The Bespoke Guardians Swindon Wildcats completed another mixed weekend of results last time out. With a Friday home game the Cats secured a 5-3 victory against Basingstoke Bison before falling 3-1 away to the MK Lightning the next evening.
Welcoming the foursome of Balint Pakozdi, Sam Bullas, Tomasz Malasinski & Declan Balmer back into the lineup the hosts dominated the opening ten minutes of the game. Generating chance after chance but we’re all denied by Alex Mettam in the Bison goal. At 09:06 the deadlock was broken, Floyd Taylor won the draw, Emil Svec slid the puck back to the point where Sam Godfrey was able to fire into the back of the net through a screened Mettam to make it 1-0.
The lead was short lived and at 10:49 the Bison drew level when George Norcliffe pounced on a defensive turnover to make it 1-1. As the period was coming to a close the Wildcats were able to re-take the lead at 18:23 when Aaron Nell continued his rich run of form with a superb snipe past Mettam to finish the first period 2-1 in favour of the Wildcats.
In the middle period the game ebbed and flowed with chances falling at both ends of the ice however at 35:47 Hallam Wilson scored the Bison’s second goal through a screened Dean Skinns in the Wildcats goal. Right at the end of the second period the home side were able to add a third goal when an Emil Svec slapshot was blocked by the D only for the puck to fall to Balint Pakozdi to slam home with 18 seconds left in the period.
With a few scraps breaking out at the end of the period there were plenty of penalties called going into the third period with the Wildcats holding a 3-2 lead.
The game continued to be close in the final period and at 52:58 Basingstoke levelled the game through Player/Coach Ashley Tait with the assist going to Hallam Wilson. However the Wildcats Player/Coach Aaron Nell then gave the home side the lead once more at 53:39 through a looped shot which evaded the chasing D man and slid over the line.
With the Bison net-minder pulled the Wildcats found one further goal thanks to an empty net finish from Emil Svec at 59:49 to ensure the points stayed in Wiltshire.
On Saturday evening the team travelled to MK to take on the Lightning as two of the top 3 teams battled it out.
The opening period would be one of few scoring chances with both sides cancelling each other out but both Renny Marr and Matt Smital making good saves for their respective teams. At the end of 20 minutes the score line remained 0-0.
In the middle period the Wildcats had to weather the storm a little more when MK stepped it up a gear and generated scoring chances through Tim Wallace, Liam Stewart and James Griffin, but Renny Marr was up to task turning them all away.
At 37:35 the deadlock was broken, but through the visitors when a Sam Godfrey shot was turned away but only for Tomasz Malasinski to slam home into the empty net to close the middle period out with Swindon holding a 0-1 lead with 20 to play.
Right at the start of the third period the hosts got the game level when Sam Talbot saw his shot from the point tipped past Marr by Liam Stewart after just 24 seconds of hockey. The power-play was proving to be strong for MK and they then took the lead at 44:14 when Sam Talbot slammed the puck home at the back door to make it 2-1. With the clock running down and the Wildcats chasing an equaliser, Marr headed to the bench but Tim Wallace was able to add an empty net marker at 59:06 to complete a 3-1 win.
This coming weekend the Cats are back at home against Peterborough Phantoms before a road trip to London to take on the Raiders on Sunday.
