BASINGSTOKE Bison’s teenage forward Cameron Wynn and his Great Britain under-20 teammates will only benefit from the experience of playing in the Cherepanov Cup in Lithuania, according to GB head coach for the tournament Martin Grubb.

“This was a tremendous opportunity for the players to experience how difficult a tournament can be,” he said.

“It allowed the staff to be able to evaluate the players in a team environment and see how they reacted to the intensity of such a situation.

He added: It has certainly been worthwhile and will be an invaluable experience as we continue to prepare this team for the World Championship in Dumfries.

“This trip was made with a young team who will have benefited from playing international hockey.”

Wynn, who scored in his last tournament for GB, failed to find the net this time, but enjoyed the tournament.

The Bison forward said: “It was a great tournament against some very good teams who are used to playing together.

“We won the first game after a penalty shoot-out, which was good to watch and it can only do the team good going forward towards the World Championships.”

Wynn, who scored his first senior goal for the Basingstoke Bison in their final league game last season against Swindon is hoping to open his account in game one when Swindon visit on Saturday.

Wynn said: “Having this tournament has been a great pre-season for me and now I can’t wait to hit the ice with the Bison. I am looking to build on my performances from last season.”

The tournament in Lithuania started so well for the young British stars as GB made a dramatic comeback to beat Belarus 3-2 after a penalty shoot-out in their opening game.

The GB youngsters were trailing 2-0 but Ivan Antonov and Lewis Hook scored in the last 90 seconds after they pulling netminder Adam Goss.

The game was then decided with a penalty shoot-out, in which Hook and Ollie Betteridge were unable to find the target, but Josh Cook did while Goss was not beaten from the three attempts against him.

In their next game they were beaten 6-1 by a strong Russian side, Omsk Hawks, as man-of-the-match Cook scored their only goal.

The young Brits’ third game saw then go down 6-4 in a high scoring contest against Lithuanian youth champions Energy.

GB took the lead in the first period through Hook, assisted by former Bison Matt Selby. Energy hit back scoring five unanswered goals, before Sam Godfrey and Lee Bonner then set up Liam Charnock to close the gap just before the second intermission.

Energy made it six in the third period, before Selby’s pass was converted by JJ Pitchley and their fourth goal was netted by Liam Morris, assisted by Pitchley and Betteridge.

The team suffered another defeat in the next game going down 3-1 to Russian side Kapitan.

Hook scored GB’s only goal assisted by man-of-the-match Matt Selby and Cook.

The under-20s ended their campaign with a 4-1 defeat by Poland’s under-20 side.

Hook scored the lone strike from Jordan Cownie and Sam Godfrey.

Jonathan Kirk was Great Britain’s man-of-the-match, while Ivan Antonov was GB’s player of the tournament.