Ben Callaghan: Fabulous Finucci making the difference

Swindon Wildcats fan and On The Prowl blogger Ben Callaghan writes for Total Sport every Wednesday. Giving his thoughts, views and insight into the world of ice hockey...

Last week I spoke about the departure of Miroslav Zalesak from the Wildcats. This week, I’ll predominantly be talking about Carlo Finucci, the man tasked to help the Wildcats climb the table.

Carlo arrived in Swindon last Thursday, and the news was quickly released to the fans and the British hockey public. The excitement was building as we headed towards the weekend, Carlo gave his first interviews where he described his style of play.

He described himself as a hard worker, a quick skater and a playmaker. His opening weekend showed us all how true those words were and how much the Wildcats fans had to look forward to for the remainder of the season.

Carlo has come in on a line with Aaron Nell and Sami Ryhanen, it’s a line that started to show early promise in the game against Sheffield. Carlo skated hard, broke up plays, made good passes and forced Dalibor Sedlar into some good saves early on.

His performance certainly matched his own description. Watching him play reminded me of Henri Sandvik when he first joined the Cats. Henri was relatively unknown when he first joined but quickly became a fan favourite with his effort and skill he bought to the side. If Carlo can do the same thing then he’ll also be a big fan favourite.

His efforts were rewarded when he scored the Cats tenth goal of the evening. It was nothing less than he deserved, and in Telford on Sunday he managed to get himself on the score board twice more.

The Telford game was a very solid game from the Cats. They defended well in numbers and Stevie Lyle had a very good night between the pipes. Telford kept coming at and eventually got the late goal whilst on a five on three power play before Sam Zajac sank the overtime winner.

Carlo will be happy with both his goals in quick succession, I’m sure. His first goal in particular was a highlight reel goal. To manoeuvre the puck between the Telford D men and then be able to slickly shoot the through the legs of Sam Gospel showed he knows how to finish moves off as a well as set them up.

A lot has been made recently of the Cats performances and the hunt for their first 4 point weekend. Last weekend was as close as they could have got and the guys had a brilliant weekend.

To be so close to the four points was tough to take in the end, but looking back on the 120 minutes of hockey I watched last weekend, Swindon are heading in the right direction if they keep doing what they did.

Players clicked well together and they took their chances, if you’re taking chances then everything becomes easier. The games don’t get easier though, Telford again this weekend before a long trip to Deeside on Sunday.

If they play like they did last weekend then perhaps this weekend could be the one where they get four points they crave thus far, but it certainly it won’t be easy.