Milton Keynes Thunder

DFC Milton Keynes Thunder
League	English National Ice Hockey League
Conference	South Division One
Founded	2001
History	Milton Keynes Thunder 2001–Present
Arena	Planet Ice Milton Keynes "The Thunderdome"
Capacity	2,200
City	Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
Team Colours	White, Black & Gold
Head coach	Paul Gore
Website	mkthunder.com

The DFC Milton Keynes Thunder are an ice hockey team from Milton Keynes, England and are the second team in the city behind Milton Keynes Lightning. They currently play in the English National Ice Hockey League (ENIHL) South Division One league. The team is committed to youth development with practically all players coming from the Milton Keynes junior ice hockey system.

Current staff

Milton Keynes Thunder staff
	Executive Operations Ownership – Dave Fairhurst Official Photographer – Claire Stanton Match Night Announcer – Fiona Heron Match Night Music – Ben Cook			Hockey Operations Head Coach – Paul Gore Assistant Coach – Lewis Clifford Goaltending Coach – Mark Woolf Player's Assistant – Tom Smith Equipment Manager – Chris Roberts Physiotherapist – Nefra Germain Strength & Conditioning – Tom Roles & Carl Stevenson

Current players

Goaltenders
Number		Player	Catches	Place of Birth
1		Mark Woolf	L	London, England
##		Chris Chaplen	L	Luton, England

Defencemen
Number		Player	Shoots	Place of Birth
3		Paul Gore	R	Luton, England
7		Peter Taylor	R	England
13		James Roberts	R	England
24		David Coffey	R	Scotland
41		Oliver Nabbs	L	England
80		Kristian Simo	L	Slovakia

Forwards
Number		Player	Shoots	Place of Birth
10		Kieron Goody	R	England
12		Lewis Clifford	R	Bletchley, England
14		Paul Jamieson	R	England
18		Carl Stevenson	R	England
19		Jamie Randall	R	England
20		Martin Snape	L	England
22		Sam Fairhurst	R	England
47		Michael Lucas	R	England
71		Tom Roles	R	England
81		Harrison Goode	L	England
97		Dan Chaplen	R	Luton, England
##		Jacob Heron	R	Milton Keynes, England
##		Glenn Trivett	L	England

Overseas players

Thunder have only had three non-EIHA (overseas) players since the team's inception. Slovakian defenceman Ivan Turan become the first import in team history after wishing to remain in the Milton Keynes area following his release the previous season from EPL affiliate MK Lightning. Donations from fans enabled Thunder to pay the costly ITC card needed in order to sign Turan and he made his debut at the beginning of the 2006/2007 sseason. Also signed in 2006/2007 was local Canadian Todd Bakergeorge who had spent previous seasons playing with local recreational side MK Jesters. For the 2007/2008 season Bakergeorge was replaced by Pavol Hudak, who like Turan is of Slovakian origin. Turan and Hudak both departed the club during the summer of 2008, being replaced by sloviakan defenceman Kristian Simo who signed from ENL rivals Peterborough Islanders and Michal Lauko

Jerseys

At the end of the 2005–06 season the club's original jersey's were auctioned off to fund new designs for the 2006–07 season. The jersey features yellow letters and numbers on the rear with the word "thunder" printed across the bottom, with yellow numbers on both sleeves with a small thunder logo shoulder patch. Traditionally the white jersey is worn for home games, the black jersey for road games, however there have been occasions when this jersey has been worn for home fixtures due to colour clashes with visiting teams. For the 2008/9 season the team will sport new uniforms, with the designs similar to previous years with a new secondary colour of sky blue.

History

Season-by-season record

Last 5 seasons, league stats only

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Records as of May 19 2008.

Season	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	Finish	Playoffs
2003-04	16	9	5	2	20	62	42	3rd, ENL South	1st Round
2004-05	18	7	7	4	18	51	66	5th, ENL South	Did not qualify
2005-06	20	8	8	4	20	84	74	6th, ENL South	Did not qualify
2006-07	22	5	13	4	14	79	99	9th, ENL South	Did not qualify
2007-08	16	9	5	2	20	67	50	4th, ENL South A	Did not qualify

Team Captains

• Paul Gore, 2002-2004
• Michael Knights, 2004-2007
• James Roberts, 2007/2008
• Jamie Randall, 2008-present

Coaching Staff

Head Coaches 2001-2003 – Mark Johnson 2003-2008 – Michael Knights 2008-2009 – Paul Gore 2009-Present – Lewis Clifford

Assistant Coaches 2001-2004 – Chris Anderson 2001-2004 – Jimmy Ryan 2004-2008 – Paul Gore 2008-Present – Lewis Clifford

Bench Coaches 2001-2004 - Davey Phillips 2004-2005 – Andy Linton 2005-2006 – Dave Fairhurst 2006-2007 – Phil Wooderson 2007-2009 – Matt Roberts 2009-Present – Andy Watts

Scoring Leaders

These are the end of season scorering leaders for the past 4 seasons, including league, cup & playoff games. Previous season scoring records are unknown.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; G/G = Goals per game; A/G = Assists per game; * = current Thunder player

Points	Goals	Assists
Season Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G 2004/2005 Michael knights D 19 7 14 21 1.10 2005/2006 Michael Knights D 20 15 18 33 1.65 2006/2007 Tom Hurley* LW 13 16 8 24 1.84 2007/2008 Dan Chaplen* RW 13 9 12 21 1.61	Player Pos GP G G/G Ben White C 21 9 0.42 Michael Knights D 20 15 0.75 Tom Hurley* LW 13 16 1.23 Tom Roles* RW 23 14 0.60	Player Pos GP A A/G James Roberts* RW 18 15 0.83 Michael Knights D 20 18 0.90 Mark Krater RW 21 11 0.52 Keiron Goody* C 24 14 0.583

External links

• Planet Ice
• MK Thunder club web page