Quiet week for Wildcats

SWINDON, UK – Week 24 and in the league Top Ten charts Joe Baird is still holding his own mid-way up the British Top Ten Penalty Takers list, while Ryan Aldridge still hangs in there at number ten despite reduced ice time. Aaron Nell flits in and out of the bottom spot of the overall Goal Scorers Top Ten, but is comfortably top of the British Top Ten Goal Scorers with Manchester’s Adam Walker. As a team the Wildcats dropped to second in the bench penalty takers chart from their long-held top position. And now for a few club facts and records coming out last weekend’s Bees game. Notably, it was the twenty-third game of the season where a lead was overturned and a game subsequently lost. Jan Krajicek continued on his merry way with another two minutes taking the club record for a player with consecutive games with a penalty imposed to ten. Aaron Nell continues as leading goal scorer but with Jozef Kohut missing the game due to injury and Nell gaining another point, they now hold the joint lead as top points scorers. Jozef Kohut’s absence also meant the number of players having completed all games so far dropped to four: Nell, Raimond Danilics, Foord and Captain Lee Richardson. Steve Nell gave a rare statement to the Swindon Advertiser. The second time in a week something normally undertaken by Ryan Aldridge has been done by someone else. Hmmm, something to read into that maybe? So on to Saturday’s win at home against the Scimitars which turned out to be another game in which a lead was lost but in which the Wildcats went on to win. That’s the ninth time this season, and on this occasion it was a two-goal advantage that disappeared. With the Bees losing to the Phantoms, the gap between the Bees and the Wildcats closed a tad for the final playoff spot. Aaron Nell’s goal and assist meant he took over as leading points scorer, a position that has been held by Jozef Kohut for a record 42 games. Jan Krajicek added another game to his record to make it eleven consecutive games in which a player received a penalty. Sunday, and a critical game against the Bees. Well, it all started as a fairly gentle affair between the two sides after the combined eighty-odd PiMs set during their last meeting, but to make up for it, after what was felt by many to be some extremely poor refereeing decisions, or lack of them, the game culminated with in overtime with a blatant hooking on Sam Bullas and penalty shot not called against the Bees. Understandably, frustration boiled over and Jason Cassells got slapped with an abuse of an official call at the end of the game and collected his second game penalty. This overtime game was the eleventh to go beyond regular time this season, and still keeps the Wildcats the top of that chart. Jan Krajicek, on the other hand, missed out on a spell in the box so ending his record run of eleven consecutive games in which a player received a penalty. With a total of eighty-six combined shots on goal the game wasn’t far off the ninety-one record set against the Bison in game 5. Well that’s it for week 24, can’t wait to see what next week brings! Contact the author Bill.Collins@Prohockeynews.com