ICE hockey is mourning one of the first members of the region's all-conquering Durham Wasps team.

Robert Burns started playing ice hockey against former German prisoners of war at Durham ice rink in 1947 and went on to international honours.

Known to fans as Bonzo, he was one of the first players to pull on a Durham Wasps shirt, playing alongside the Canadian soldiers based in the region who set up the side which went on to dominate British ice hockey.

He was originally from Philadelphia, near Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham.

Having played for local side the Hornets, he was still a teenager when he played in an historic match which earned the Wasps superiority over the city's ice.

The Canadians, who had been based at Middleton St George, Darlington, and stayed in England after the war, split into two teams and the game decided who would be the city's main team.

Mr Burns's Wasps days also brought international honours and he was capped for Great Britain, while in his club career he also played for Whitley Bay.

Mr Burns, who lived in Sunderland for the past 30 years, continued his off-ice life as a plumbing and heating engineer throughout his playing days, until he was 68.

His family said his love for the sport continued throughout his life and he regularly talked about his career, and former Wasps team-mate Ian Dobson said he continued going to see Durham play until the side folded.

Mr Dobson remembered his former team-mate as a man who played in every position except netminder and who was a tough enforcer.

"If he hit you, you knew about it," he said.

"He was 6ft tall and he was built like a door."

Unmarried, Mr Burns died on June 28 following a battle with prostate cancer. His family said he never complained about the pain.