THE Bespoke Guardians Swindon Wildcats have announced the club’s pre-season schedule ahead of the 2022-23 campaign.

Aaron Nell’s men will step back out onto the Link Centre ice in early September against newly-formed side Bristol Pitbulls and National League champions Telford Tigers.

Bristol announced they would be joining English hockey’s second tier earlier in the year, and now Wildcats fans can look forward to sinking their teeth into a new rivalry against the team which is closest geographically to the Link.

The Pitbulls also have several ex-Wildcat names on their roster - adding to the rivalry - such as Adam Harding, Tyler Perre, Sam Smith, and Josh Shaw on their roster.

Telford, meanwhile, have been in the league for several seasons now and will be looking to win consecutive titles. The Tigers recently re-signed head coach Tom Watkins who will be looking to build yet another all-conquering squad.

Swindon will hope to improve on their 2021-22 campaign, which ended in disappointing fashion courtesy of finishing bottom of their play-off group, next term.

Discussing the Wildcats’ pre-season schedule, which will be included for 22-23 season-ticket holders, head coach Aaron Nell said: “Confirming pre-season is always an exciting time of year as it gives the fans a date to look forward to for the new season.

“This year it’s doubly exciting because we’ll be taking on Bristol. Hopefully this will be the first matches in a long healthy rivalry with them, I know our team can’t wait to get started.

“Telford are the league champions, and we’ve had two league-title battles with them over the last few years.

“They’ll be a good team to see how we match up with before the regular season. Tom will have a good team in Telford and all four games will be very tough.

“Hockey is coming back, and we’ll see you there!”

SWINDON WILDCATS FULL 2022-23 PRE-SEASON SCHEDULE

Friday, September 2 – Home vs Bristol Pitbulls

Saturday, September 3 – Away vs Bristol Pitbulls

Saturday, September 10 – Home vs Telford Tigers

Sunday, September 11 – Away vs Telford Tigers