This history will be updated eventually, really ...
Thanks to Annette and Andy Lloyd for the season summaries which appeared in the 10 Year Jubilee programme.
Ice Hockey has always been a minor sport here, but it's been played in Britain for a long time. Some claim that the modern game began with the first recorded games in 1895 at rinks in London, among them one on the lake in the garden at Buckingham Palace. Between 1934 and 1936 several large arenas were opened in the London area and Fife Flyers were founded in Scotland. By 1936 GB were so successful that they were World and Olympic Champions, but the development of the game was put on hold by the war.
National leagues were sucessfully reformed in 1946, but there was a gradual decline until the end of the 1950s when there were only a handful of teams left. The leagues formed, foundered and reformed until in 1983 Heineken became major sponsors of British ice hockey and a period of rink and arena building and renovation began.
In 1990, the year that MK Kings were formed, GB had begun to move back up from the bottom of world rankings, with promotion from Pool D to Pool C. They moved up to Pool B in 1993 and to Pool A in 1994, dropping back to their current position in Pool B in 1995.
Milton Keynes' first ice hockey team was brought to life by Tony Oliver, previously the secretary of Peterborough Pirates, and Canadian coach Mike Sirant. A city-wide competition was held to name the team and the Milton Keynes Kings entered the English League in the 1990/91 season, playing out of the rink then known as Bladerunner Arena, now Planet Ice Arena.
So, when MK Kings were the new boys in town, 4 year old Cardiff Devils were the top team in Britain, winners of the Heineken League and Championships. Solihull Barons were also in the top league and had the lowest average penalty points. In Division One, Slough Jets were top, and Cleveland Bombers' Stephen Foster was the leading goalie. In the English League First Division, Bracknell Bees were top and Dan Prachar was a rising Star at Oxford.
Since then players have come and gone, teams have moved up and down the leagues, MK Kings have folded twice and been reborn, been evicted and decamped to Solihull. 2001/02 was MK Kings' tenth playing season in Milton Keynes, in 2002/03, following Planet Ice's controversial decision to put an EPL team in their place, Kings moved to Solihull as the Solihull MK Kings.
Follow the links to see how the teams and players have fared over the years.
| 1990/91 | English League First Division - Kings promoted in first ever season | Team | League |
| 1991/92 | Heineken Division One - 7th out of 10 | Team | League |
| 1992/93 | British Division One - 3rd out of 10 | Team | League |
| 1993/94 | British Division One North - promoted to the Premier League | Team | League |
| 1994/95 | British Premier League - 11th out of 12 | Team | League |
| 1995/96 | British Premier League - 9th out of 10 | Team | League |
| 1996-98 | Bladerunner Arena closed - reopened as Planet Ice in 1998 | ||
| 1998/99 | English League Premier Division - 2nd out of 9 | Team | League |
| 1999/00 | British National Ice Hockey League - 9th out of 10 | Team | League |
| 2000/01 | British National Ice Hockey League - 8th out of 10 | Team | League |
| 2001/02 | Findus British National League - 8th out of 12 | Team | League |
| 2002/03 | Findus British National League - 10th out of 10 | Team | League |
Thank you to all those who have helped with the information in the MK Kings history pages.
Much of the statistical information on these pages comes from Ralph Slate's hockey database, which in turn used information from Stewart Roberts' Ice Hockey Annuals. Thank you to all sources.
Thank you also to Tony Oliver, the founder of the team, firstly for starting something which has brought so much joy over the years, and secondly for permission to reproduce material from the 1990 to 1996 seasons.