SWINDON Wildcats youngster Ollie Stone says he is new and improved after learning the hard way during last season.

In his debut campaign last year, Stone iced a total of 38 times and was handed a bigger role than many anticipated after fellow D-men, Callum Buglass and Mark Smith, both had injury problems causing them to be side-lined.

Stone too had injury concerns of his own after he was left with concussion following a trip to Hull Pirates which ruled him out for a number of weeks.

But after a hectic introduction to senior hockey, Stone thinks he has learned from the experiences of last year.

“The game is tough and obviously it was a bit of a freak thing that happened to me last year,” he added.

“That’s why I want to do things faster and be in a better position because I put myself in a bad position and doing things faster will prevent that.

“I’ve definitely been working on the physical side of the game too.

“I’m not the biggest of guys, I’ve put some weight on to make sure I can compete with the bigger guys in the league.”

From a more technical aspect, the teenager has also been working on going about his work slightly quicker, in a bid to avoid a repeat performance of last term.

“I’ve definitely progressed from last season and I feel the speed I play has increased,” he added. “A lot of that is down to having to step up because of the league changes, I think I’m just doing things faster, which is giving me more time on the ice.

“It’s definitely something I looked at improving, getting my shots away and the puck away quicker - last season I was a bit slow and put myself in bad positions.

“This year, I’m just trying to do things faster, be in better positions and offer the offence a better chance.”