Local Junior Solway Sharks rising star Lewis Houston is off to represent Great Britian’s Under 16s Ice Hockey team in the Czech Republic next week, hoping to repeat his storming performance for the team at their tournament held in Dumfries last December.
15 year old Lewis, who captains the Solway Sharks Juniors under 16s team, is thrilled to be selected. After travelling to Madrid with the GB team last spring, Lewis, along with players from all over the UK, has again gone through a selection process that started last summer, and involved extensive on and off-ice testing and trials, vying for a place in the team. Successful in the selection process for the second year running, Lewis had a pivotal role in the team’s success in the international tournament held in December 2016, contributing to their resounding victory in every game.
Heading to the Czech Republic to play in an international tournament next week, the GB youngsters will come up against their Czech hosts, as well as teams from Sweden and Finland, from 7th to 9th April.
Solway Under 16 coach Jamie Kerr congratulated Lewis, saying, “Lewis is a real raw talent who domestically can change a game in a heartbeat. He’s put in a lot of work on his fitness, and this has allowed him to push his skill set even further. With all his experience with Solway U16s and U20s, as well as the Scottish Conference U17 set up, he will lead the team in terms of drive and points production. He is the kind of character that will bring other players into the game too with his all-round game, seeing as his eye for a pass equals his eye for goal. I’m sure he will thrive in Czech with the best GB has to offer, and hopefully will be pushed to a peak level by teams from hockey power houses such as the Swedes and Finns. We are all desperate to see him succeed.”
An excited Lewis, looking forward to the trip, said, “It’s a real honour and a privilege to play for my country, and experience ice hockey at the highest level. It will be a great experience to go to Czech, we will hopefully have some good games, the teams competing have all got good reputations. I get a lot of help and support from the coaches at Solway and at Synergy performance, and I’ll be working hard to make them all proud.”
