RHODES Mitchell-King captained Great Britain’s under-20 ice hockey team to world silver at the 2023 World Championship Division II Group A tournament in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Britain were denied gold and promotion to Division I by tournament winners Croatia who were the only nation to beat Britain at the Championships.
Mitchell-King, from Dunchurch, contributed one goal and two assists in Britain’s five matches which included setting up his country’s winner in their opening match against hosts Lithuania.
The defenceman also provided an assist in Britain’s 7-4 defeat against Croatia a result which would prove costly come the end of the tournament.
However, the youngster was on target in Britain’s convincing 9-0 win against Romania before leading his nation to a 7-0 win against Netherlands and 3-1 success against Spain.
This meant Britain needed Romania to upset the odds and prevent Croatia from winning their final group game to secure the gold medal.
Croatia raced into a 4-1 lead and looked on course to snatch the gold only for Romania to stage a remarkable comeback and level at 4-4 with 12 minutes to play.
However, Croatia struck again with five minutes left to play to secure a 5-4 win and earn promotion to Division I at Britain’s expense.
Both Croatia and Britain finished on 12 points with the former topping the group by virtue of having a better head-to-head record.
Hosts Lithuania finished third with Spain fourth, Netherlands fifth and Romania sixth after the latter nation lost all five group matches.
Mitchell-King collected the silver trophy on behalf of the Britain team having played his final game at junior level for his country.
He will now return to Telford Tigers in the NIHL National League where he is targeting silverware in his first professional season.
