Late drama took some of the sheen off of a strong opening weekend for the Swindon Wildcats as the NIHL season got underway.

On Friday night the Wildcats kicked off the season with a comfortable 6-2 home victory over the Berkshire Bees, with new Canadian, Jake Bricknell scoring two goals.

On the Sunday despite the Cats leading 2-0 with three minutes to go, the Romford Raiders scored two late goals to take it to overtime and it would be the London side who would make the comeback and take the extra point.

On Saturday, The Bees got an early powerplay opportunity and took full advantage with Marcel Balaz firing the puck into the top right corner.

Bees netminder Max Wright was called into action many times, making some impressive saves. However, with 30 seconds left of the first period, Aaron Nell squeezed the puck past him and across the line to tie it up at the end of the first.

But Swindon took over in the second period as Bricknell finished well beyond Wright and then Ryan Wells’ effort was saved by Wright before coming back down to earth and flicking in off the netminders’ back.

Bricknell’s second and a 5 on 3 powerplay saw the Cats extend their lead to four with Chris Jones’ shot bouncing off the defenseman and sliding into the net.

Balaz did score another goal to give the Bees a chance to fight back into the game. However, Reed Sayers instantly replied with a goal for the Cats to hand them a comfortable 6-2 home victory.

Then on Sunday, the Cats got on the board late in the first with Ed Bradley skating into the zone and firing it in the bottom corner of the net.

Having been denied with an early chance from a powerplay in the second, the Cats doubled their lead as the puck scrambled around the goal and Edgars Bebris jumped in on the play and fired the loose puck into the net.

With time running out, the Raiders pulled the goalie for an extra skater and this paid off with Shaun Miller's shot from the blue line finding its way in and less than a minute later Andrew Shewfelt fired into the top corner.

Romford then completed the comeback in overtime with Jake Sylvester squeezing the puck past Marr to take the extra point.

A three-point weekend for the Wildcats and they are back in action on Saturday for Country night against the Solway Sharks.