Jamie impresses on Scotland U17 debut

The 16 year old grandson of Ballymacash resident Nancy Scott is carving out a promising ice-hockey career having recently taken to the ice for Scotland’s U17 side during the biggest weekend in the British junior ice-hockey calendar.
Jamie Scott, who recently represented Scotland's U17 ice-hockey team.Jamie Scott, who recently represented Scotland's U17 ice-hockey team.
Jamie Scott, who recently represented Scotland's U17 ice-hockey team.

Jamie Scott was called up to the Scotland side alongside Junior Belfast Giants team-mate Stephen Eccles for this month’s Conference Tournament in Hull.

Jamie’s side beat South West while the Northern Irish lad picked up his first assist point at that level of hockey.

It was the first year that Belfast Giants players were invited over to Scotland to try-out for the Conference squad. Forcing his way into a squad that has been together since the age of 11 was no mean feat for Jamie.

However, has steadily progressed over the years to become one of the top defencemen this side of the Irish Sea and was selected for the final panel. Last season he has been playing with both the Giants’ U16 and U20 teams and trained with the Belfast Giants SNL team. His dream is to play someday for the Belfast Giants, following in the footsteps of former local defenceman Graeme Walton.

The tournament in Hull has only accerated his rise. He has now been accepted into an invite only ice hockey camp in Toronto this summer after recommendation from his club coaches. The week-long camp is designed for Jamie’s position in defence, and is run by NHL player Mike Weaver.

Jamie has been playing ice-hockey for the past five years. Ulster Star readers assisted him several years ago when his grandmother appealed for readers to assist in voting him onto an ambassadorship programme with Nekoti Sherwood.

He was successful on that occasion and was awarded the ambassadorship. He received a letter of congratulations from First Minister Peter Robinson and Jamie attended a meeting with him at Stormont in June 2013.

Jamie has been a frequent attender at ice-hockey camps in Scotland and England over the past four years and has a shelf-load of silverware for his efforts.

It is estimated that after completion of the Hull tournament, he has travelled a total of approximately 9050 miles on the UK mainland since attending his first ice-hockey camp in May 2010.

In November of last year, Jamie’s club received an invite for a select number of players to attend the Scottish Conference Team trials at Dumfries and so began his road to Hull.

In November, a number of players from the Junior Belfast Giants took to the ice alongside counterparts from most ice-hockey clubs in Scotland.

The competition for places on the final Scotland squads was high and a number of players were dropped but Jamie held in to the end and added another paragraph to his ever-lengthening ice-hockey CV.

Related topics: