We are delighted that Adam Laishram will join AIB Milton Keynes Lightning for the 2021/22 season.  Adam is a British passport holder, but having spent his career to date in Canada, he is classified as a non-British trained player. 24 year old Adam was born in Ashburn, Ontario, Canada has spent the last 4 years at St Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.  Prior to that he spent 4 years and made 225 appearances in the prestigious Ontario Hockey League for Belleville Bulls, Hamilton Bulldogs and Windsor Spitfires, picking up 91 points overall.   Most significantly, in the 2016/17 season Adam was a key part of the Spitfires side which won the Memorial Cup which is the national championship of the Canadian major junior hockey leagues.  Adam’s Hamilton Bulldogs coach, former NHL star Steve Staios described Adam as “Terrific” and went on to say: “He does anything and everything you ask him do to at the top level he can.  He is a 10 out [...]

“When you are putting your team together you need to tick a lot of boxes.  You need so many players who can play on the PK, so many who can play on the PP, so many who can be on the ice in the final minute of a 1 goal game.  When you get a player who has all of those attributes you have to keep hold of them as they are a huge asset to the team.”  This is what MKL Head Coach Lewis Clifford had to say about capturing the signature of your MKL Captain Russ Cowley, who returns to the club for another year. 38 year old Russ was born in Edmonton, Canada, and brings with him experience of pretty much everything.  He’s played at Elite Level with Coventry Blaze and Cardiff Devils, and has made tens of appearances for Great Britain as a senior international.  In the 2019/20 season Russ made 34 appearances picking up 53 points. Cliff told us [...]

Completing the AIB MKL defensive lines this season is Mr. Dependable Lewis Christie, who joins MKL for a 12th season.  Welcome back Lewy! 32 year old Lewy was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and began his career with Dundee and Edinburgh before earning his first international callup with GB U18s for whom he iced 9 times.  Lewy then forged his career in the Elite League with Belfast Giants, and a brief stint in Basingstoke, before joining MKL in 2008.  He has remained with the MK hockey family since then, and made 40 appearances for Lightning in the 2019/20 season picking up a goal and 6 assists for his efforts. But it’s not points that define Lewy’s game (although we were lucky enough to see him score a spectacular goal in training the other night), it’s consistency and defensive contribution as MKL Head Coach Lewis Clifford explains: “It would be hard to imagine an MKL team without Lewy on it. I don’t think I need to [...]

He brings cool, calm consistency along with technical excellence and all round leadership.  Please welcome back Ross Green to Milton Keynes Lightning!  Ross is a massive MK ice hockey contributor, with a career which stretches back to MK Storm U16s in 2004.  In the 2019/20 season Ross made 42 MKL appearances, and picked up 13 points.  He’s known for his fantastic skating, cool head, and leadership on and off the ice.  He’s also a fantastic ambassador for hockey in the town, supporting junior development and running hockey camps for a number of years. MK Lightning Head Coach Lewis Clifford told us why he has signed Ross, explaining “Ross is a key part of our club.  He brings consistent, intelligent defensive play built on the foundations of great skating and good reading of the game.  As I’ve said in the past, Sloth is a guy who knows exactly what it means to be an MK Lightning player and is another one of our homegrown crew.  [...]

Brand new to AIB Milton Keynes Lightning...he’s only 22 but brings with him big game experience from the British, Canadian, US and Polish leagues.  Please give a warm welcome to Edgars Landsbergs.  Edgars joins us from MKS Cracovia Krakow in the Poland league where he made 10 appearances in the Covid interrupted 20/21 season, bagging 4 goals and 4 assists for his efforts.  Prior to that, Edgars spent 4 years in the Canadian and US development leagues, racking up 138 games in total.   Edgars was born in Latvia, but spent his junior development in the Coventry Blaze system, where he made appearances at U16 and U18 levels, and also spent a year in the OHA to hone his skills.  This means that he is classified as a British trained player under the NIHL National rules of competition. Edgars  is very excited to be joining Lightning and said: “I really appreciate the opportunity I have been given and I’m just simply excited and ready to [...]