They’ll be running out of room in the trophy cabinets at home soon as our trio of pipefitting apprentices continue to blaze a trail in their respective sports.

This year we have already caught up with kickboxing champ, Paddy, and up-and-coming boxing star, Louis, about their current run of success.

To make it a full house, we chatted to ice hockey player, Lennon, who saw his team, Billingham Stars, bring home a staggering four trophies this season.

“It has been a good run,” said the 20-year-old from Thornaby, who also plays for the Billingham Buccaneers.

Looking back at what he describes as “a history-breaking season”, the Stars saw just three defeats out of 33 games, impressive by any standards.

In a super successful run, the 24/25 season saw the team win the Moralee Cup, the English National League Northern Division Championship, the play-off final and the first national play-off championship.

Proud to have played a part, and truly passionate about his sport, Lennon explained: “Ice hockey is in my family as my dad and uncle both played.”

In fact, his uncle represented Great Britain Under 18s and England Under 20s.

It would have come as no surprise when Lennon, aged just seven or eight, decided he wanted to give it a go.

A talent for the sport clearly runs in the genes as by the age of 14 he had won the English National league with Billingham Under 13s and the Northern Conference Championship with the Under 11s.

Opening up opportunities to travel the world presenting Czech and Dubai teams, competing in Finland and Las Vegas, Lennon was scouted for a two-year scholarship with Langton Royals in Ontario, at 15, an exciting move that saw him jetting off to Canada in October 2019, and then Covid struck.

He said: “Looking back I do feel like I was robbed of that opportunity but at the time it was a whole mixture of feelings. It was a nice luxury lifestyle out there.” But he admits, at such a young age, he did miss his family.

Back on home turf, he was quickly picked up by Billingham Stars and has continued to earn his stripes on the ice with a squad he describes as a “phenomenal team”.

Perhaps most important of all he still loves the game and continues to “play for fun” though there’s no doubt the wins are good too.

He explained: “In ice hockey it is all about the team, being part of a team like that is like a second family. It is the best sport in the world.”

And, following on from the success of last season, he added: “That was brilliant, so this season we just need to be even better.”