Carlon makes the switch to the Lightning

The MK Lightning has confirmed the signing of British forward Tom Carlon for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons; as they continue to show their intent on challenging for EPL honours next season.

It is a great pick-up for Head Coach Nick Poole, as he adds the highly-rated forward to his British contingent. He said that the chance to sign Tom for the Lightning on a two year deal was an opportunity not to be missed. “I’ve spoken with Tom over the past few summers about him coming to play in MK, and I’m very pleased that we have finally captured his signature. He is a big strong player that I’ve admired since I saw him play junior hockey. Over the last few years he has gained confidence and become one of our league’s best British forwards.

“Tom is ambitious, he wants to win trophies and we know he’ll fit right in with our style of play. He’s a very good skater with an excellent shot and will immediately improve our offence, and he brings a lot of experience at international level and also from his time in the Elite league. His size and strength will add to our forecheck and he will be a real thorn in the side of opposition defences.”

Carlon makes the switch to MK for 2013-14.

Carlon makes the switch from the Lightning’s local rivals; the Peterborough Phantoms after three and a half seasons with the Cambridgeshire club.

The Telford born forward began his junior development with the Telford Wildfoxes aged 14 and began to progress through the clubs rankings, with his skill and ability earning him call ups to the Great Britain Under 18 and Under 20 selection between 2003 and 2005. He has captained the GB U18’s and has won several gold medals at international level.

Icing full-time for Telford, Tom also enjoyed guest appearances with the Coventry Blaze in the Elite League and was signed on a permanent basis in 2006; when the club took the League Championship.

In 2007 he made the switch back to the English Premier League and headed south to join the Bracknell Bees. 2008 marked a switch back to his home-town team; however with the Tigers unable to compete in 2009 due to financial reasons he made the switch to join the new league champions for his first spell with the Phantoms. After two seasons he made the switch to join the Jets, but financial difficulties saw him released mid-season and he made a return to the Phantoms.

Tom is very capable in the forward position and has good positioning and awareness on the ice. He is also able to score and will give the Lightning added fire power across their forward lines. However he is not a player that will score 50 goals a season and his abilities are utilised elsewhere. A player that is not afraid to put his body on the line or through a hit when needed; he is a great addition to Poole’s team.

He is coming off the back of his second best season in the EPL in terms of point production having scored 54pts from 21 goals and 33 assists. It will be interesting to see if Tom can once again be part of a championship winning side and what role he will play in MK depending on the further signings made by Poole.

MK Lightning Add 4 to their Brit Pack

The Milton Keynes Lightning have confirmed the return of four of their influential Brits for the 2013-14 season. Team Captain Adam Carr returns for an 11th straight season with the Lightning and is joined by fan’s favourite Leigh Jamieson, Lewis Christie and Michael Farn.

All four men signed two year contracts during the summer of 2012, something of an unknown in the English Premier League and will return for another season with the Lightning.

Carr joined the Lightning in 2003-04 following a season with the Isle of Wight Raiders, where he made is senior debut. Carr also made an appearance for the Basingstoke Bison in the EIHL in his first season; however apart from an overseas switch to the Sydney Icedogs in 2004-05 in the Australian Ice Hockey League, has remained a Lightning member for the remainder of his senior career. The centreman has been a consistent point scorer during his time with the Lightning; averaging around 40 points a season. It was no doubt that Carr would return for another season with MK. He is Lightning through-and-through and will likely end his career with them.

Leigh Jamieson makes a return to the Lightning for his 5th successive season after ending the season as the team’s leading point scorer. Jamieson is a quality player that can play either defence or offence. The past two seasons Leigh has stepped up and been an integral forward for the Lightning registering over 70 points each season.

His vast experience includes spells in the Elite League with the Belfast Giants and Coventry Blaze and he is a valuable asset to any team. He will once again be a vital piece in Head Coach Nick Poole’s plans for 2013-14.

Defenceman Michael Farn has continued to demonstrate his valued spot on the team with stella performances week in, week out; including the Man of the Match accolade at the recent Play-off Semi-final match against the Guildford Flames.

2013-14 will mark Farn’s 5th season with the Lightning having joined the club from the Swindon Wildcats at the end of 2008-09.

Fellow defenceman Christie will start is 6th consecutive season in 2013-14 having joined the club from the Giants in 2008. Despite his low scoring Christie goes about his job of defending and does it well as he is considered one of the better defenceman in the EPL. With Farn and Christie back again, Poole has a solid foundation to work from at the back and can positively build on them as he looks to develop a team capable of challenging at the top of the EPL.

Alongside the announcement that Blaz Emersic will return for a third season (Here), Poole has the makings of a good team once again. But will they be able to challenge the establishment at the top of the league.

Kamil hopes to have the Lightning affect.

The Milton Keynes Lightning have taken the necessary steps to ensure they are not left short benched; whilst influential forward Adam Calder recuperates from a hip injury he incurred in their game against Telford.

Calder had surgery on his fractured hip on the evening of his accident in Telford and was able to go home three days later to begin his recovery. His rehabilitation process is likely to see him side-lined for the foreseeable future.

To ensure the club remains competitive and able to ice a full quota of imports they have taken the decision to sign Czech native Kamil Tvrdek. Kamil, a left winger, has played the majority of his senior ice hockey career in his native Czech Republic; with just a single season in Slovakia during 2008-09 for the MsHK Zilina.

This current season has seen Kamil ice in both the Czech 2 and Czech 3 leagues whilst on loan to SK Kadan and HC Banik Sokolov respectively.

Kamil started his hockey career icing for his hometown club Karlovy Vary, in the north-west of the country, where he played for nine seasons. He returned to the Czech 2 for 2009-10, following his year in Slovakia, where he has since remained.

Nick Poole has said a lot of hard work was taken to ensure this move could happen; “Over the last few days we’ve been able to do our homework and draw up a shortlist. We know we’re bringing in a good hockey player who can skate well and will certainly add to our line-up. Kamil has played at higher levels than the EPL, and although obviously there’ll be an adjustment period we are very optimistic and excited to have him in our line-up.

“It’s been a very difficult period for all of us over the last 10 days, so it’s great to see the guys upbeat and ready to impress their new team-mate. Lukas (Zatopek) has already been in touch with Kamil, and we hear he’s very excited to be heading to the UK to enjoy the MK experience.”

It is a very sensible move by the Lightning to bring an additional player to the team whilst Calder is away. Many tipped MK to be one of the team’s to watch this year,with the additional of Calder during the summer and he was on for another high scoring season. Although Kamil has not put up the high numbers we have come to experience from Calder, the Czech leagues are a considerable step above the EPL and he should, if he can work well and connect with his new team mates, put up decent numbers whilst the Canadian is away.

It has not been announced how long the deal is for or for how long Calder will definitely be side-lined however I expect he will be kept on for a period of time even after Calder is back on his feet. Calder will not be 100% match fit after his recovery and it would make sense to bring him back gradually whilst keeping Kamil on the team.

Having scrapped for their victory last night against Slough, they will definitely benefit from the extra firepower; especially whilst Leigh Jamieson is on GB duty in Japan.

MK currently sit in third with 19 points and will look to remain around this area of the table.

Weekend Preview – Week 2

This weekend sees the Flames ice in just one game, at home on Sunday, against their close rivals from Milton Keynes. In all fairness every team in the league could be seen as a close rival to the Flames due to the league stature the team holds; or possibly because of the jealousy of opposing teams of the Flames’ ability to be in the hunt for silverware every season.

So the Lightning strike into town coming off the back of a double defeat to their bitter rivals from Peterborough. A pre-season tradition sees both teams competing in a two-legged “Ashes” challenge game. However unlike the remainder of the league that hold their pre-season warm-up matches before the season starts this fixture always falls on the opening weekend.

So the Phantoms, who some have said will be a bottom 5 or even bottom 3 team at best, romped to a 10-6 aggregate victory over the Lighting (who many are saying will be a top 5 team this year). It doesn’t show much promise for a new look Lightning team entering the season. However; despite the fact that both teams like to win the pre-season challenge purely for the bragging rights it imposes, we should not take this as an indication that Phantoms will now go on to out perform the Lighting over the course of the season.

After finishing 5th in the league last season, Nick Poole went about making changes to the team, especially in the hard-hitting category. Despite the fact that the Lightning were already seen as a hard/physical team to play against; it would appear that it has stepped up another gear for 2012-13.

Netminders – gone is MK legend Barry Hollyhead into retirement. The 2011-12 season saw a winding down for Hollyhead as Alex Mettam took the reigns between the pipes. Mettam had a breakthrough year appearing in 41 games, ending the season with a 2.64 GAA and a .919 save %, to be classified amongst the likes of Mark Lee and Ben Bowns as a top goalie in the EPL. However at only 24 years of age Mettam is still a few years off his best years to come in his career.

With changes afoot in Basingstoke, Poole jumped at the chance to sign one of the better EPL goalies and long time Phantom; Stephen Wall. Wall ended last season at Bison after a mid-season switch from Peterborough. Despite the unsettling nature of a team switch mid-season, Wall posted respectable numbers last season, although nowhere near his best. At 30 Wall is far from done at EPL level and has a lot of qualities that will benefit the Lightning. It will only do Mettam a heap of good learning from someone of Wall’s quality over the coming season.

With two very strong netminders on his roster, Poole has the ability to change and rest one of them at any given time, safe in the knowledge that whoever steps between the pipes will be strong and give the team confidence at the back.

Defence – like ourselves there have been few changes at the back in the defensive corp. Tom Norton had originally planned to return to the Nottingham Panthers, but thanks to the intelligence of the EIHL implementing changes at the detriment of young British players, he now finds himself on a two-way contract with Peterborough.

Norton is replaced by ex-Bison defenceman Dan Harris. There’s not much to be said about Harris. He will do his job well and should fit into the Lighting’s defence philosphy very well. Lukas Zatopek returns for a 5th year with the Lightning and is arguably one of the best defenceman in the EPL. He is joined by Ross Green, Michael Farn, and Lewis Christie for one of the more solid British defence packs in the league.

Forwards – this is where the most exciting changes have occurred for the the Lightning. Long-term Lightning players Matt Towalski and Michael Wales have departed and headed south to Slough. Their direct 3rd line replacements seem to be the hard-hitting duo from Basingstoke, in the form of Nicky Chinn and Chris Wiggins, who will most likely join agitator Grant McPherson on the 3rd line. However having played 2nd line minutes for Bison, Chinn and Wiggins can step up when/where needed, which gives the Lightning the added depth which they have somewhat lacked in recent years.

Two big signings for Poole come in the form of local hero Leigh Jamieson and EPL top goal scorer and ex-EIHL star Adam Calder. After much speculation on whether he would take a year out to concentrate on his business, Jamieson was the last player announced for 2012-13 having signed a two year deal. This is a positive step for the team after Jamieson’s break-through year on the forward ranks last year. He can easily play top-line minutes, but having stepped up after 3 years on defence, it gives the team of extra coverage options should an injury crisis ensue.

Calder has joined the Lightning from the Jets after rumours of a move to Flames or back into the EIHL. This is a big signing for MK, although not short on scoring options, it is always a comfort to know you have the leading league scorer in your dressing room. Even at 36, age does not appear to have caught up with him after an 81 point season and the playoff title with Slough. I for one would have much preferred to have seen Calder with us rather than against us. He has the natural ability to walk through the defence and find the smallest of holes in the netminders armour to score.

Returning to the team for another year is Blaz Emersic. Emersic joined the Lightning mid-way through 2010-11 after a bust up with the Jets’ management. Blaz is a reliable forward that will do the job for the team, and do it well. Coming off the back of a 72 point season, he will be expected to once again be a top point scorer, whether on the 1st or 2nd line.

The only departure for the Lightning up front was Jamie Line, who has moved across to Peterborough, however the remaining Brits all return for another year. Ross Bowers is likely to rotate on the 3^rd line with Adam Brittle, however Brittle could see decent time on the 2nd line alongside Emersic and coach Poole.

Returning for a 10th term is Lightning captain Adam Carr who will be ideally placed at centre alongside Calder and Jamieson. Carr is a natural centre and is MK through and through. Not many players can claim to have played constantly at the same team for that length of time; however the Lightning way of doing things seems to appeal to Carr’s playing ability.

Ofcourse the team wouldn’t be complete without Player/Coach Poole returning. At the age of 39, Poole is now entering his 13th year of hockey in Milton Keynes! He is still good for a point a game production and seems a natural fit on the 2nd line. Poole is a very clever tactician and coach and seems to have the ability to play in such a way that leaves other teams frustrated. Close down their scoring threats early and stretch them out, which the Flames’ have previous accomplished, then the game is a lot more open. However let them stick to their game plan and you’ll be skating around for 60 minutes frustrated with a close game and scoreline at the end.

We have to come out and grab an early goal within the opening minutes and then play a hard and physical game to break them down. I can see Sharp getting some decent ice time on the third line, especially with the number of players they have willing to drop the gloves at any given moment. We must also hope that the Huppe/Kohut/Campbell line are on top form as with last weekend.

I think it’ll be a close opening game against the Lightning with a 5-3 scoreline in favour of the Flames!!