SWINDON Wildcats owner Steve Nell does not see the anticipated changes to British hockey to have an adverse effect on the ability for the sport to attract import players moving forward.

Nell is one of three owners of an English Premier League side to apply to be in the National Ice Hockey League next season, with Peterborough Phantoms also applying to move to Division One South, while Hull Pirates have put in an application to join Division One North.

Swindon boasted five imports in their roster this term, following an increase last summer, but that was set to reduce to three in the EPL.

The rules had already changed for next season to reduce imports to three, but should Swindon’s application to drop down a league be accepted, they will only be allowed two.

With Polish forward Tomasz Malasinski already signed up for next term, that will leave one space available, meaning Jonas Hoog, Jan Kostal, Max Birbraer and Robin Kovar’s futures are in doubt.

However, Nell is confident that the lack of imports will not have an adverse effect on the quality on the ice and is expecting a strong British core son Aaron Nell’s roster next season.

“It will give the British players a better chance and take a bigger role,” he said.

“There are plenty of imports out there who want to play, there are plenty of people looking for work, I don’t see that being an issue at all.

“We’re going to put the best product on the ice that we can.

“It’s not going to be much different to what we already planned anyway.

“We’ll be planning to keep the same core of Brits and maybe even add to them.

“From our point of view, we might be having an extra Brit instead of an import.

“We want to be strong and we want to be in a strong and competitive league.”

Until a meeting on May 7, where Swindon’s application to join the National League will be considered, it is unsure what next season holds for Wildcats fans but Nell says they will address that accordingly and does not see any financial implications surrounding the move.

“We’ll have to have a look at it but I would hope not,” said Nell when asked if he would have to cut his cloth accordingly.

“We always say every year, we sell our season tickets on a number of games and if there is more, people pay more for them and if there is less, people will get a refund,”

“At this point, it’s 28 games, and if we end up with 26, people will get a refund and if we end up with 30, people will pay more.”