Swindon Wildcats

Swindon Wildcats
City:	Swindon, United Kingdom
League:	EPIHL
Founded:	1986
Colors:	Red and White
Head Coach:	Ryan Aldridge (Player Coach)

Swindon Wildcats are an ice hockey team; they were originally formed with this name in 1986 as a council-operated venture before being privatised in the early 90s.

History[]

Changes in ownership led to a name change for the 1996/97 season (Swindon IceLords). Subsequent owners in a short period of time saw several different clubs play out of the Swindon rink, including Swindon Chill (1998-2000), Swindon Phoenix (2000-2001) and Swindon Lynx (2001-2004).

Former player Steve Nell, referee Mark Thompson, and encumbent volunteers secured the operation of the team in 2004, immediately reverting the club to their original name much to the delight of the resurgent fan-base.

In the 2007/08 season, the Wildcats came 7th in the league, meaning they advanced into the Playoffs. Unfortunately, they failed to advance to the Finals weekend in Coventry, coming third in their group. Their star forward, Joel Petkoff, chose not to re-sign at seasons end, looking to advance his career in Europe, signing for EC Peiting of the German Oberliga.

For the 2008/09 season, Swindon introduced a new logo and kit, which were prodominantly red in colour. The club owners cited the reason for this change being that now the team will be associated with Swindon Town FC and the Swindon Robins Speedway Club, whose team colours are also red. After high hopes at the start of the year, the Wildcats finished 8th in the league, good enough only to secure the final playoff place and a date with the league champion Peterborough Phantoms in the quarter-finals, losing on aggregate over 2 games to eliminate them from the playoffs, with the Phantoms advancing to the EPL Playoff Finals Weekend in Coventry, eventually becoming Playoff Champions with a 5-4 win over the Milton Keynes Lightning. One reason for Swindon's apparent underachievement in the 08/09 campaign was the mid-season coaching change with Swindon-born Ryan Aldridge taking over from Peter Russell, which forced Aldridge to work with a team that he hadn't created himself.

Things seem optimistic for the team's 2009/2010 season now Aldridge has the chance to compile his own squad. He has already made an impact, announcing the signing of 6 ft 4", Czech born defender Jan Krajicek, widely regarded as one of the best defenders in the EPL.

In addition to its men's side the Wildcats also field a Swindon Wildcats (ENL) as developmental team.

Roster for 2009/10 Season[]

Goaltenders
#		Player	Status	Hometown
-		Geoff Woolhouse	Joining from Elite Nottingham Panthers	Sheffield

Defensemen
#	Player	Status	Hometown
2	Jan Krajicek	Joining from EPL Romford Raiders	Prostejov, Czech Rep
15	Joe Baird	Joining from EPL Bracknell Bees	Southampton
20	Yousif Abu Saada	Joining from (now ENL) Wightlink Raiders	Swindon
-	Andy Finn	Joining from AAA Ohio Jr. Blue Jackets	Darlington
?	James Griffin	Joining from Wildcats Academy	Swindon

Forwards
#	Player	Status	Hometown
12	Raimonds Daniličs	Joining from Belarussian Extraliga HK Riga 2000	Riga
16	Lee Richardson	Re-signed	Swindon
19	Aaron Nell	Re-signed	Swindon
39	Jozef Kohut	Re-signed	Trenčín, Slovakia
47	Ryan Aldridge	Re-signed	Swindon
96	Matthew Foord	Joining from EPL Bracknell Bees	High Wycombe
-	Samuel Bullas	Joining from Elite Nottingham Panthers	Nottingham
?	Loris Taylor	Joining from Wildcats Academy	Swindon