STICK-wielding ice warrior Josh Batch is proving to be hot stuff in a British team shirt.

The former Westcliff High School for Boys pupil is representing Great Britain at the ice hockey U20 world championships in freezing Belarus this week.

So far Britain are placed third in their division, and today Batch will be pulling on his skates, pads and helmet as Britain square up to the Ukraine team.

This clash will be followed by encounters with the host nation on Friday and Japan on Sunday.

Wickford-based Batch — who now lives in the United States — is the son of former boxer and Southend RFC player, Kevan Brady.

As a teenager Batch first took to the ice at Chelmsford’s Riverside rink in 1998, competing for every club age group and then finally made it to the adult team, the Chelmsford Chieftains, as a 6ft tall 15-year-old.

Batch played for England from the age of 12 until he was 16 before he left for America where, as a school and college pupil, he played for Colorado AAA midget minors in the Rocky Mountain Wranglers.

By 2008 he was scouted to play in LA’s AAA midget majors for the South California (So-Cal) Titans when the team reached the national finals and won the league.

He is now playing in Boston in the Empire Junior Hockey League.

Kevan Brady, who is at the worlds with his son, found Essex’s recent Arctic blast has helped prepare the Britons for the extreme cold of Belarus where temperatures today are expected to dip to minus 13 degrees.

Kevan said: “Josh is at the team GB hotel with body guards and security. The security at these championships is very high.”

So far the Brits — who are lying in third place in Division One —have had mixed fortunes.

He said: “Great Britain lost the opening game to the highest seeded team, Latvia. The score was 6-0, which was a disaster.

“But they came back to beat a strong Italian team 2-0.”

So far the former Essex teenager has delighted the British team head coach Peter Russell and his assistant coach Joel Poirier.

But both know that to maintain third slot in the division the Britons must play out of their skins.

So far the Division One table is headed by Latvia with Belarus just in front of Great Britain. Italy, Japan and Ukraine bring up the bottom half of the table.

Most of Batch’s British teammates play for British and Welsh teams, but there are a handful of players who, like Batch, are based in either the USA or Canada.