Last month the 17-year-old St Peter’s College pupil was selected for the New Zealand men’s under-18 ice hockey team.
In March he will travel to Istanbul, Turkey, to compete in the International Ice Hockey Federation Division 3, Group A tournament.
"I got a call from my coach and he told me I would be coming to Turkey.
"I was a bit struck. I didn’t know what to say."
Once that call ended he immediately called his mum and grandparents to let them know the news.
He was grateful for the sacrifices they made for him.
Each week they would drive him to Dunedin and Queenstown to attend training.
In Dunedin he played for the Dunedin Thunder at representative level, and the Dunedin Penguins at club level.
For the next few months he would spend a lot of time preparing for the competition.
"There’s lot of fundraising, training and hard work off the ice to get ready for it.
"I’ve got to juggle school, try to go to the gym as much possible, go to trainings and rugby."
Training was never easy as he considered himself a perfectionist.
"I just like to have everything perfect when I’m playing because then it doesn’t distract me from the actual game."
He played as a defender and played for the Gore Grizzlies for three years.
After the competition he hoped to continue to play ice hockey and represent New Zealand.
"I kind of want to go to Europe for hockey ... but we’ll see."
He had no plans of giving it up any time soon.
"I’d pick hockey over anything at this stage."
Since 1989 more than 15 Gore Grizzlies players including Beth Scott, Brittany Tiller, Charlie Lilly, the late Nicola Henare and Liam Henare have represented New Zealand. Former Gore Grizzlies coach Grant Scott said these representatives and others were a testament to the work of Ice Sports Southland.
"That’s the thing a lot of people don’t realise is we’ve had an awful lot of reps. It’s a very good track record."
It was cool Hellyer-Waihape would be the latest to do it, he said.
"Finn’s done bloody well to get there. Good luck to him."
