Just one day after Finnish import Henri Sandvik landed in the UK, Swindon Wildcats Head Coach Ryan Aldridge has confirmed that 17-year old Ollie Betteridge has also joined the club.

The youngster, who celebrated his seventeenth birthday on Wednesday, has been dedicated to the game from an early age and such is his ability he was representing the England U14’s, England U13’s and the Midlands Conference aged just 12 and it is that ability which helped Aldridge decide that he was the right player for the job.

“We signed Ollie late yesterday afternoon,” the Swindon coach said on Saturday morning.

“He is a young lad who I used to coach at hockey schools while I was playing for the Bracknell Bees so I know him well.

“He is a skilful player and he works very hard.”

Indeed, with experience playing for the Nottingham Leopards, Cougars, Lions and the Panthers in the Elite League, the highly rated forward has also been selected for the Great Britiain side who will be playing in forthcoming U18’s Championships being held in Estonia at the end of March – the same team that current Wildcats hot prospect Floyd Taylor will be captain of.

Having completed the relevant paperwork with the club last night, it is expected that the player will be available for selection tonight when the Wildcats face the MK Lightning at the Thunderdome, face off 7pm.

Ollie Betteridges' 2012-13 statistics:

EIHL: Pld - 3, G - 0, A - 0 Pts - 0

NIHL: Pld - 13, G - 15, A - 18, Pts - 33

GB U18’s: Pld - 5, G - 9, A - 7, Pts - 16