Ice Hockey: McSorley adding youth to experience

The Great Britain coach, Chris McSorley, has again filled his squad with a mixture of experience and young talent for the pre-World Championship training camp at Nottingham's National Ice Centre from 8-12 April.

The experienced campaigners, Rick Brebant and Scott Young, return after missing last year's tournament in Slovenia when Britain failed to gain promotion to Pool A – the élite group – because of an inferior goal difference to the hosts.

The youngsters Tom Watkins, Ricky Plant and Gary Wishart have all figured in the British programme in the last 12 months and are included in a party of 28 while Joe Watkins also returns after a hamstring injury ruled him out of contention last April. The squad, which will be cut to 23 following the training camp, face Denmark in their opening game on 14 April before matches against Hungary, Romania, China and, finally, Norway on 20 April.

McSorley said: "We have had to put together a sizeable squad due to the possibility of injury. We must not forget there are still a large number of play-off games before April."

The team manager, John Bailey, added: "We have the squad that will take us closer to the 2006 Winter Olympics. Everyone involved in this programme is dedicated to ensuring we reach that goal – we will be there, have no fear of that."