THE Basingstoke Bison under-nine junior team won a national tournament held at Sheffield Ice Arena last weekend.

They played against seven other teams from across the country including Wales and Scotland winning six games and drawing one.

They came top of the table and made the final in which they beat Bradford 1-0 to win the event.

Coach Ashley Skinns said: “I’m so proud of the way the kids battled hard every shift and worked together as a team. They played some great hockey and never quit all weekend, Lifting the trophy was the icing on the cake.

“The future is looking very promising for our junior programme.”

The event also recognises individual children who played well during the event and our own Bison under-nine Owen Crow, was Allstar goalie of the tournament.

Emma Crow the manager of the team said: “The Sheffield tournament is a get event held every year which the kids love to attend and to win this year is amazing.

“It’s a long weekend and the boys played six games on the Saturday so were already a little tired going into day two but they played their hearts out and it paid off, super proud to be part of the junior ice hockey development.”

The winning team was made of Ethan Lewis, Henry Warwick, Owen Crow, Jacob Young, Hugh Skinns, Gabriel Marcinkows, Mitchel Penny, Billy Hudson, Melbourne Rye, Logan Matthews, Toby Wooster and Sam Hibbs.