THREE Bradford Bulldogs' juniors have emerged from their recent exploits with Great Britain with plenty to shout about this week.

Jess Wooding, Lydia Lutwyche and Grace Cooper all play for the Bulldogs’ Under-16 and Under-18 teams during the regular season, but found themselves with some extra ice this summer when selected for national duty.

Jess found herself in Istanbul for the IIHF World Championships Division 2A Under-18 Women's tournament against eight other teams, split into three groups.

After convincing 6-0 wins over Turkey and Mexico in the initial group phase, they then fell 4-0 to Spain in the second group stage but recovered to beat the Netherlands 2-1 to book themselves a rematch in the final against Spain.

Sadly, they fell again to the same opponents, this time going down 3-1 to finish runners-up overall, with the gold medallists earning promotion.

GB head coach Angela Taylor said: “It was exciting to see such a high standard of hockey being played.

“I was very proud of our girls and how they fought right to the end of the game.”

Lydia and Grace, meanwhile, were part of a GB Under-16 Women’s team playing in Bristol in the British Women’s Ice Hockey Friendship Tournament.

GB secured second place after an unbeaten run in the group phase across both days, posting 16 points from 10 matches, with six wins and four ties.

It meant a semi-final against Nottingham, which after ending 0-0, resulted in a shoot-out in which GB prevailed thanks to goals from Kingston’s Meeyah Forbes and Bradford’s Lutwyche.

The final with Bristol also produced a tie, this time 1-1, and it was the same shoot-out combination of Forbes and Lutwyche which ensured victory for GB.

Head coach Nicci Wardell said: “The girls performed absolutely phenomenally across the whole weekend.

“From what we expected from the weekend, we have well and truly exceeded the goal that we went to Bristol with and we are so proud of each and every one of them. It is brilliant for GB women’s hockey going forward.”

Bulldogs’ head coach Andy Brown said the success of the Bulldogs’ trio was richly deserved.

“All three girls have worked really hard in the past year or two to get to the level where they need to be at in order to be considered by the GB programme,” he said.

"Jess and her team-mates in the 18s were particularly unlucky to narrowly miss out on gold in Istanbul, but coming home with a silver medal is still a seriously great achievement and a reflection of how well they played overall.

"Lydia and Grace thrived at the tournament down in Bristol, playing against several other women's teams and more than holding their own.

"It was great that Lydia scored the winning goal in that shoot-out to clinch the tournament, it must have been a great feeling.

“Both Grace and Lydia will be hoping they can follow in Jess's footsteps next season and maybe push themselves into contention for the 18s, too.

“All-round though, it's been a great year for all three girls and what they have achieved makes the club very proud."

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