Milton Keynes Kings were an Ice Hockey team based in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

History

The MK Kings originally played in various divisions of the

British Hockey League The British Hockey League was the top-flight ice hockey league in the United Kingdom from 1980 until 1996 (with a short break between 1981 and 1982), when it was replaced by the Ice Hockey Superleague and the British National League. The league r ...

(BHL) from 1990 until 1996. In 1998, two seasons after the closure of the BHL, they joined the

English Premier Ice Hockey League The English Premier Ice Hockey League (EPIHL) was an ice hockey league of 10 teams, all of which were based in England. Headquartered in Blackpool, the EPIHL was one of two professional ice hockey leagues in the United Kingdom (the other being th ...

(EPIHL) for a season before moving into the higher level British National League for four consecutive seasons between 1999 and 2003. Following a dispute with the owners of the

Planet Ice Arena A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

in Milton Keynes in 2002; combined with the dissolution of the second incarnation of the

Solihull Barons The Solihull Barons are an English ice hockey team from the town of Solihull who play at Solihull Ice Rink on Hobs Moat Road. The current team, which is the third incarnation of the Barons, was formed in 2005; they are named after the original te ...

, the team relocated to the Blue Ice Plaza in

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

, where they rebranded themselves the Solihull MK Kings for the 2002-03 BNL season; effectively merging the Milton Keynes and Solihull franchises in that league. Around the same time that the move to Solihull occurred, the owners of Planet Ice Arena formed the

Milton Keynes Lightning The Milton Keynes Lightning are an ice hockey team founded in 2002 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. The Lightning currently play in Britain's second-tier professional league, the National Ice Hockey League (NIHL), since the 2019–20 season. T ...

; whom joined the EPIHL shortly after their formation. Following the culmination of the Kings' first season in Solihull in May 2003; the team resigned from the BNL and was dissolved. Following their dissolution; they were first replaced in Solihull by the newly formed Solihull Kings, who joined the EPIHL for two seasons between 2003 and 2005 before dissolving; and later replaced by a reformed

who again joined the EPIHL for two seasons between 2005 and 2007; before settling into the lower

English National Ice Hockey League The National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) is a set of professional ice hockey leagues administered by the English Ice Hockey Association. It is currently the second tier of British ice hockey, below the Elite Ice Hockey League. Formerly called the ...

from 2007 onwards.A to Z of Hockey
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References

Ice hockey teams in England Sport in Milton Keynes Defunct ice hockey teams in the United Kingdom Ice hockey clubs established in 1996 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2003 {{Europe-icehockey-team-stub