Dec 30, 2009 - 12:19 PM

By Brian McNair

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It's difficult to assess where the Oshawa Generals are at right now, as we get ready to flip the calendar to 2010.

Better days are surely ahead for the Ontario Hockey league club, but whether they come this season or next remains to be seem.

This one has been a mystery, as the Generals teased fans early with a five-game winning streak, vaulting them ever-so-briefly to the top of the Eastern Conference standings, tumbled all the way to last in the entire league by dropping 12 of the next 13, then went on another seven-game tear to creep back up the standings.

They went into the holidays with a dismal performance in an 8-1 loss to Owen Sound, unfortunately played before a season-best crowd of 5,242 at the General Motors Centre, but that was no indication of the strong effort the players have put in to date.

Coach Chris DePiero wisely chose to put that one behind them, no doubt telling his troops to relax and enjoy the holidays following a first half of the season in which they over-achieved by most expectations.

With a roster featuring the second least amount of OHL experience, the Generals should be proud of the fact they're comfortably back in a playoff position.

They have an important stretch of games immediately after the break, playing divisional rivals in the first five and conference foes for five more after that.

They will be without world junior defenceman Calvin de Haan for at least three of those games, a huge blow considering the combination of skill, smarts and leadership he brings, especially on the power play.

And Alain Berger, who was just coming into his own prior to leaving for the World Juniors himself, will take weeks if not months to recover from a broken ankle he suffered in a pre-tournament game, leaving an already thin group of forwards missing his size and scoring touch.

Sensational rookie Boone Jenner will also be gone for the first few games, away at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, meaning the team will be fortunate to avoid another losing slide in the new year.

But DePiero has proven he can get the most out of his players, and if they weather the storm until the stars return, it seems a good bet they will at least make the playoffs, something that was up in the air at the outset.

That, in turn, would give them invaluable experience as they head into next season, when anything less than a big upswing would be disappointing.