After nearly 50 years it was a sight for sore ice.

Hero captain of the Brighton Tigers, Mike O'Brien, took up his hockey stick again yesterday as he skated on to the Royal Pavilion's outside rink.

Mike, 77, who was part of a team that crushed the mighty Soviet Union in 1957, met up with other members of the long-disbanded Tigers said having a rink on his doorstep was too hard to resist.

Hitting a puck in anger for the first time in 15 years, he said: “Having a beautiful rink like this on our doorstep has brought back a lot of memories.”

Mike, of Peacehaven, who was Tigers captain for a couple of seasons, and who has a place in the British Hall of Fame for Ice Hockey, started skating when he was just 16.

He added: “It was just natural for me. I used to play on roller skates on the promenade and I played roller hockey down by the paddling at the West Pier and the beach huts. But I found pushing the tin around on the ice a lot easier.”

For full story see today's Argus.