Hand names 22 man squad for World Championships

Great Britain’s Head Coach Tony Hand has named his 22 man squad for the World Championships in Hungary later this month; showing minor changes to the roster that made the trip to the pre-olympic qualifers in February. A strong 41 man squad was announced just over a week ago, with notable inclusions from English Premier League (EPL) teams; two of which have made the final cut.

Four changes have been made to the team that was originally selected for the final Olympic qualifers in Latvia in February. Steve Lee, who was replaced by Jonathan Weaver for Latvia due to injury, has been included from the start. Fellow defender, Luke Boothroyd, has also been included fresh from his play-off winning services for the Manchester Phoenix. Forwards Ben Davies (Cardiff Devils) and Aaron Nell, of the EPL Swindon Wildcats, have also made the cut in the 22 man squad.

Luke Boothroyd has been included in the team to fly to Hungary. Photo by David Steadman

Unfortunately Ben O’Connor has been denied release from his KHL club to attend the tournament; whilst Rod Sarich, Mark Garside and Jason Hewitt will also miss out.

GB have began their training camp this week, following the EIHL and EPL play-off finals weekend, before heading out to Hungary on Friday.

They will face the hosts in the first match of the Division One – Group A tournament. The teams play a single round-robin series. Each teams plays each opponent once and the winner of the event will be promoted to the Top Division. The last-ranked team will be relegated to Division I Group B.

Coach Hand said: “All games are tough at this level and they will be five difficult games for us throughout the tournament.

“We are taking a strong team away with us, even though we have key guys out. I would love the team to come away with a medal.
“We are looking forward to the three-day camp now and get ourselves prepared for an important week.”

Netminders

Ben Bowns (Hull Stingrays)

Stephen Murphy (Belfast Giants)

Defencemen

Danny Meyers (Sheffield Steelers)

Dave Phillips (Belfast Giants)

Mark Richardson (Cardiff Devils)

Mark Thomas (Sheffield Steelers)

Steve Lee (Nottingham Panthers)

Luke Boothroyd (Manchester Phoenix)

Jonathan Weaver (Nottingham Panthers)

Forwards

David Clarke (Nottingham Panthers)

Robert Dowd (Troja-Ljungby)

Robert Farmer (Braehead Clan)

Ben Davies (Cardiff Devils)

Phil Hill (Cardiff Devils)

Robert Lachowicz (Nottingham Panthers)

Matthew Myers (Nottingham Panthers)

Greg Owen (Basingstoke Bison)

Craig Peacock (Belfast Giants)

Aaron Nell (Swindon Wildcats)

Ashley Tait (Sheffield Steelers)

Colin Shields (Belfast Giants)

 

The schedule of the games are as follows;

14th April@19:30 – Hungary v GB

15th April @16:00 – GB v Kazakhstan

17th April @16:00 – GB v Italy

19th April @16:00 – GB v Japan

20th April @12:30 – GB v South Korea

Great Britain U18 record 7-3 victory over hosts

GB celebrate a goal during theor victory against Estonia

Great Britain’s under 18 ice hockey team are in Estonia this week for the Division 2 –group A World Championship. It is a round-robin tournament and each team plays each opponent once. The winner of the event will be promoted to Division 1 –Group B.

GB are in a tough group and will face; Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Lithuania during the tournament. GB was last in the Division 1 – Group B in 2010 and will be looking for a return up the rankings.

On Sunday, GB faced the hosts Estonia in the third and final match of the evening. Having seen Croatia and Hungary take victory earlier in the day, they were surely looking to follow suit.

The game got underway with GB conceding an early penalty at 2:17 when Craig Moore was called for roughing. However despite going a man down GB were able to attack and opened the scoring at 3:33 when Lewis Hook found the net.
Estonia then ran into their own penalty trouble mid-way through the first period when Captain Konstantin Ljubobratets was called for boarding. GB was able to capitalise on the man advantage and Bobby Chamberlain double the lead at 12:11. With the period running to an end James Wallace was called for boarding at 19:33 resulting in Estonia starting the second period on the powerplay.

With the teams coming out for the middle stanza, Estonia couldn’t take advantage of the extra skater once more and the score remained 2-0. However William Attwell extended the lead to three at 23:26. Just 14 seconds later and GB were once more down to 4 men as Declan Balmer was called for charging. This time Estonia made sure they used the advantage and reduced the lead to two at 24:49.

With the teams back at full strength, GB immediately went on the attack and tried to stretch out their advantage on the score board; Chamberlain slotting home his second of the evening to make it 4-1.
Minutes later and double-goal scorer Chamberlain was making his way to the penalty box for a slashing call. Once again Estonia was able to make good use of the extra skater and reduced the lead once more when Maksim Anohhin found the net.

With the game reaching the mid-way point, it was Estonia’s turn to go a man down at 30:40. With the clock ticking down and just 12 seconds remaining on the powerplay, Harry Harley was able to find the net to extend GB’s lead back to three. Less than a minute later and Attwell scored his second of the evening to make it 6-2; to round out the second period with a comfortable lead.

Not taking anything for granted, GB came out attacking in the third period and were rewarded for their efforts with Hook also adding a second marker to his tally for the night, making it 7-2 at 46:29. In less than a minute Estonia had their own chance at the opposite end of the rink and made it count as Georgi Vassiljev grabbed a consolation goal for the hosts. However it was too little too late for the hosts as GB ran off victors with a 7-3 score.

Coach Mark Beggs said: “We gained a well-deserved victory over Estonia. The team outworked Estonia in every category. But we know, as a staff, we need to correct a few things to keep the momentum going forward.”
“It’s the best possible start and the team is looking forward to playing a strong Hungary team.”