A big Thunder welcome to Ross Duguid who joins our coaching staff ahead of next season. Ross comes on board as Assistant Coach, with a specialisation in netminding to support our goaltending cohort and lead on prospect development for the future.

Ross joins after three successful seasons as head coach at Peterborough Phantoms Women (WNIHL2) as well as providing support to the Romford Junior Club. A level 2 coach, Ross has also worked as part of Euan King’s netminding academy, and has a deep interest in and understanding of the position.

The appointment also strengthens the bond between Thunder and MK Storm Juniors, as announced recently, with Ross taking the head coaching position of Storm’s U16 team for next season alongside his commitments with us. This will enable him to keep a keen eye on the talent of tomorrow, and continuity between the development approach within Thunder and the athletes we hope to bring through the system in years to come.

Ross is looking forward to joining Thunder, and bringing his specialist knowledge to our group:

I’m really excited to start this new chapter working with MK Thunder as the assistant/goalie coach for the 2024/25 season.
After working with junior goalies at club level, and working with NIHL1 & 2 goalies, at Peterborough and Romford, I feel I have a good insight into what the Thunder goalies will require. Seeing those junior goalies now play in the national leagues has made all the hard work of developing a goalie programme for them worthwhile.

I’ve spent the past 3 years as the Head coach of Peterborough Phantoms Women’s team helping them to restructure, rebuild and develop new players. With the help of the women’s committee we managed to go from a consistently bottom of the league team to a very competitive top of the league team. With this in mind it will be great to take my experience over to MK to work alongside Will and Lauren who both have the same ethos as myself.

Having personally seen some of the young talent coming through the MK Storm programme, it will be great to bridge that gap between junior and senior hockey. Hearing what Will has planned for hockey within MK, it is a privilege to be asked to be part of that new pathway.

I look forward to working with the players and staff in the upcoming season and look forward to meeting all the fans at our first game.

Thunder Head Coach Will Fry had this to say about his decision to bring Ross on board:

I met with Ross and Lauren last month, and it was clear straight away that our vision’s aligned in terms of our approach to coaching and what we wanted to achieve in our roles both next season and beyond. I can tell that he is someone the players will get along well with and be able to turn to for advice and support.

Ross brings a fountain of knowledge in a position that often gets overlooked by clubs, and the link with the junior system has the potential to provide a really positive experience for both our own netminders, and those coming through as juniors.

Whilst Ross will be focusing heavily on our goalie’s, he will also play a huge supporting role in educating and guiding our young roster through the season, and its great for me to bring someone in who I can trust and work closely with.

We’ve got a fantastic team of volunteer staff here, both involved directly in our on-ice product, and those supporting in roles outside of that – Ross will fit right into that core and we’re all looking forward to getting started.

Welcome to Milton Keynes Ross, we look forward to giving you a warm welcome at our first home game later this summer!