SKELMANTHORPE ice hockey star Luke Boothroyd will cap a fantastic season as part of the Great Britain squad at next week’s World Championships in Hungary.

The 26-year-old club captain, who has just helped Manchester Phoenix become EPL Play-off champions with a 5-2 victory over Guildford Flames, is a defenceman in the final 22-man squad named by coach Tony Hand.

It’s his first appearance in the GB squad since 2008 and tremendous recognition of his form this term, when he was named Players’ Player of the Year and Manager’s Player of the Year at the Manchester club.

GB will have a three-day training camp before heading out on Friday for the six-team tournament, held in Budapest from April 14-20.

They begin their quest for promotion to the top flight against the hosts on Sunday before games against Kazakhstan, Italy, Japan and Korea.

Hand said: “All games are tough at this level and they will be five difficult games for us throughout the tournament.

“We are taking a strong team away with us, even though we have key guys out. I would love the team to come away with a medal.”

Boothroyd was on the scoresheet as Manchester defeated the Flames with arguably their best display of the season.

The final was tremendous.

Phoenix took the game to the regular-season league winners right from the first face off and their powerplay unit came up trumps after 9.55 with the first goal, with Boothroyd firing high past Mark Lee in the Flames’ goal.

The sell-out crowd expected Guildford to come back in the second period, but it was Manchester who scored two goals through James Archer and Michal Psurny to give themselves a 3-0 lead going into the final 20 minutes.

Flames pulled a goal back with just 40 seconds on the clock in the third period through Nathan Rempel, but Phoenix held firm and scored the goal which put them one hand on the trophy.

Joachim Flaten was in the penalty box on a high sticks minor penalty when Archer passed to Tony Hand on the goalline. Spotting Mark Lee just off his near post, the veteran hit an unstoppable shot through the gap and high into the net.

The Phoenix fans firmly began to believe the dream was about to come true on 49.49 when Psurny scored his second to make it 5-1 and so it proved as Branislav Kvetan’s late goal was mere consolation to Guildford.

Hand, who also coaches Phoenix, said: “I am really proud of the whole team.

“They executed our game plan to perfection and this must go down as one of our best ever performances. I’m really pleased for the fans. We are so glad, as a team, to win the trophy for them.”

The Play-off title – achieved after a 5-4 penalty-shot victory voer Basingstoke Bison in the semi-finals – follows third place in the league and a cup semi-final slot.

Great Britain squad – Netminders: S Murphy (Belfast), B Bowns (Hull). Defencemen: L Boothroyd (Manchester), S Lee (Nottingham), D Meyers (Sheffield), D Phillips (Belfast), M Richardson (Cardiff), M Thomas (Sheffield), J Weaver (Nottingham). Forwards: D Clarke (Nottingham), B Davies (Cardiff), R Dowd (Troja Ljungby), R Farmer (Braehead), P Hill (Cardiff), R Lachowicz (Nottingham), M Myers (Nottingham), A Nell (Swindon), G Owen (Basingstoke), C Peacock (Belfast), J Phillips (Sheffield), C Shields (Belfast), A Tait (Sheffield).