The Bespoke Guardians Swindon Wildcats completed another mixed weekend last time out thanks to an important win on home ice against the Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday night, before a disappointing road defeat in London on Sunday against the Raiders.

On Saturday night, a moment to celebrate for Wildcats captain Sam Bullas who became the record holder for all time games played for the franchise making his 626th appearance. After the pre-game celebrations were completed, the Wildcats took to the ice and were first to draw blood in the game.

At 08:37 Head Coach Aaron Nell found room in front of the net to open the scoring with the assists going to Tomasz Malasinski and Sam Bullas. The Wildcats opening period would prove to be another where they generated the most chances, outshooting the Phantoms 13-6, but were only able to put one goal past Ryan Bainborough.

In the middle period Swindon put their foot on the gas and at exactly 22:00 they’d doubled their advantage. With a delayed penalty coming, Eddie Bebris battled hard on the boards and slid the puck to Chris Jones who was able to find room in the bottom left hand side of the goal to make it 2-0. Two-minutes later, the lead was extended to three.

Right as a penalty on Petr Stepanek was finishing Tomasz Malasinski found space to use a nice screen and to fire past Bainborough to make it 3-0 at 24:00. The Wildcats continued to press and score what would be their final goal of the evening at 27:07 when Balint Pakozdi fired home thanks to a set-up from Emil Svec.

Heading into the final period, the Wildcats held a commanding 4-0 lead but would be reminded how strong the Phantoms could be by a comeback of sorts in the final stanza. At 47:00 Ales Padelek was in space on the left wing and had enough time to pick his spot past Renny Marr and make it 4-1 with 13 minutes to play.

As the game was dying out there was just enough time for one final consolation goal when at 58:33 with a 6-on-4 advantage Nathan Salem bundled the puck home for the visitors, but it was another case of too little too late as the Wildcats ran out 4-2 winners on home ice.

On Sunday, the team travelled to Romford to take on a tough Raiders team on their own ice pad. The hosts opened the scoring at 03:27 through Jacob Ranson after some good pressure from Tommy Huggett in the Raiders’ offensive zone.

At 07:48 the Cats levelled up through an unfamiliar name on the scoresheet, Scottish D man Tyler Plews, the Kirkcaldy native had room from the point to fire under the arm of Raiders netminder Michael Gray. The major talking point of the evening was at 10:43 when Balint Pakozdi received a 5+Game penalty for cross-checking.

In what would be a crazy few minutes, the Wildcats actually raced into a 1-3 lead through a goal from Tomasz Malasinski at 12:38 before Emil Svec added a third at 13:31 to ensure the Cats went into the opening period break two goals up.

Things then turned badly for the Wildcats as the middle period long sustained pressure on the Wildcats saw the Raiders even the game up before the 30-minute mark. Firstly, at 24:40 a lovely set up play from Lukas Sladkovsky saw Jake Sylvester fire the puck past Skinns to make it 2-3. The game was then tied at 24:40 when Callum Wells fired a rocket past Skinns from the point at 26:10.

With the period dying down, after more pressure from the Raiders, Erik Piatak added his sides go-ahead goal at 36:54.

Coming out in the third period a goal down, the Wildcats knew they had to chase the game and in doing so allowed the Raiders to counter attack them with the speed they have. With the pressure on the Cats for the majority of the period, the home side knew they just had to wait for one final chance to secure the win.

After a few wonderful saves from Skinns the Raiders finally got that chance at 55:28 when a poor defensive pass allowed Brandon Ayliffe all the room in the world to fire past Dean Skinns. However Ayliffe’s shot bounced off the crossbar but fell straight to Aaron Connolly who slammed the puck home for a 5-3 lead.

With Skinns pulled from the goal, Erik Piatak broke down the left wing and fired into the empty net to seal the win for the Raiders and ensuring the Wildcats only picked up 2 points over the weekend.

This week attention turns to the National Cup Semi-Final against the Sheffield Steeldogs before a crucial game with the MK Lightning on Sunday.