Milton Keynes Thunder | |
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City | Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire |
League | NIHL |
Division | Division One South |
Founded | 2001 |
Home arena | Planet Ice Arena Milton Keynes (capacity: 2,500) |
Colors | White, Black & Teal |
General manager | Lauren Cox |
Head coach | Eliott Moran |
Affiliates | Milton Keynes Lightning, Milton Keynes Storm |
Website | www |
Championships | |
NIHL South BBO Cup | 1 (2016–17) |
The Milton Keynes Thunder are an ice hockey team from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, they are known stylistically as the Milton Keynes Rightmove Thunder for sponsorship purposes, and the team currently competes in the Britton Conference, of the National Ice Hockey League Division 1 South (the third tier of English National Ice Hockey). The team was founded in 2001 predominantly to provide competitive hockey and further development opportunities for players leaving the Milton Keynes Junior Ice Hockey system. Their home rink is the refurbished and renamed Planet Ice Arena, known locally as the Thunderdome. It has a capacity of circa 2,500.
Founded in 2001, MK Thunder originally shared their home rink with the Milton Keynes Kings. However, the MK Kings were involved in a dispute with rink operators Planet Ice, which led to their relocation to Solihull in May 2002. [1] The space left by the MK Kings was eventually taken by the Milton Keynes Lightning which was formed in 2002.
As the second most senior ice hockey club in Milton Keynes, the MK Thunder have always played in the National Ice Hockey League South Division 1 or its former incarnations (English National League South, English National League South A and English National League South 1). It has been used as a vehicle to further develop Milton Keynes based players and has been a 'feeder' club for the senior hockey club Milton Keynes Lightning. The teams iced by the club have been dominated by local players, supplemented by the occasional import (league rules restrict the use of import players to just two, compared to five in the defunct old second tier EPIHL and eleven in the first tier EIHL). The club also has links with the junior system and provides development opportunities for junior players at the Milton Keynes Storm Club.
In March 2013, Milton Keynes Council approved plans to redevelop the Leisure Plaza after failed attempts in 2006 and 2011. The development of the arena was funded by Morrisons Supermarkets and took 17 months to complete. This forced Thunder to play their home games at a temporary rink sited within the Milton Keynes City Centre in a building vacated by the Supermarket Waitrose. The rink and the MK ICE charity established to operate it was organised by the team's owner and the then general manager, David Fairhurst. The team returned to the redeveloped rink which had been renamed the "MK Arena" in October 2014.
The Milton Keynes Thunder lifted their first silverware when they secured the NIHL South BBO Cup in the 2016-17 season.
Netminders | |||||||||
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No. | Nat. | Player | Catches | Date of birth | Place of birth | Acquired | |||
31 | Craig Bradfield | England | 2021 from Free Agent | ||||||
34 | Vincent Bennett-Graziano | R | 14 August 2005 | England | 2021 from Peterborough Phantoms |
Defencemen | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Nat. | Player | Shoots | Date of birth | Place of birth | Acquired | ||||
2 | Alex Whyte | L | 23 July 1996 | Peterborough, England | 2014 from Peterborough Phantoms | |||||
4 | Samson James | L | 30 August 2000 | Coventry, England | 2021 from New Jersey Renegades (USA) | |||||
5 | Oliver Knaggs | L | 4 November 2005 | Watford, England | 2021 from Milton Keynes Storm | |||||
13 | Evan Smyth | 13 August 1988 | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | 2021 from Free Agent | ||||||
14 | Callum Burr | R | 2003 (age 19) | England | 2021 from Free Agent | |||||
36 | Daniel Tamasauskas | L | 1 July 1999 | Lithuania | 2021 from Lee Valley Lions | |||||
59 | Charlie Ottowell | 2003 (age 19) | England | 2022 from Free Agent | ||||||
72 | Daniel Angell | 1998 (age 24) | England | 2021 from Free Agent |
Forwards | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Nat. | Player | Shoots | Date of birth | Place of birth | Acquired | ||||
6 | Cole McCluskey | R | {2005 (age 17) | England | 2021 from Milton Keynes Storm | |||||
9 | Nathan Darmanin | R | 6 March 1993 | Slough, England | 2021 from Chelmsford Chieftains | |||||
10 | Cassius McCormack | R | 2005 (age 17) | England | 2021 from Milton Keynes Storm | |||||
12 | Oliver Harris | R | 5 May 1999 | Coventry, England | 2021 from Free Agent | |||||
15 | Iain Peters | L | 21 November 2000 | Charleston, South Carolina, USA | 2022 from Coventry Blaze NIHL | |||||
18 | Aidan McGurk | 14 February 2004 | England | 2022 from Oxford City Stars | ||||||
23 | Tom Carlon | R | 18 February 1987 | Telford, England | 2021 from Milton Keynes Lightning | |||||
45 | Hayden Hagger | R | Luton, England | 2021 from Free Agent | ||||||
73 | Gareth O’Flaherty | R | 18 January 1990 | Camberley, England | 2021 from Peterborough Phantoms | |||||
81 | Harrison Goode | L | 15 December 1990 | Luton, England | 2019 from Free Agent | |||||
82 | Connor Goode | R | 2 November 1993 | Luton, England | 2021 from Free Agent | |||||
96 | Alastair Barrow | R | 23 December 1991 | England | 2022 from Free Agent | |||||
Player | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | Nat. | Player | Active Seasons | Acquired | ||||||
1 | Mark Woolf | 2002–2014 & 2015-2018 | 2002 from Milton Keynes Kings |
Season-by-season record
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