Wildcats roundup December

SWINDON, UK – After the dark days of November it was clear something needed to happen if the Wildcats fortunes were to improve in the run up to the New Year and, more importantly, during the second half of the season. And to some extent they did. New signing James Knight arrived for a start and would play his first home game against the Flames on the 5^th. On the face of it, although it was another loss for the Wildcats, and a loss is still a loss, the Wildcats went into the first break in the lead and were close to a win with the final score a lot tighter than all previous games. The Wildcats were also still without the injured Liska and Douglas, so James Hadfield had the distinction of starting in goal in the eleventh consecutive game in which the Wildcats were outshot.
 
Mid-week and rumours about Ryan Watt’s discontent came to fruition with the young forward walking out. Some said he wanted to fulfil his ambition to play with brother Nicky again now at the Bees, and comments by Coach Cox strengthened that view but it would have meant overcoming a current ban on the player by the Bracknell rink.
As it turned out Watt signed for Pete Russell at the Jets. Russell even repeated a statement to the effect he thought he could get the best from Watt.
 
Clearly Watt hadn’t settled in Swindon, a problem he has suffered from elsewhere, and despite Coach Aldridge juggling the lines to try and find a compatible arrangement. So when asked if he would ever follow Russell’s example and re-sign Watt if he could overcome his restless trait, Aldridge said, ‘He needs to be in the right environment and have a certain kind of player on his team to get the best out of him, and I don’t think Swindon was it. If I were to one day coach the right team that would suit him and his head was in the right place, I would take a long hard think about him as he has some great tools.’  
 
The following weekend the Wildcats went down to the Phantoms, but again a much closer result than in previous games. It also ended an eleven-game streak of being outshot, and equalled the record for the highest number of shots on an opponent’s goal. Joe Baird, however, launched into orbit with 32 penalty minutes, which was the most imposed on a Wildcats’ player making him the leading penalty taker. Hadfield’s save rate was creeping up and Knight also added to his tally. Aldridge, when asked why he went for Knight, who was working in Canada at the time, said he was after adding depth to the side. ‘I spoke to James in the summer but couldn’t come to a deal, and playing as a Brit he was the perfect man for the job,’ he said, ‘We had to wait 4 or 5 weeks to get him here because of work commitments, but we got him here in the end.’
 
And then the weather took a nose dive and the only game of the next weekend, against Telford, was postponed. To add to the gloom Estonian Toivo Suursoo, who joined the team in June on a two-year contract and said in September he was ‘here to stay’, was released.   ‘I don’t think he found it difficult to settle here,’ said Aldridge, ‘but he was finding it hard to put points on the board and a guy with his pedigree and position in our team he needed to put the numbers up. He knew that he wasn’t doing what was needed, and he cared that he wasn’t.’ It transpired Suursoo was also having difficulties with his family visiting the UK and visa applications had been refused twice. So with this added pressure Coach Aldridge explained, ‘With his lack of points and the situation we both thought it was best to make the move.’ Suursoo returned to play in Sweden’s division 1 from whence he came, while Aldridge revealed he already had a replacement in mind.
 
Days before Christmas the replacement was named as Jonas H öög , also from Sweden’s div 1 where he was averaging over a point a game. Aldridge commented, ‘We needed a guy that brought life to the locker room and on the ice, a guy that liked to put the puck in the back of the net, and knows how to do it. Jonas was the guy.’
 
Boxing Day saw the Wildcats clash with the Bison in what would be their thirteenth game in a winning streak they were hoping would eventually beat the club record of fifteen. The Basingstoke team had won the previous evening against the Phantoms, but only on penalties, so optimism was in the air. Coach Aldridge also had the added impetus of the Bison being his previous domain, so the game looked set to be memorable. Aldridge said, ‘To beat Basingstoke is always great for me. It’s a team I had given nearly four years of my life to, and two of them the hardest.’
 
Bison’s current coach Steve Moria said of the coming clash, ‘I think they are a stronger team than when we last played them. It looks an easy game on paper because of earlier results in the season, but it will be a battle.’
 
And what a battle it was with several new records set or equalled in the Wildcats 7-6 victory at the Link such as equalling the most number of goals scored by the Wildcats in a game and their most power-play goals scored. Jonas H öög had a brilliant debut with three points and the injured Jozef Liska was back and on form and even James Griffin got in on the points with his first of the season.   
   
The final game of the month and the Wildcats went to Milton Keynes, where another tough game was expected this was demonstrated when Liska picked up ten minutes in the box. The Lightning had been making lots of noises about showing the Wildcats who was ‘top dog’, and were still smarting from last seasons play-off humiliation. But in the event the threats fell flat with the Wildcats taking the lead after half an hour and with Douglas back in goal for the first time since his injury layoff in stunning form.
The Lightning are last year’s championship winners, and known for their aggressive play, so returning Douglas to the fray for this game looked like a brave decision. ‘Dougie has been looking better and better in training,’ said Aldridge. ‘I thought it would be good for him to play on the road so the pressure of the home fans was not around him. It also needed to be a game where he would get a lot of shots to keep him on his toes and he always plays well in Milton Keynes, so it felt the right game to see if he was back to his best.’ And back to his best he was with a blinding 96% save rate stopping 54 shots as the Lightning threw everything at him in the final period, and only finally managed to clinch the win in overtime.
 
But the important thing was another tough team had learnt respect as they gave up a point and a few days later the local press said they thought the Lightning’s championship hopes had probably ended.
 
So the month and the year ended on a more positive note than it started, and now all eyes were looking to the next fixture, undoubtedly one of the hardest of the season – the Flames at home.   
For more Wildcats stats, facts, news and more you could do worse than try my website – www.swindonwildcats.me.uk Contact the author  Bill.Collins@Prohockeynews.com