SWINDON Wildcats owner Steve Nell is hopeful the impending Streaming Series will pave the way for more competitive ice hockey in the coming months.

Swindon’s Link Centre will host live hockey for the first time since March tonight when Swindon Wildcats hit the ice for the inaugural Streaming Series with Milton Keynes Lightning and Sheffield Steeldogs.

The Streaming Series is a round-robin tournament that will take place over the next three weekends in November – each team will play each other twice, once at home and once away.

The series has been made possible thanks to all three clubs’ partnership with pay-per-view live streaming company TicketCo TV.

It will provide Wildcats’ passionate fanbase with a HD quality, multi-camera, pay-per-view streaming service that can be viewed on any device.

Tickets are £12 and, to encourage Wildcats’ supporters to further support their team, there is an option to purchase a family ticket where each additional viewer watching the same stream will be charged £3.

Wildcats general manager Steve Nell said the inaugural Streaming Series would not have been able to take place without the option to live-stream the games into fans’ homes.

The Wildcats owner is also hopeful live streaming at the Link Centre will become the new norm.

“We’re still in survival mode and will be until things return to normal,” he said.

“The last seven months has been organised chaos, but it gives me an incredible feeling to finally say that Swindon Wildcats will be hitting the ice once more.

“Hopefully the Streaming Series can lead to a cup competition in December and then the league starting in January.

“We video all of our games, but now we will be entering a new hybrid era at the club.

“We have installed the correct internet capabilities at the rink as COVID-19 has accelerated our plans to live stream all fixtures via TicketCo TV.

“Everyone at the club has been impressed with the simplicity of TicketCo’s ticketing platform and streaming service.

“We’re very excited about our partnership with TicketCo and have big plans to develop our stream to make our fans feel as close to the action as possible.”

Swindon begin their campaign at home against MK Lightning tonight – with the puck being dropped at 6:15pm – before facing Sheffield Steeldogs away at 5:30pm on Sunday.