Big crowd see Cats win but coach unimpressed by display (From Swindon Advertiser)

Big crowd see Cats win but coach unimpressed by display

8:50am Monday 28th November 2011 in Ice Hockey

A PACKED Link Centre was treated to an entertaining home win on Saturday night but Wildcats coach Ryan Aldridge insists the fans haven’t seen anything yet.

The arena was packed courtesy of a special ticket promotion, run in conjunction with the Adver, to entice new and lapsed Cats supporters.

The marketing ploy worked a treat and the extra spectators were treated to a 5-2 victory over the Peterborough Phantoms.

The lack of fan-power on away ice saw Swindon lose last night’s trip to Guildford, 6-2, and that did little to lighten the mood of player-coach Aldridge, who was disappointed by BOTH displays, but hopeful the home fans had seen enough to make a return visit to the Link.

Aldridge said: “On the ice I wasn’t that pleased with how the weekend went to be honest.

“We won at home and lost away but we didn’t play particularly well in either game.

“I’m disappointed because I know what the lads are capable of and they’re not showing that at the moment.

“It was a very big crowd which was good to see and I think the atmosphere transferred itself to the ice to begin with.

“We went 3-0 up early but then we took our foot off the gas a bit and let Peterborough back into it.

“But it was an entertaining match and the new fans hopefully will have enjoyed it and come back for more because we certainly have a lot more we can show them as a team.”

A flying start made all the difference in Swindon’s home win on Saturday night.

The Cats came roaring out of the blocks to go 3-0 up inside the first 13 minutes.

Aaron Nell opened the scoring and fellow forward Nicky Watt saw his long-range effort fly in off the crossbar to double the advantage.

The home side then made it three when James Knight’s pullback was met by a tumbling Lee Richardson.

A fortunate deflection fell into the path of Phantoms’ Luke Ferrara and he bundled the puck in just before the buzzer to reduce arrears heading into the first break.

Two minutes into the second period Peterborough scored again as James Ferrara finished off a play manufactured by brother Luke.

Michal Pinc restored the Cats’ cushion going into the last period and Knight coolly converted when one on one with Stephen Wall to net the only goal of the third.

Last night’s defeat at Guildford Flames can be pinned to a second-period collapse.

Stuart Potts’ goal at 6.38 was all that separated the two sides at the end of the first period, but the Cats took a hammering in the second 20-minute session.

Potts doubled his and the Flames’ tally before Curtis Huppe got in on the scoring act with a nine-minute hat-trick to give the home side a comfortable 5-0 lead going into the final period.

The visitors upped their game in the last frame and restored some pride.

Aldridge reduced arrears after being set up by Nell and the pair combined for a repeat with just over three minutes left on the clock but Aldridge’s double sandwiched a sixth for the Flames, scored by Nathan Rempel.