. “When you have more local guys, they bring out their friends from high school, their parents and grandparents. We’re taking baby steps this season, but we’re really trying to get that local talent to stay.

“It dumbfounds me why more local players don’t stay here. It’s a strong area. We’ve got to tidy up why they’re leaving, because you can’t play in a better league than this for talent and exposure.”