CAPTAIN Jan Kostal is proud of the way his Swindon Wildcats side performed in the face of adversity this season – although he is unsure whether or not he will be able to return for a fifth campaign.

Czech Republic ace Kostal has spent the last four seasons at the Link Centre but his current two-year contract expires over the summer and rule changes ahead of the 2017/18 campaign are set to have a big impact on import players.

Currently, English Premier League sides can ice five non-British players on matchdays but that number will be cut to three for the rebranded Ice Hockey Premier League.

Swindon already have Polish forward Tomasz Malasinski tied down for next season after he signed a new two-year deal last summer, leaving only two import spots available on the Cats’ roster.

Kostal admits he cannot say for certain if he will sign on again for Swindon but thinks the way the side have responded to numerous challenges this term will stand them in good stead for the future.

“I have no answer (about next season) – I don’t know. We know it will be less teams in the league and only three imports. We will see,” said 36-year-old Kostal.

“This season was really hard. Every year all the teams are better and better and we had a lot of injuries as well. We battled until the end and I am proud of the team.

“We worked hard and I know we lost some games but when you lose, you need to forget it quickly and be prepared for the next game and we did that.

“We have some young guys as well and I think they learned a lot. They will be able to make a step up now and they have gained good experience from this season.”

Swindon suffered a plethora of injuries during the 2016/17 season and when Mark Smith’s campaign was cut short in January, Kostal was forced to shift to a defensive role after the club opted to bring in a forward – Robin Kovar – as a replacement.

That saw the skipper share plenty of ice time alongside youngsters Ben Nethersell and Ollie Stone and Kostal was only too happy to play a part in their development.

“I needed to change my game a little bit but I enjoyed playing D,” said Kostal.

“I was usually playing with Ben and Ollie so I was giving support and advice to those guys. They’ve got some experience now and they played very good.”

Kostal was named players’ player of the year when the Cats’ end-of-season awards were handed out. Neil Liddiard took the coach’s player of the year prize, with Floyd Taylor named most improved.

Swindon Wildcats Supporters’ Club named Stevie Whitfield as their D-man of the year, with Malasinski taking the honours amongst the forwards.

It was a double celebration for Whitfield as he also took home the Dave Richardson Best Brit award.