Final-day win sees Leeds Chiefs' Ethan Hehir clinch silver with Great Britain Under-20s

SILVER LINING: Leeds Chiefs' Ethan Hehir was part of the Great Britain Under-20s team that won silver in Vilnius. Picture courtesy of Kevin Slyfield.

LEEDS CHIEFS’ teenage forward Ethan Hehir returns home from his World Championships adventure with a silver medal after Great Britain Under-20s finished second at the Division II A tournament in Lithuania.

Ultimately, the opening day 6-3 defeat at the hands of eventual gold medal winners Japan – who ended the week-long tournament in Vilnius with a 100 per cent record – was what cost Martin Grubb’s side promotion.

Leeds’ winger Hehir, 18, played in all five games, often playing a crucial role on the team’s penalty kill unit.

GB entered the final day of competition knowing they needed to beat Serbia to stand any chance of finishing second.

Great Britain's Under-20s with their silver medals. Picture courtesy of IHUK.

They were able to do that when goals from Sam Russell, Ed Bradley, Alex Graham, Finley Ulrik and Cade Neilson earned them a 5-2 victory.

They then required Japan to beat the hosts, which they did by the same scoreline in the tournament’s final game, forcing the hosts to settle for bronze.

Head coach Martin Grubb was pleased with his team’s overall performance throughout the week, but challenge them to come back better next year.

“I don’t think it was our best performance (against Serbia), we started well but we got a little loose,” said Grubb.

“Credit to Serbia for the way they came back, but we talked in the room at the end of the second period that good teams find a way to win.

“We wanted to play for the nation – for the people here and the people back home. We wanted to progress, four wins out of five is a progression, but we still want to be better

“It is still tinged with sadness that we underachieved as we weren’t going for a gold medal, but credit to the players as they have showed huge character.”