Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers Telford Tigers defeated Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning for the second time this season with with a 6-2 victory in Shropshire. The result left Lightning finishing the weekend second from the bottom of the National Ice Hockey League.  Lightning fell behind after 3mins 13secs when veteran Jason Silverthorn set up Brandon Whistle for Telford’s opening goal – seconds before the hosts’ Finley Howells was sin binned for cross checking. On the powerplay the best effort came from Kana from the blue line while Carlon’s pass across the face of goal missed its intended target. Sam Russell was next in the penalty box – receiving two minutes for roughing on 8mins 47secs, Lightning surviving the short-handed spell although Scott McKenzie missed an open net chance.  Howells was back in the penalty box in the 12th minute – this time for hooking but the man advantage for the visitors ended abruptly when [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning were brought down to earth with a crash by Raiders after the highs of the previous weekend as they went down 6-2. Lightning welcomed defenceman James Griffin back to the side after injury and, together with the mid-week announcement that both Tom Carlon and Lewis Christie had agreed to stay for the remainder of the season, the team was able to ice a strong line up.  But once again Lightning’s cause was not helped by falling into penalty trouble with two key players off the ice for a total of 24 minutes – Liam Stewart and Tomas Kana both serving 12 minutes for boarding. During Stewart’s penalty Raiders scored two goals at a time when MK could have had a chance of turning the game around having gone a goal behind when Lukas Sladkovsky was given far too much space to pick his spot at [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning completed their first four point weekend in two years with a superb performance at Sheffield Steeldogs on Sunday. The 3-1 victory came almost exactly two years to the day after Lightning posted a pair of narrow Elite League wins against Coventry Blaze and Manchester Storm. Unfortunately from then on the club’s path was downward – unlike the present team who have been given a huge psychological boost by the arrival of Liam Stewart. The former Coventry and Guildford Flames player added a pair of goals at Steeldogs to the two he scored to help down Bracknell Bees the previous day, before Tomas Kana rounded off the night with an empty net strike.  For the second game in a row Stewart was man of the match for his team. In an instant those results have lifted Lightning off the bottom of the National Ice Hockey League [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers A big win and £5,347 raised for the Royal British Legion One player doesn’t make a team – but he doesn’t half make a difference in instilling a new found confidence so obviously missing in recent weeks.  Liam Stewart’s long awaited debut for Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning could hardly have gone better with a two-goals plus man of the match performance inspiring the team to their biggest win of the season – a 7-2 victory over Bracknell Bees at Planet Ice on Saturday.  Stewart, whose arrival on these shores was delayed by his contractual obligations in the New Zealand Hockey League, registered a goal in the second and third periods and, just as importantly unlocked the hesitancy which had, thus far, cost Lightning games in previous weeks. Lightning were playing in their special Remembrance jerseys and before the match there was a ceremony of remembrance including a playing [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers Numerous penalties cost Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning any chance of an upset as they went down 5-1 to National League leaders Swindon Wildcats at Planet Ice on Sunday. The hosts lost the services of two key players - Cale Tanaka and Tomas Kana – within minutes of each other at an important stage of the game when Lightning were trailing 2-1 in the second period. Both were handed ten minute misconduct penalties after being involved in face off violations. Their indiscipline meant MK were short of one or other of their top line forwards for a quarter of the game. And when Wildcats capitalised on the second of those penalties through the always impressive Tomasz Malasinski while MK were two men down at 38mins 30secs, the mountain became too high for the home side to climb. It was not the first time this season that penalty trouble has hit [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers Overtime heartbreak ruined Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning’s hopes of taking maximum points at Basingstoke Bison on Saturday buy they left with a well deserved, gutsy point from a venue which a lot of teams leave empty handed. After taking a first period lead Lightning fell behind late on in the session and, after a goalless middle 20 minutes they matched their opponents shot for shot to draw level with just over ten minutes of regulation time left.  But with 1min 49secs of the extra period gone Bison player-coach Ashley Tait supplied Adam Harding for the shot which sealed the points for the fourth in the league side, leaving Lightning with just the one point for their efforts. Both netminders – Brandon Stones for Lightning and Daniel Weller-Evans for Bison – received the man of the match awards in a game in which Ari Närhi tested the home goalie early [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers The Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning suffered their second defeat in as many nights on Sunday as Leeds Chiefs came into Planet Ice Milton Keynes and took a 6-4 victory. Having lost Jordan Lawday to injury following the defeat in Swindon on Saturday night, Lightning were pleased to welcome Harrison Gavan into the team as back up to Brandon Stones. Having missed the game in Swindon, Lewis Christie returned to a Lightning line-up that was still missing Grant McPherson, Harry Ferguson, James Griffin and Russ Cowley. Searching for a good start, Lightning soon found themselves on the back foot. With Tom Carlon in the box for slashing Leeds went ahead on the powerplay, their leading goalscorer Adam Barnes, who scored his first professional goal against Lightning last season whilst playing with the Manchester Storm, put one past Stones assisted by Archer and Meidl less than 2 minutes into the contest. [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers It was a tough evening for the Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lighting as they fell to their heaviest defeat of the season on Saturday night at the Link Centre in Swindon, losing out by a score of 7-0. Lightning came in to the game down 5 of their regulars, with Lewis Christie (personal reasons) joining James Griffin, Russ Cowley and Grant McPherson (Injury) and Harry Ferguson (Suspended) on the sidelines. Christie is expected to re-join the team on Sunday against Leeds Chiefs. Lightning's numbers were bolstered by the return of Tom Carlon, who returned to MKL colours for the first time since the 2016-17 season and Logan Prince who joined on a full time basis from MK Thunder during the week. The Wildcats entered Saturday's contest on the back of 4 straight wins, with an unblemished home record in competitive play this season and, from the outset, it was clear [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers After the agony came the ecstasy as Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning celebrated a hard won 4-3 win over Raiders at Romford’s Sapphire Leisure Centre on Sunday. They did it despite being desperately short benched – icing just eight recognised forwards as James Griffin joined the list of the injured which numbered Russ Cowley, Grant McPherson and Jordan Lawday plus the suspended Harry Ferguson.  Milton Keynes Thunder’s Logan Prince was also given a start. The morale boosting victory was all the more sweet as it came a day after the disappointment of being edged out by Bracknell Bees in a game Lightning had led until the final few seconds.  This time Lightning were off the mark as early as exactly four minutes when Ross Green’s coast to coast pass found its way to Leigh Jamieson who set up Ari Närhi for a top shelf shot to beat goalie Michael Gray.  [...]

Match Reports are brought to you in association with A2B Airport Transfers It was Charity night at MK last night, with Smith Recycling Milton Keynes Lightning and the Supporters' Club raising money for the Milton Keynes Hospital Charity Cancer Centre Appeal.  At the end of the night, a cheque for £2,841.15 was presented on the ice to Charlotte Jelley, as well as Shirt of their Back winners Glyn Greene (for Skinns) and Sam Bill (for Clifford), Ollie's Grid winner Stephen Day, and 50/50 winner Debbie Wilmott.  Thank you all for you support and to the Supporters' Club for their tireless fundraising efforts as always!  With the rink bathed in green, it was onto the game itself. Oh the agony and frustration! Smith Recycling Milton Lightning were just seconds away from a morale boosting win at Planet Ice on Saturday when Bracknell Bees snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.  With less than a minute to go Lightning looked set to claim a [...]