Petkoff returns to Wildcats

SWINDON,U.K- After less than month in Germany, Ontario born Joel Petkoff has returned to English Premier league outfit Swindon Wildcats. The speedy forward returns to Wiltshire after a disappointing month with Oberliga side EC Peiting that saw him score just one goal. Petkoff, 25 will look to re-build his confidence and find his shooting stick that saw the forward score an impressive 105 goals in just 75 games over two seasons. Despite leaving the Wildcats for Germany in the summer Petkoff failed to settle opting to return to Swindon once the Wildcats showed interest. This will be the second time Petkoff has left Swindon only to return a short while after. At the beginning of the 2007-08 season Petkoff

spent just nine games at Romford Raiders before returning to the Wildcats stating he could not settle at the club. The move for Petkoff is a result of poor form and more importantly a lack of goals. Head-coach Peter Russell is hoping the signing of Petkoff will put an end to the drought. ” The team I built over the summer has goals in it, but the signs in the first couple of weeks of training and two disappointing away trips in a row have highlighted some issues that I feel we needed to move quickly to address,” Russell said. “I was originally contacted last week to be informed that Joel’s move to Germany hadn’t worked out and that he was available again.” “This move is a huge gamble for us, of course, as it is a significant investment to bring him over once the season has already started as all things like flights, registration, etc., all cost money, however, chances like this don’t come around often and I feel that getting Joel back will make a massive impact on our team.” Unfortunately with a full quota of Import players someone had to be cut from the roster. Forward Ivan Racek was released prior to the signing of Petkoff. Slovakian Racek was released after just four games at the club. Head-coach Russell however was full of praise for Racek. “Ivan is a great guy with great Ice Hockey skills, In an ideal world we would keep him on too and he would rack up a hatful of points on assists,” Russell said. “However, this is not possible for us to do and so we thank him for his services and coming and giving it a go with us and we are sorry that it hasn’t worked out.” With clearance of paperwork Petkoff should be in the line up for the up coming game against one of his former clubs Romford Raiders. Contact the author at Kevin.oconnor@prohockeynews.com