SWINDON Wildcats game with Telford Tigers was brought to an abrupt end in the third period after a serious injury to Scott Mckenzie.

Four goals in five first half minutes for the hosts had set the tone for the game for Swindon as they struggled to get back in to the game.

The hosts extended their lead in the second period but the match descended into chaos in the final period with Jason Silverthorn being sent from the game before a large break in play when Scott McKenzie suffered a serious injury.

The decision was eventually taken by both coaches to allow the remaining 11 minutes of the game clock to run down while the Scottish forward received treatment.

Ten minutes in Swindon appeared to have weathered the early storm after a fast and hard-hitting start from the hosts.

However in the 11th minute Peter Szabo did well to get the puck back through traffic to Silverthorn whose shot just slipped under Lyle and only just made it over the line.

Three goals in 71 seconds left Swindon shell-shocked going into the first period break.

Szabo started the scoring when his initial shot was blocked by Stevie Whitfield but he pounced on the loose puck to fire past Lyle.

The second, and Telford’s third, came just 22 seconds after the re-start. The puck was pulled back to McKenzie who thought he had scored but the puck took a slight deflection on the way through off Rick Plant to beat Lyle.

Aldridge immediately called a time-out but that did little to stop Telford's flow as 49 seconds later Blahoslav Novak was on hand to give his side a four goal advantage going into the period break.

Swindon re-grouped during the break and came out a lot better in the second period, dealing better with the large periods of pressure the home side were having.

A fifth goal did come after 25 minutes though with both Sazbo and Lee Richardson in the penalty box.

Martin Ondrej was able to get the power-play goal when he latched onto the loose puck in front of Lyle’s goal and turned to beat the Cats net-minder.

The game took a turn for the worse midway through the final period. Silverthorn was given a match penalty for roughing after what looked like a pay-back attack on Tomasz Malasinski for an earlier hit, with the Pole getting 2+2 for roughing.

Telford’s Salem and Alex Symonds also found their way into the sin-bin for their involvement in the aftermath.

Maxim Birbraer and Shane Moore were next in the bin a minute later when the Telford player was adjudged to have used elbows in retaliation for slashing from the Wildcats D-man.

The game was called off though in the 48th minute when Tomas Kana was again involved in a big hit for the second night in a row.

McKenzie was left sprawled out on the floor and both sides had to take their players off the ice while the player was treated on the side-lines.

The Scot was helped off the ice and was eventually taken away from the rink on a stretcher to end the game on a very sad note.