The Bendigo teenager travels to Melbourne twice a week to train and play, and will head to Finland and Romania this December to represent the nation at the 2010 Ice Hockey World Championships.

Wooster was selected for the world championships based on his performance with the Rangers in the A-grade competition at Melbourne’s Icehouse arena.

Wooster, who took up the sport at the age of six, began his ice hockey career at the Golden Square-based Bendigo Ice Skating Stadium, which has closed its doors in recent times.

“I started playing at the Bendigo rink when I was about six,” he said.

“I sort of just stuck at it and enjoyed playing at the Bendigo rink, and then the rink shut and only a few players kept on going with it.

“That’s when I started having to travel to Melbourne to play.”

The ice hockey star, who has also represented Victorian ice hockey teams, including the winning state team at the under-18 Syd Tange national championships, said he would be keen to see the ice rink return to Bendigo.

“It would be great to have a rink here again and it would be a good addition to Bendigo because it would be a good chance for people to get involved in this kind of sport,” he said.

“It’s all footy and netball here, so it would be good for Bendigo to have a rink and for people to try something different.

“There doesn’t really seem to be many players from regional Victoria.

“It would also be good for me because it would allow me to train properly, whereas now I’ll have to go out and play roller hockey as well as travel to Melbourne a few times a week to train.”

Wooster will travel with the Australian team to Finland for a 10-day training camp on December 6 before heading to Romania for the two-week tournament.