Basingstoke Bison capitalised on one of the most disjointed and poorest displays of the season for Milton Keynes Lightning at Planet Ice on Saturday when they inflicted an 8-4 defeat on the hosts. Despite a bright start for Lightning who scored in the fourth minute on a powerplay, Bison hit back with two strikes in the space of 22 seconds and then effectively destroyed any hopes of a fightback with three goals in less than three second period minutes to lead 6-2 at the second break. To complete a disappointing night for MK, the visitors added two more in [...]

Inspired by a Liam Stewart hat-trick and a Sam Talbot brace Milton Keynes Lightning put the disappointment of their previous two games behind them with an emphatic 8-3 win over struggling Bees at Planet Ice on Saturday. Apart from shaky ten minutes in the second period Lightning were dominant throughout and rarely looked like losing after taking a three goal lead into the first break. Lightning were missing Sean Norris from the offensive lines and Lewis Christie in defence, plus Edgars Landsbergs. Man of the match Stewart won possession in the offensive zone to catch out goalie Adam Goss [...]

Delayed on the motorway, things didn’t get better for Milton Keynes Lightning when they ended up on the wrong end of a 6-4 scoreline at Sheffield Steeldogs on Friday. The visitors had to wait until the 29th minute for their opening goal. By that time though Steeldogs had already bagged three of their own, starting on 11mins 35secs when Henry Adams made the supply for Nathan Ripley to fire home past former Steeldogs goalie, Brandon Stones, now in MK colours. Lightning had barely had chance to recover than Sheffield doubled their advantage at 13mins 53secs when top marksman Jason [...]

The road to the final of the National Ice Hockey League Cup came to an abrupt end in Shropshire when Milton Keynes Lightning were beaten 6-2 by a clinical Telford Tigers team who won the semi-final 10-8 on aggregate. Lightning’s two goal advantage from the dramatic 6-4 victory at Planet Ice the previous Thursday was wiped out within the first 11 minutes by a Tigers outfit that went on to score six unanswered goals before Lewis Clifford’s men registered on the scoresheet. Goal number one came on 1min 52secs when Austin Mitchell-King tipped in a Finley Howells pass before [...]

After the highs of defeating the top two sides in the National Ice Hockey League, Milton Keynes Lightning were brought back to earth with a bump when they went down 7-3 at Peterborough Phantoms on Sunday. The exertions of the cup win against Telford Tigers and success two days later over Swindon Wildcats may have taken its toll in Lightning’s third game in four days but Phantoms’ rink has often proved to be a difficult place to play. However, Lightning got off to a good start thanks to a hooking penalty on Will Weldon that allowed the visitors to [...]

One of the best performances of the season at Planet Ice put Milton Keynes Lightning right back in the mix for the National Ice Hockey League title with a 3-1 win over fellow challengers Swindon Wildcats. Make no mistake these were two huge points for a Lightning side that looked rejuvenated compared with the previous weekend. Capped by a man of the match performance by goalie Matt Smital they gave nothing away against the stiffest of competitors. Lightning closed the gap on Wildcats in second position to be three points behind but with two games in hand. There was [...]

An incredible four goals in nine minutes turned the first leg of the National Ice Hockey Cup semi-final on its head at Planet Ice, Milton Keynes, on Thursday.Until that stage of the game Telford Tigers looked to be taking a comfortable two goal lead into the second leg having gone 4-2 in front within the first 41 seconds of the third period.However, a fantastic long range shot from James Griffin that rocketed high into Brad Day’s net at 50mins 49secs lit a spark that saw Milton Keynes Lightning snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with three more goals in [...]

Leeds Knights inflicted a second defeat of the weekend for Milton Keynes Lightning at Elland Road on Sunday. But unlike the first meeting between the teams there was little doubt about the result once the home team had taken a 5-2 lead by the 35th minute. Knights then went on to add three more third period goals to finish with an 8-2 victory that dents Lightning’s hopes of winning the National Ice Hockey League. The home side went in front on 6mins 53secs with a powerplay goal from Kieran Brown – his rocket from the face off point beating [...]

A phenomenal performance by netminder Sam Gospel, together with some unimaginative finishing, combined to send Milton Keynes Lightning to a 4-2 defeat against a tough Leeds Knights team at Planet Ice on Saturday. The Knights stopper turned away all but a brace of the 32 shots fired on him but while many a netminder would have succumbed, Gospel was hardly troubled by many of them. Despite that Lightning were still in with a chance until the final minute when goalie Matt Smital raced out of his goal to try to halt the approaching Kieran Brown on a break away [...]

An incredible Liam Stewart goal just two minutes 17 seconds from the final buzzer gave Milton Keynes Lightning a hard-earned 3-2 win over local rivals Peterborough Phantoms at Planet Ice on Saturday. In a goalmouth scramble captain Russ Cowley found Stewart at the right hand post. But with goalie Jordan Marr’s leg outstretched, Stewart’s first attempt was blocked, only for the puck to rebound behind the outside of the post. Stewart, realising the puck was just behind his skate, went down on his knees to turn and scoop the puck into the net through the narrowest of gaps – [...]