It was all change at the top for Kings as they entered their third season. Mike Sirant resigned to take a job with Manitoba Bison just three weeks before the start of the season. However, in a swap move Don Depoe, who had been temporary coach of the Bison, flew in to take his place at the helm. Several players had already confirmed their return: Paddy, Doug, Rick, Kinney, Simon Howard, Simon Ferry, Jim Ryan, Davey Phillips and Perry Doyle all resigned. Additions were U21 international David Heath, GB defenceman Brian Mason and GB netminder David Graham. Later in the season Nicky Balchin and Peter Smith joined the team. Simon Perkins came in on loan from Nottingham Panthers although he was controversially recalled to Nottingham just before the transfer deadline.
After losing out in the Benson & Hedges Competition Kings got a second chance to win the Autumn Trophy. They made their way through the group stages with some huge wins against Stevenage, Oxford and Solihull to face Swindon in the semi finals. This gave them a chance to avenge the previous season's defeat as they overcame the Wildcats 16-13 on aggregate. The Final was in Sheffield and with almost 1000 travelling fans to spur them on they overcame the Solihull Barons 11-4. Barons came out blazing in the first but were unable to sustain the pace and the second and third periods saw Kings take control of the match with Doug McCarthy scoring 5 of the goals.
Kings got off to a flying start in the league with wins against Ayr Bruins, Swindon and Lee Valley - the latter by their biggest ever margin 23-3. This match saw Doug net 6+9 as he and Paddy continued their lethal partnership. Kings rivalry with Telford started, as several of the matches between the two teams became bruising encounters. The season saw a good run of results for Kings as, with the exception of losses against runaway leaders Basingstoke and second placed Sheffield, they won the majority of their games. The turnaround in performances from the previous season was highlighted by a 20-2 over Lee Valley, a fixture Kings had embarrassingly lost 7-3 the previous year. However, in February Don Depoe went mad as Kings suffered a record loss to runaway leaders Basingstoke 17-3, "too many players treat Milton Keynes as a country club. I don't mind them having a good time socially, but not if it affects their ice hockey". However this was just a blip as a win against Lee Valley secured their play-off spot and they were then able to avenge their Basingstoke defeat with a 4-3 over Beavers, one of only three losses the Hampshire team suffered all season.
In the play-offs Kings had Peterborough, Sheffield and Slough in their group and were unable to snatch the much-desired promotion to the Heineken Premier League due in much part to an injury to Paddy Scott in the second match which kept him out of the rest of the games. Despite this Kings finished the season with their best ever league position and a major trophy in the cabinet. The last Sunday of the season saw Kings take on Sheffield before a capacity crowd of 2,168.
Paddy Scott was the Heineken top scorer three months in a row and he topped the Kings scoring with 85+81 points, with Doug in second place with 51+93. David Graham, who won great praise during the season for his skill in goal, often keeping Kings in games, finished third in the netminding table, behind the two high-flying Beavers netminders.
However the season drama was not over and the next day saw rink owners First Leisure make their shock announcement that the rink was to be closed, with youngsters attending hockey schools made to leave the ice as the doors were locked. The strength of feeling of fans was amazing and they got together to thin up a way of saving the rink. After several ideas, including contacting Richard Branson, and weeks of hard work a consortium called MK Ice was formed to run the rink and the team.
