You can bet Alex Row is loving every second of success the Kemptville 73s are having this year.

The team's captain - along with a few other teammates - has been with the 73s since they were the worst team in the CCHL by a country mile.

The club finished dead last with just 33 points in the standings in Row's rookie season in 2012-13.

Kemptville already has 38 points in 29 games (with 33 games left) this year as they sit just four points behind first place as they've slowly moved up the rankings over the seasons.

It wasn't always fun coming to the rink in those early days for the Elizabethtown-born forward, part of a defeated team that had the attitude, "you almost knew you were going to lose," said the second-year captain.

This current Kemptville team couldn't be any more different with the success of the squad stemming from the way they're meshing, Row said.

The days may have been dark in that first season for Row with the 73s, but he's not disappointed that they ever happened. The 20-year-old knows those seasons have helped shape him into the player he is today just as much as some of the club's more progressive seasons.

"I've seen the way it shouldn't be done and the hardships that we have had. From my first year on, we've been slowly getting better, better and better," Row said. "Just bringing in the right type of guys, I honestly think a lot of your success on the ice depends on the character guys in the room and the meshing of everyone."

With five seasons on one team on his resume, there's not many players in the CCHL more qualified to make that latter statement with as much assurance as Row states it.

Kemptville isn't the only thing on its way up, though. Row's numbers are skyrocketing too.

He has already picked up 14 goals and 23 assists this season, both stats on pace to be career season highs for him and currently puts him fifth in the league's scoring race.

If you ask Row if he knew this would be the way his season would unravel, he - like any good team captain - gives all the attention to his past and present teammates for helping him get to this point.

Ask Row to name a few teammates in particular and he - like an even better captain - refuses to, seemingly to be more concerned of not wanting to forget anybody.

"I can't say. All the guys that I've played with in the recent years. I don't want to drop too many names, there's been lots of them," Row said. "I've been fortunate enough to play with other top players in the league on my team and me being around them, seeing their attitude and the way they've handled things, I've grown more confident."

It's been a long CCHL career for Row - pronounced Ra-ow - where he's collected 75 goals and 95 assists in 255 games played. Over his five years in the league with his name repeatedly being said over the PA system because of all the points he's accumulated, you would think announcers would say Row's name correctly by now.

"Some do (get my name right). Some are better than others. I don't notice it too much... From what I've been told by parents and other people, it's probably about 50/50 in getting it right and wrong," Row said. "Even after five years. I can take it."

He certainly can. Row just needs to think back to those early years with the 73s, that now seem like a distant memory, to know what it means to endure the bad to one day get to the good.