Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers Hull Pirates 6, Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning 5 A Tomas Kana hat-trick was not quite enough to ensure Smith Milton Keynes Lightning success on Humberside when they lost out by the odd goal in 11 as the battle for mid-table places continued on Sunday. While on the face of it the finishing spots in the middle of the National Ice Hockey League may not seem to matter in fact they do in determining the end of season play-off groups. Fifth spot would mean Lightning playing the league champions but avoiding the second and third placed teams. With the top two teams in each group qualifying for the Coventry finals weekend fifth place would, on paper, be preferable. Lightning went into Sunday’s game in that coveted fifth place but the 6-5 loss at Hull Pirates meant they slipped to sixth – despite that there is still all to play for [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers Smith Recycling MK Lightning 7, Leeds Chiefs 4 Rio Grinell-Parke bagged a hat-trick on a night of celebrations for Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning at Planet Ice on Saturday when the team confirmed their place in the end of season play-offs with a comfortable 7-4 win over Leeds Chiefs. Before the face-off the club honoured Leigh Jamieson, who had made his 500th appearance for the club the previous weekend, with a presentation to him and his family by Lightning chief executive officer Claire Eason-Bassett - former team coach Nick Poole joining the ceremony. It was Poole who gave Jamieson his Lightning debut when he signed for the team in their inaugural English Premier League season – Jaimo having made a handful of appearances for the former MK Kings side. And Poole was able to witness his old side get off to a superb start against anchor team, Chiefs, going 3-0 [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers Leigh Jamieson made his 500th appearance for Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning as they stunned second in the league Swindon Wildcats with a 5-4 victory at the Link Centre on Saturday. Ross Green returned from injury and Grant McPherson was back after suspension but Lightning were still missing captain Russ Cowley, Robin Kovar and Brandon Stones. ‘Jaimo’ who began his hockey career with Milton Keynes Junior Kings 25 years ago put Lightning on the road to the win when he levelled on 10mins exactly after Edgars Bebris had fired Wildcats in front on the powerplay at 9mins 22secs – Lewis Christie serving two minutes for slashing at the time. However Wildcats were to go in front one more time when Max Birbraer set up player coach Aaron Nell to beat goalie Dean Skinns at 13mins 30secs. Less than two minutes later Sam Russell was sin binned for tripping and then [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers Basingstoke Bison brought Smith Milton Keynes Lightning’s mini winning run to an end with a 5-3 defeat on a frustrating night for the hosts at Planet Ice on Sunday. Bison’s ability to pack defenders close to the net on Lightning’s attacking moves meant Lewis Clifford’s charges were often restricted to shooting from the margins with little hope of beating netminder Alex Mettam. While Liam Stewart had six points from the previous night’s defeat of Hull Pirates this time he was successfully closed down by the visitors to end the game without a single point. Stewart’s hockey brain is clearly not on the same wavelength as some of his team-mates – he does not have the same understanding that he had with Robin Kovar with his replacement Taylor Dickin. Possibly the best entertainment for the fans was the fight between the two netminders 25 seconds from the end of the game [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers Welcome to the DISCO show Hull Pirates! Sensational Stewart steered Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning to a super 8-5 victory over Hull Pirates at Planet Ice on Saturday with four goals and two assists. Not content with having bagged a hat-trick Liam Stewart finally wrecked any chance Hull Pirates had of a last gasp comeback with an unassisted empty net goal scored while he was prostrate on the ice diving to clear the puck from his own defensive zone! And then to rub in the wounds Leigh Jamieson registered a further empty net strike 33 seconds later to drive the final dagger into the hearts of the Pirates as he made it 8-5. Once more Lightning made a slow start as the league’s top scorer Pirates player coach Jason Hewitt capitalised on hesitation in the home defence to open the scoring on 1min 55ses. But Hull’s lead did not last [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers An early goal from Rio Grinell-Parke put Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning on their way to a 4-1 victory and a four point weekend at Leeds Chiefs on Sunday. Although Chiefs hit back with an equaliser in the eighth minute it was Lightning who were in command for much of the game and they stamped their authority on the encounter with two quick second period goals before killing off any hope Leeds had of a late comeback with a goal just under five minutes from the final buzzer. Russ Cowley joined the list of absentees from the roster as well as Ross Green, Grant McPherson, Robin Kovar and Brandon Stones, leaving MK short-benched. But that did not stop Grinell-Parke from beating goalie Sam Gospel unassisted on 4mins 8secs. Just over two minutes later Tomas Kana was sin binned for roughing and although Lightning survived short-handed they conceded soon after the [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers Two points in the bag but it was hard won as Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning battled to a 4-3 result over Leeds Chiefs at Planet Ice on Saturday. Lightning recovered from a poor first period in which they trailed 3-1 at one stage to hit Chiefs with two goals in 24 seconds early in the third period to secure the win in an encounter. True the home side were missing the suspended Grant McPherson as well as Robin Kovar and Ross Green, both injured, plus coach Lewis Clifford serving a ban from the bench, but too often during the first and second period especially Lightning were guilty of sloppy play. It was not until the lines were tweaked at the start of the final session with Rio Grinell-Parke replacing Leigh Jamieson on the Liam Stewart and Taylor Dickin combination – Jamieson moving back into defence – that things started [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers League leaders Telford Tigers were left stunned as Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning claimed a second consecutive victory at Telford on Sunday – running out 4-1 winners in a game which saw both coaches and six players ejected. Lewis Clifford and Tom Watkins were both thrown out for allegedly failing to control their teams during a mid-game bench clearance in which referees Chris Wells and Ion Hands appeared to lose their grasp on the players. The result of the clearance saw Tigers Andy McKinney receive a match penalty for fighting while Dan Rose and Tom McKinnon picked up game misconducts for fighting. Lightning’s Tom Carlon was given game for leaving the players bench with Leigh Jamieson handed a game misconduct for fighting and Grant McPherson match for fighting. The incidents occurred when Lightning had just taken a 3-1 lead after coming from 1-0 down - Tigers captain Jason Silverthorn scoring [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers Short- benched Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning battled hard but eventually succumbed to a last gasp overtime winner at Hull Pirates on Saturday. It was the second consecutive defeat to the Humberside outfit but at least this time Lightning picked up a point in their quest to ensure qualification for the play-offs – the previous weekend’s loss coming in regulation time. Liam Stewart with a slight hamstring problem was among the non-starters as well as Brandon Stones, Robin Kovar, James Griffin and Tom Carlon. That left MK with barely three lines of forwards for a game in which Dean Skinns was starting netminder. It took just 44 seconds for the first penalty to be called when Pirates’ Lee Haywood was sin binned for tripping. But MK were unable to make the most of the man advantage and soon after the hosts returned to full strength they were celebrating their first [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers A late goal from former Elite League player Matt Bissonnette wrecked Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning’s hopes of picking up at least a point when they went down 4-3 at Hull Pirates on Sunday. Lightning had fought their way back into the game to equalise through an unassisted Cale Tanaka goal on 49mins 21secs before Bissonnette, who has seen service with Manchester Storm, Belfast Giants and Dundee Stars, edged the game for Pirates at 51mins 40secs. Both teams were missing players from their line-ups – with Jamie Chilcott and Bobby Chamberlain both absent for Pirates while MK were without the injured James Griffin and Robin Kovar plus Tom Carlon, goalie Dean Skinns whose place was taken by Brandon Stones and Lewis Christie who was celebrating the birth of his second daughter earlier. It was Lightning who were first off the mark when Tomas Kana set up Tanaka to score after [...]