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Wildcats In Profile: Jan Kostal

By being captain, Jan Kostal is a key cog to everything the Swindon Wildcats do. Here's Total Guide's to the skipper.

Brief Factfile

Number: 26

Position: Right wing

D.O.B: 13/04/1980

Been a Wildcat since: 2013-14

Previous clubs: HC Karlovy Vary, SK Kadan, KLH Chomutov and HC Banik Sokolov

Kostal joined the Swindon Wildcats in November 2013 after spending the entirety of his career in his native Czech Republic.

He had a hugely successful career playing for his home town club of Karlovy Vary in the top Czech hockey league, the Extraliga, where he made over 650 appearances, scored 103 goals and made 74 assists for 177 points.

During his career, he has also featured in loan spells with SK Kadan, KLH Chomutov and Banik Sokolov as well as making an appearance for the senior Czech Republic side, gaining one international cap.

After joining the Wildcats, he went on to make 28 appearances between November 2013 and March 13th 2014 and lit up the rink with impressive abilities, scoring 26 goals and making 22 assists for 48 points before he was snapped up for a return in the 2014-15 season with five games of the regular season still to go.

The new deal saw Jan take on a player-assistant coach role in the 2014-15 season was icing on the cake for the talented Czech, as he went on to score 1 further goal and record 5 further assists for 54 points when the season finally drew to a close.

The summer of 2015 saw the club announce that Jan was returning to Wiltshire on a two-year deal, which meant that he would be able to bring his family to the UK with his employment secured until the end of the 2016-17 season.

Jan was awarded the club captain honour for the 2016-17 season, a position he also held the previous season.