HAVING veteran netminder Stevie Lyle back at his best is a huge boost to the Wildcats ahead of this weekend according to head coach Ryan Aldridge.

The whole team head into the weekend high on confidence after a run of five-straight wins in all competitions.

Lyle was pivotal in changing the side’s fortunes around when he pulled off a fine save to deny Jordan Cownie with the scores level.

Cats went on to win that game 5-4 courtesy of an over-time goal from the captain Jan Kostal and the team have not looked back.

“He made a save at Milton Keynes that kept us in it, and there isn’t another goalie in the league that would have saved it,” said Aldridge.

“They thought they had scored and were celebrating we were screaming and all of a sudden it is in his glove.

“After last weekend the boys are confident and obviously Stevie is playing well right now and is enjoying his hockey, so we are looking forward to the weekend.

“With Stevie he is such a different goalie, he is so mentally strong, even when he is not confident he knows he is going to play well, but right now he is super confident and for me it is great and he is making the massive saves he shouldn’t be making.

“We have to work hard every night, we are not a deep enough side to take the night off, we have to work hard defensively and we have to be committed which last weekend we were, guys were doing the little things right last weekend.”

Swindon travel to Basingstoke Bison tomorrow night before hosting MK Lightning on Sunday, against who they notched their first home win of the season against last Wednesday.

“In their building they come even harder and we have to be prepared for that,” Aldridge added.

“It is a big ice rink, wide ice, and they come after you wave after wave, so we have got to make sure we are first to pucks to make the first quick pass.

“I think the worse thing for me last Sunday (against Lightning) is we gave them a chance from our mistakes, to get back in to it, and once they got that first goal it gave them the momentum to score two.

“We have got to not take a shift off and play for the full sixty minutes, and hopefully get it wrapped up early.”

Meanwhile it was good news for young forward Toms Rutkis, who was added to the Great Britain U20s World Championship quad yesterday.

The 17-year-old has dual citizenship with Latvia and Great Britain - and Ice Hockey UK had to check with the IIHF about the youngster's eligibility before naming him in the squad.

He will now take his place in the travelling party for next month's Division 2A tournament from December 7-13.