SWINDON Wildcats D-men Ben Nethersell and Kyle Smith, plus forwards Glenn Billing, Adam Finlinson, Luc Johnson, Toms Rutkis and Michael Stratford have been included in Great Britain's squad for the IIHF World U18s Division 2A Championships in Tallinn in March.

The seven Cats, all members of the Swindon-based Okanagan Hockey Academy UK, were included in the squad, which was finalised after a camp this month.

The septet have made more than 50 English Premier Ice Hockey League appearances between them this season.

Stratford, a recent U20s gold medal winner with Great Britain, said: "I’m honoured to have been selected to play for my country once again.

“After winning gold with the U20s, hopefully we can do the same with the U18s.  We’ve got a great bunch of kids and the way we gelled so well in the U20s, I believe that we can do the same in the U18s with all the hard work we will put in.” 

Britain will face hosts Estonia, Croatia, Korea, Netherlands and Poland, in the six-team IIHF tournament from March 22-28.

A training camp will take place on February 3-4, with a challenge game also being lined up.

Netminder Connor Morris has been named on the reserve list.