With tickets now on sale and the date and primary sponsor confirmed, we know that the next big question on Lightning fans’ lips is: who’s going to be playing?
Every Tuesday for the next four weeks we’ll reveal ten players on the squad invited personally by Leigh Jamieson, to help him celebrate his ten seasons with the Milton Keynes Lightning!
The first group of players has names to whet the appetite of fans both old and new….
Stephen Wall: our Geordie-born netminder wore the black and gold for three seasons from 2012, making an impression from the word go by finishing his first season in MK with the best save percentage in the entire league.
Dwayne Newman: better known to many as ‘Dog’, the Winnipeg-born D-man iced briefly for MK Kings before joining newly-formed Lightning as Captain for five seasons, returning to the city with Thunder for the 2012 season.
Hallden Barnes-Garner: newly re-signed for 22-23, local guy Hallden worked his way up through the MK hockey system and after two terms with MKL has made his mark with an uncompromising attitude and determination.
Ed Knaggs: newly re-signed for 22-23, another player who started his career in MK, defenceman Ed played a key part in Lightning’s season as one of our hardworking blue liners. He’s known for his slick skating and confident puck movement.
Ben Russell: like Hallden, Ben is MK born and bred and another product of the Milton Keynes hockey system – so he knows how much every win means to our fantastic fans after playing five seasons in our colours!
Lewis Clifford: What can we say about Cliff that you don’t already know? He earned his playing spurs with nine seasons at Thunder as both player and coach, before joining Lightning as Assistant Coach. In 2019 he took the reins in his own right as Head Coach, leading the team to the play off final in April.
Ross Bowers: ‘Rosco’ spent all but two seasons of his 20 year playing career in Milton Keynes, like Dwayne Newman having iced for the Kings before moving to MKL. Whilst longer-standing fans will remember his no-nonsense attitude on the ice, more recent supporters will have been used to seeing him on the bench alongside Cliff as Assistant Coach.
Ross Green: Teammates of Ed Knaggs and Ben Russell on Lightning’s blue line, Ross has only ever iced for MK-based teams, staying loyal to Milton Keynes right through his hockey career – and if you’ve ever taken part in the post-game public skate sessions you might’ve seen him helping his young son Henry to get familiar with skating on the ice his dad just played on!
Chris McEwen: Reading-born D-man Chris joined Lightning in 2002 and played 7 seasons overall, picking up over 100 league and cup points along the way.
Andre Smulter: In just three seasons with MKL, our fans really took the ‘Smults’ to their hearts, bagging 44 goals in his debut season with us. As capable in defence as he was up front, Andre’s goals helped Lightning storm to the League title in April 2010.
All of the jerseys for these players will be available on our Own & Loan scheme where the shirt is yours after the game. The cost is £100 per jersey. To Own & Loan your jersey email dave@b2promodesign.com with details of which player’s jersey you’d like, the first email to be received for each jersey will be the lucky owner.
Leigh Jamison’s testimonial takes place at 6pm on Saturday 20 August at Planet Ice in Milton Keynes, get your tickets now here!
