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In 91/92 the top three leagues were the Heineken Premier League, the Heineken Division One with newly promoted MK Kings, and the English League First Division.
Mike Sirant continued as coach and Kings had mixed sucess in the higher league. Division One teams were allowed 4 overseas players on the books, one of these had to be a reclassified Brit, but only 3 could be iced at the same time. Paddy Scott, Rick Strachan (captain) and Troy Kennedy, were the imports, with Tim Peacock the reclassified player. To remedy the inconsistency in results, changes were needed and Troy Kennedy and Tim Peacock were released, and in came one of the enduring fan favourites, Doug McCarthy. At the same time, the Doyle brothers joined from Solihull. Only the top six teams made it to the playoffs, Kings improved their position but not by enough to overtake Romford Raiders for the last playoff spot. |
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| 1991/92 Roster | |||
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After their brilliant debut season Kings moved up to what was then Heineken Division One. Kings were then allowed four imports on their books, as long as one was a reclassified player i.e. someone who had played hockey in the UK for more than 5 years. Mike Sirant remained as Coach, Paddy & Troy re-signed and Rick, after proving his worth in the previous season's playoffs joined the team, becoming Captain. Other returnees were Simon Ferry, Simon Howard, the Coffins brothers and Tim Peacock. Netminder Mike Kellond left, his place being taken by GB's U21 netminder Alex Barnes who shared the netminding duties with other returnee Ian Cade. Rich Nellis left to join Durham Wasps. New signings were Mark Goldby, Davey Phillips, Jim Ryan and Mike Kindred.
Kings' season began well with the Autumn Trophy competition, beating Trafford Metros, Romford Raiders, Sunderland Chiefs and Blackburn Hawks to get to the semi-finals. They then beat Basingstoke Beavers in the semi-final but suffered the heartbreak of losing the Final to Swindon on penalty shots.
However, the jump up to the higher league proved tough for the team. Early season wins against experienced Premier League opposition Fife Flyers and Basingstoke Beavers fuelled hopes and drew praise for Strac and Barnes in particular. However losses against the likes of Lee Valley and Swindon saw Mike Sirant quoted in the Citizen saying, "we need the effort from everyone which the likes of Rick Strachan, Mike Kindred and Jim Ryan are producing week in week out." A month or so later he admitted, "we're out of our depth". Then an impressive 22-6 win against Trafford in November, followed by a brave draw against Fife and another good win against Blackburn, seemed to signal a change in the tide. Several times Kings were kept in matches by the heroics of netminder Alex Barnes. Before Christmas Kings signed John Hobson and Perry Doyle. Unsurprisingly Perry was unable to play in the first few games due to a suspension. More mixed results saw a further change in personnel as Tim Peacock and, more controversially, fans favourite Troy Kennedy were released to make way for new boy Doug McCarthy. The change saw an upturn in fortunes as Kings' results improved but despite a brave fight towards the end of the season Kings were unable to snatch the final play-off spot from Romford Raiders.
There were some highlights in the year, Kings' matches against Fife Flyers gave the fan plenty to cheer at, with one win, two draws an one loss away against the very experienced Scottish side. In March Paddy became the first player in the League to score 100 league goals People found a new hero in Doug McCarthy why soon settled in to a strong partnership with Paddy.