Hedley Reflects On An Arduous Weekend For Wildcats

Swindon Wildcats' netminder Jordan Hedley was happy with his performances over the triple header weekend, and believes the high-action 180 minutes of ice hockey over three days has improved his confidence as a netminder.

Hedley, 19, was charged with the task of filling the huge gloves of Stevie Lyle, who was away representing Great Britain on the Olympic stage in Cortina.

Despite only taking one point from three games, Hedley admitted there were positive elements to take from the fixtures, speaking to Total Sport following the final buzzer on Sunday.

"It's tough playing three games straight out, I don't think I've ever done that, even when I was a kid in tournaments, so it was tough.

"We played well. To get the result we did against a top team in the league was good. It was good to get a draw and to take it to over time," said Hedley.

Despite conceding five in Basingstoke on Friday, before falling to the hands of his former club MK Lightning on Saturday, Hedley took heart from his collective performances. 

"I think I played well all weekend. We had some tough games but tonight (Basingstoke) I showed what I can do. I'm only 19 so i'm still young and i've got a lot to learn, but it was a good performance tonight.

"I felt good all weekend. It was tough but I could see every puck but the last shot I couldn't see and it bounced off his (Thompson's) leg and I didn't have a clue where it was," he added.

Saturday's loss in Milton Keynes was partcularly hard to swallow for Hedley, who came up against a host of familiar faces.

"It was tough because I've played there my whole career. I know everyone in that rink, so it was a tough loss to take on the way back. But we know we have another game the next day so we wanted to come back and play hard, which we did," he said. 

Sunday's resurgent performance which resulted in over time against the Bison was heavily spurred on by a vocal home crowd; an element Hedley believes is vastly influential in helping the team's performance.

"It was good to hear the crowd and good to have them back. It's tougher when you're away and they're not there. At home it's so much better," he said.

Last season's play-off winners Peterborough await the Wildcats next, a fixture which sees the return of netminder Lyle.

"Stevie (Lyle) is back obviously so he will probably play, but we need to come back even harder than we did today and we need to play well and get to the playoffs," said Hedley. 

"I know Stevie has a lot of experience and he's the best goalie in the league, so I know he'll come back and start. We've got two tough games at the weekend so we need them points. 

As soon as I started working with Stevie my confidence grew. You have to always have that confidence in you, and playing against the top two teams in the league is even better for that," he added.