Spennymoor lad, Ethan Hehir, has continued his ice hockey development by being named in Great Britain’s under 18 team for this year’s U18 World Championship Division I Group B in Székesfehérvár, Hungary.
GB will take on Austria, Italy, Japan, hosts Hungary and Slovenia following their promotion from Division II last season.
The IIHF tournament takes place at the Ifjabb Ocskay Gábor Ice Hall and runs from 14th to 20th April.
GB will fly out to Bratislava in Slovakia on 8th April for a training camp and challenge games, before moving onto the World Championship venue in Hungary.
Ethan plays ice hockey for local side Billingham Stars with the senior team, as well as the under 18s and under 20s sides when the seniors haven’t got a match.
The 17-year-old captained the Billingham under 18 team which won the league last season as well as captaining the Northern conference under 17s team which won gold, beating all the other conferences, including Scotland. He was chosen into the allstar team from the tournament.
The talented teenager is the only player from the North East to have been chosen for the U18 GB team, which is a great achievement.
He has previously represented England ice hockey teams at under 13, 14, 15 and GB 16s levels.
Last year he also captained the Great Britain ball hockey under 18s team at the World Championships in Newfoundland, Canada as well as playing at the same World Championships with the GB ball hockey under 20s side.
Ethan, who is currently studying his A levels at UTC in Newton Aycliffe and looking to get a degree apprenticeship in engineering, also trains inline hockey at Spennymoor Leisure Centre.
He wishes to thank his sponsors for this season, goodguyglazing and Core Logistics UK Ltd and the kind support from Tony Boynton and Martin Telfer Carpets.
South West Durham News covering news across County Durham.
