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ESTERO — For the Florida Everblades, it has been a long offseason -- 181 days, to be exact.

It has been a long six months without Blades games at Germain Arena, but that all changes tonight at 7:30, when the Blades face the Phoenix Roadrunners in preseason action.

Tonight's game is the first chance for Florida fans to see first-year head coach Malcolm Cameron and his 23 new players. Only forwards Brad Herauf and Ernie Hartlieb return from last year's Blades team, and seven-year head coach Gerry Fleming left for the AHL in May.

But fans will see some familiar faces on the Phoenix bench. Second-year coach Brad Church starred for the Blades in '04-05, scoring 54 points in 62 regular-season games and 12 points in 19 playoff games, en route to the Kelly Cup Finals.

Phoenix center Dan Sisca is also a former Blades sniper who scored 29 goals and added 50 assists in 71 games during the '05-06 season.

Sisca and Church have many pleasant memories of Germain Arena.

"The electricity in this building is pretty incredible," Church said.

Sisca is a big fan of the Southwest Florida area and returns to his family's condo in Naples most summers. He said he's happy in Phoenix, but the Roadrunners have to share their arena with the NBA's Phoenix Suns.

"That part's not similar. (Germain) is probably the best arena as far as fan base," Sisca said. "You come here and there's even fans watching practice ... here in Florida it's pretty hard to beat."

Sisca will be one of the headline players on a rebuilding Phoenix team that's trying to make the playoffs this year after missing out last season. Church said he has a strong core of returning players from last year, plus the Roadrunners have an AHL affiliate in Worcester this season, something they didn't have last year.

But tonight, most people at Germain Arena will be focused on Cameron and the new Blades team he has assembled in Estero. With lots of offensive firepower and speed on the roster, watch for the Blades to pour it on early, running a spread, puck-possession offense engineered by Cameron.

Cameron said earlier this week that this is the most competitive training camp he has run in 10 years of coaching, meaning this weekend's games will be an important chance for younger players to make their cases to get on the Blades' roster. There are 23 skaters and two goalies on the roster right now, so technically Cameron wouldn't need to cut anyone for the season. But forward Yannick Tifu and defenseman Jonathan Paiement are still in Albany and expected to be sent down sometime within the next couple weeks.

More players and NHL prospects, such as 6-foot-5 right wing James DeLory and former Blades defenseman Frank MacDonald, are also slated to be sent down from the AHL's Rochester Americans sometime soon, according to the Amerks' Web site.

Cameron said before camp started that he would need to cut three players if all expected players come to Estero for the regular season. He also said he wanted to keep eight defensemen, and there are nine on the Blades' training camp roster.

"Basically what I wanna see (this weekend) is ... if they've learned the systems," Cameron said. "Guys that are competing, guys that are battling ... this will be a good chance for guys to separate themselves."

Cameron plans to use his veteran players as healthy scratches: such as forwards Kevin Baker, Ryan Lang, Mark Lee, Hartlieb and Herauf -- but he hasn't made any final decisions yet. Three players per game will need to be healthy scratches.

Rookie goalie David Leggio will start tonight and David Shantz, who played for the Blades parts of the past two seasons, will start on Saturday. The goalie position may be the biggest question mark for the Blades this season, as Leggio has four years of college but no pro experience, and Shantz was up and down last year in Estero and Rochester.