Swindon Wildcats have confirmed they will be applying to join the National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) Division 1 South.

Wildcats’ Managing Director Steve Nell made the decision to make a formal application to the league after receiving an email from English Ice Hockey Association Chairman Ken Taggart advising the remaining seven PIHL teams to make applications to NIHL North and South, respectively.

“After receiving the email from the chairman and his thoughts regarding the sustainability of the PIHL moving forward, we have taken the decision to make the application.” said Nell.

“The NIHL meeting will be on Sunday, 7th May, where the teams of the NIHL will hear our application.

“At our fans forum in February we said we would keep them updated as and when we have more information to share. With that in mind we wanted to share the detail we know so far at the earliest possible opportunity.

“With regards to the 2017/18 season we will have to wait until after the meeting on 7th May before we can give any additional details to next year’s league structure and schedule.”