GB hoping to pull off the Italian Job

It is a big day for Great Britain as they face-off in their third match of the Division 1A World Championships; against tough opposition.

Italy is the team in the way today and GB will be hoping to turn their fortunes around against the 16th seed country.
Italy has been in good form so far in the tournament and has been the early leaders, alongside Kazakhstan, having won their opening two games.

It is a case of missed opportunities for GB however as they lost 4-2 to Hungary on the opening night and were blanked 5-0 by Kazakhstan a day later. However the results do not reflect the performance on the ice, with GB holding their own against two countries that are ranked well above them in the IIHF World Ranking order; but with the round robin style tournaments such as these the world rankings count for nothing and it goes down to how you play on the day.

Italy have comfortably beaten Korea (4-0) and Japan (4-1) so far in the tournament but GB will be hoping to put up a better fight in this afternoon’s game.

Belfast Giants’ netminder Stephen Murphy told the Ice Hockey UK website; “We are used to the pressure, we are used to the tough games, so we are well prepared for this. We need to keep our energy levels up and we have a lot of positives to take forward.

“Italy are a good team, they are an A pool team and tough opposition for sure. Our aim is to get something from the game and take it forward into our last two games.”

Penalty trouble was something that blighted GB during the final Olympic qualification round in Latvia earlier this year and was something that Assistant Coach Doug Christiansen hoped they could improve on in this tournament.

In Latvia GB was the highest ranked country in terms of penalties taken having registered 54PIM over the three games. So far in this tournament, improvements have been made, and GB are ranked 5th overall with 22PIM from their first two games.

Further improvements have also been seen in terms of scoring opportunities however luck has not bounced our way with those chances being converted into actual goals.

Both teams will feel a little refreshed having had a day off yesterday and GB will go into the game in high spirits and full of confidence. An early goal would give them a great boost which could lead them to victory; however they must not let their heads drop should Italy take the lead.

GB’s game will once again be shown live on Premier Sports (Sky channel 428) with the face-off at 3pm.

Great Britain 0 – 6 Kazakhstan

In their final game of the pre-Olympic qualification rounds in Latvia, Great Britain ended with their third straight loss, as they were blanked in a 6-0 thumping at the hands of Kazakhstan.

In the final game of three, Head Coach Tony Hand, promoted Hull Stingrays’ Ben Bowns to starting position in his first international start for GB, leaving veteran Stevie Lyle on the bench. It took just 30 seconds for Kazakhstan to take the lead, Roman Starchenko cutting in from the right and firing a shot low past Bowns. Just over two minutes later, Konstantin Romanov found space in the slot, to fire a shot past Bowns to open the lead to two.

GB started to find their feet later in the period and Robert Farmer and Jonathan Phillips both went close to scoring in quick succession. With the period coming to a close, Ben O’Connor and David Clarke, also went close but Kazakhstan showed their quality and kept their two goal advantage going into the break.

Two penalties in quick succession for GB early in the second period gifted Kazakhstan with a 5-on-3 powerplay. Firstly Jonathan Phillips was called for roughing at 24:07 and then Rob Sarich was called for slashing at 24:49. Unfortunately it took just 9 seconds for Kazakhstan to find the net for their third goal. Precise passing from the face off saw Talgat Zhailauov stab home a shot at the back door past Bowns.

Kazakhstan defenceman Alexi Litvinenko made it four at 28:22 before Craig Peacock immediately had a chance at the other end, but with his effort cleared, Kazakhstan broke out of the zone with a two-on-one. With Ilya Solarev advancing to the back door he completed a free-flowing move to slot the puck home and make it 5-0. With just under 3 minutes to play of the second period, a giveaway at centre ice by Sarich allowed Vikor Alexandrov to break free and skate in on Bowns firing the puck past to make it 6-0.

With just 20 minutes to play, the game was all but out of reach for Team GB, and despite six minutes of powerplay opportunities they were unable to find the net and add a single marker, as Vitali Yeremeyev skated to an impressive shut-out performance.

Head coach Tony Hand said afterwards, “This has been a big learning curve for the players. “We probably took too many penalties and that hurt us.

“We kept it at a 0-0 final period and we can take heart from that ahead of the World Championship. “I want to say how much the team appreciated the support. Even though we were down they supported us throughout.”

With Great Britain finishing the tourament at the bottom of Group E, the Kazak’s were waiting on the result of the final game between the hosts Latvia and France, before knowing if they had been successful to qualify for Sochi. However a 3-2 overtime victory by France gifted Latvia the point they needed to finish ahead of Kazakhstan and advance to the Olympics in 2014.

Group E – Latvia – Day One Round-up

Thursday 07 February 2013. Final Olympic Qualification for Group E.

The hosts, Latvia, grabbed an early victory against Great Britain; beating the 21st ranked team 6-2.
Earlier in the day Kazakhstan (17th) fulled out a surprise victory against 14th ranked France.

This has put the hosts and Kazakhstan in pole position going into day two.

The first match of the day sees France take on Great Britain as either team will register their opening victory in the tournament. The game starts at 13:30 UK time.

The second match is between the two day one winners, and for the luck of Great Britian either team will take vital points off the other which may be a turning point going into day 3.

Latvia 6 – 4 Great Britain – Game One

The scene was the Riga Arena, Latvia. The hosts took to the ice to face the underdogs from Great Britain in the second match of the weekend, with the visitors hoping for an upset. Unfortunately however it was not to be as the host team showed their class and why they are ranked 11th in the world as they beat Great Britain 6-2.

Great Britain had an early chance to take the lead, but David Clarke’s shot fired just wide, as the visitors showed their early intentions to not be taken easily. But the hosts were the first to score when Gints Meija fired a shot past Stevie Lyle at 2:57.

It took only 61 seconds for the Lions to show their fighting spirit; as Colin Sheilds fed Robert Dowd in the slot. Dowd calmly fired the puck low and fast past Edgars Masalskis to register his 11th international goal, and to draw the game level.

Latvia were killer on the powerplay and this showed as they grabbed their second goal of the game, as Ben O’Connor was called for interference, allowing Miks Indrasis to get his back door shot past Lyle for a 2-1 lead at 14:43. As the team’s retired to their respective dressing rooms, Great Britain took great spirit and pride in knowing that the scoreline could have been vastly different, had it not been for the class that Lyle displayed.

As in the first period, Great Britain ran into penalty trouble which would ultimately become their downfall, as Rob Sarich was called for elbowing at 26:36 before Shields was called for a slash at 29:34; giving Latvia a near un-interupted four minute spell of having the man advantage. Once again they took the chances they had and following Shields’ visit to the box, Oskars Bartilis fired a low canon  shot from the blueline at 29:50 to give the hosts a two goal cushion. It was to be the only marker in a fairly equal second period.

With only a two goal deficit to start the third and final period, hopes would have been high in the Great Britain camp for a sterling comeback. However the hosts had other plans and extended their lead to 4-1 just three minutes into the final stanza.

Ronalds Kenins was unmarked by any Great Britain defenceman in the left circle, taking his time he aimed and fired a quick shot past Lyle at 43:24. Moments later Craig Peacock had a great chance on a delayed penalty call but his shot fired wide.

Latvia stretched the game from all doubt and added a fifth goal at 53:07; Georgijs Pujacs beating his man to fire a shot past Lyle. Moments later Lauris Darzins, missed an open netter, which would have given them a sixth goal; shortly before O’Connor rattled the base of the post whilst Great Britain had a 5-on-3 advantage. The two man advantage worked in GB’s favour as Clark, O’Connor and Shields all combined on a great effort to set up Peacock on the doorstep, who fired home for GB’s second of the night, with just under 3 minutes to go.

Once again, GB ran into penalty trouble as Latvia were gifted an end of game 5-on-3 advantage, firstly as Rob Farmer was called for interference at 58:34. Then just 13 seconds later Matthew Myers received a 2+10 misconduct penalty for checking from behind.

Once again Darzins showed his class to fire a shot past Lyle and end the game with a 6-2 victory over Great Britain.

Head coach Tony Hand said: “I am very proud of this team and it was a great advert for British ice hockey. “It is very difficult to pick a man of the match as they all played their hearts out.
“You must not forget Latvia are ranked 11th in the world and are a very, very good hockey team. “They have skills all over the ice, but we gave everything we had and caused them problems at times. “Now we must lift ourselves for tomorrow for our second game in the tournament.”

Despite the unflattering scoreline; it was a very good opening game for Great Britain. No one believed that Latvia would be a walk-over and most knew it would be a struggle to take on a team ten places above you in the world rankings and outclass them. Latvia showed why they are 11th, and the class of their players, who play across some of the highest leagues in Eastern Europe and Russia. However Great Britain showed they have potential and have got the class and ability to keep up with Teams a lot higher then them in the rankings. Unfortunately it was the discipline and penalty killing that was the downfall for them. In the end with 3 of Latvia’s 6 goals coming whilst on the powerplay. Had they not been gifted those chances, the score would most definitely have been closer.

Some fans on socail media questioned why Lyle, an EPL goalie, had been picked over Ben Bowns; who is an EIHL goalie. The decision by Hand was the correct one to make and his explanation sums it up perfectly. Yes Lyle currently plays in the EPL, but he has shown that he still has the guts and ability to play at a higher level. Had it not been for his skill and experience the scoreline could have been vastly different. That is not to say that Bowns would not have performed well in the same situation, but the opening game of a pre-Olympic qualification tournament, against the host nation, when you are trying to qualify for the first time since the 40’s may have been too much pressure for the young shoulders of Bowns to handle.
Hand has mentioned that Bowns will see the ice time during this tournament and I have no doubt he will be a big stopper at the back, giving confidence from the back forward throughout the team.

The team is back in action this afternoon as they take on the other winners from day one, Kazakhstan at 1:30 (UK time).

Team GB beat Import Select in warm-up game

Team GB warmed up in the best possible style, for their Olympic qualification tournament later this week, with a 6-3 victory against the EIHL/EPL Import Selective at Ice Sheffield last night. Team GB were without experienced Ashley Tait, who sat out the game due to a knock, with Head Coach Tony Hand taking the precautionary route to rest one of the important players in the team.

Hand’s men took an early lead inside the opening two minutes when a good move saw Davie Philips and Jonathan Philips set up Cardiff Devil’s Phil Hill to slot the puck home at the doorstep.

The Import Select hit back and got back on level terms in the 15th minute when Ondrej Pozivil (Manchester Phoenix) slotted the puck past fellow EPL select Stevie Lyle. It was all action in the dying minutes of the opening period. David Clarke restored Team GB’s one goal lead at 18:11; however the advantage was short lived as David-Alexandre Beauregard (Panthers) sent his club coach Corey Neilsen clear to skate in on Lyle and slot home for 2-2.

A brace by Braehead Clan’s Robert Farmer either side of the first period interval saw Team GB open up a two goal lead; with goals at 19:53 and 21:15.

At the midway point of the game, Coach Hand made a change between the pipes for Team GB as Ben Bowns replaced Stevie Lyle for the remainder of the game. For the remainder of the period the game was level pegging with neither team able to find the back of the net as Team GB completed the second period with a 4-2 lead.

Team GB were once again deadly at the opening of the period and two quick goals by Craig Peacock and Rob Sarich gave the men a 6-2 lead over the Import Select. However Sheffield Steeldogs Lubomir Korhon was able to get on the score sheet before the final whistle and scored the Import Select’s final goal; which saw Team GB take a well earned 6-3 victory at Ice Sheffield.

Head Coach Tony Hand spoke to Ice Hockey UK, “It was a good workout for the boys and I would like to thank the import side for turning out to take part in the game and help our preparations. “It is all systems go now and no time to rest. We fly to Latvia in the morning and then straight on the ice in the afternoon.

“Ashley Tait has a very minor knock but he is fine. We just want to give him a extra day’s rest.”

The team will now travel to Latvia today (Wednesday 6th) to prepare for the opening match against the hosts tomorrow with face off at 5:30pm UK time. Don’t forget the games are being shown live on ESPN UK and Ireland. We will also be bringing you news of the games as soon as possible after.

GB ontop in Japan

It is now some 12 days since Team GB returned from Japan having secured their place in the final qualification round for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Coach Tony Hand named his 22 man squad in October which featured just one English Premier League (EPL) player in the form of GB legend David Longstaff. However Hand was forced to make two late changes as Rob Sarich and David Clarke were forced to withdraw through injury. Their replacements were Stevie Lee from Nottingham and Leigh Jamieson of the Milton Keynes Lightning; who would feature as the team’s second EPL entrant.

The 22 man squad that headed to Japan were;

Netminders 

Ben Bowns (Hull Stingrays)

Stephen Murphy (Belfast Giants)

Defence

Danny Meyers (Sheffield Steelers)

Ben O’Connor (Arlan Kokshetau)

Dave Phillips (Belfast Giants)

Mark Richardson (Arlan Kokshetau)

Stevie Lee (Nottingham Panthers)

Mark Thomas (Sheffield Steelers)

Jonathan Weaver (Nottingham Panthers)

Forwards

Robert Dowd (Troja-Ljungby)

Robert Farmer (Braehead Clan)

Mark Garside (Belfast Giants)

Jason Hewitt (Sheffield Steelers)

Leigh Jamieson (Milton Keynes Lightning)

Phil Hill (Cardiff Devils)

Robert Lachowicz (Nottingham Panthers)

David Longstaff (Guildford Flames)

Matthew Myers (Nottingham Panthers)

Craig Peacock (Belfast Giants)

Jonathan Phillips (Sheffield Steelers)

Colin Shields (Sheffield Steelers)

Ashley Tait (Sheffield Steelers)

The Olympic pre-qualification games for Group J (GB, Japan, Romania and South Korea) were held in Nikkō, Tochigi – Japan. Great Britain, ranked 21st had the option to host the Group J contest, however passed the rights to the next highest-ranked team which was Japan.

Great Britain were first up on Friday 9th November as they faced South Korea in the opening game of the weekend. GB made a great start to the game and were 2-0 up within the opening 5 minutes as Craig Peacock and David Longstaff scored.

Won Jung Kim pulled a goal back for S.Korea within 57 seconds. However a goal by Ben O’Connor’s in the 17th minute ensured GB led 3-1 at the first interval.

Won Jung Kim netted his second at 22:27 to pull S.Korea back to a one goal deficit. But Colin Shields scored at the half-way mark of the game to restore GB’s two goal advantage. Won Jung Kim completed his hat-trick at 38:45 and Geunho Kim then leveled the game shortly after the second interval in the 46th minute of play.

Both teams held on for the remainder of the game and no further scoring was seen; sending the game into overtime. With the overtime period still unable to declare a winner the opening game of the tournament went to penalty shots. Shields and Longstaff missed for Great Britain, with Sang Wook Kim and Min Ho Cho successful for S.Korea; who took the victory 5-4. However GB earned a very valuable point from the game.

On Saturday 10th November Great Britain were once again in action in the opening game of the Day as they faced Romania. The game saw David Longstaff reach the milestone 100 caps for Great Britain which was suitably celebrated with a 3-0 victory. In addition to Longstaff; Matthew Myers and Jonathan Phillips and netminder Stephen Murphy, all reached the 50 game milestone for what turned out to be a memorable day in Japan.

With Japan beating South Korea 3-2 in overtime, a dramatic end to the weekend was set, with the winner of the Great Britain v Japan match on Sunday likely to win the group and earn their place in the final qualification round.

With a late face off time on Sunday 11th November; Great Britain were able to rest up as they prepared to face Japan. Two goals in 30 seconds in the opening period saw GB take a 2-0 lead.

Craig Peacock netted on the powerplay at 9:59 and Ben O’Connor scored his third goal of the tournament at 10:29 two give GB the required lead in the game. A scoreless second period set up a thrilling final 20 minutes which saw Japan pull a goal back through Shuhei Kuji just 4 minutes into the period; but GB held on to take the victory and to earn their place in the final qualification rounds.

Head coach, Tony Hand, said: “This is a huge moment in the history of British ice hockey. I am so, so, proud of every one of these guys and so should everyone back home. We have proved we can compete at this level and now we want to prove we can compete at a higher level.

“Every single guy played their heart out and we did this with talent and determination.No-one should under-estimate how much this means to British ice hockey. It is massive.We are one step away from Sochi 2014 and now get to test ourselves against some of the world’s best hockey nations.”

Following the contest it was confirmed that Team GB would be traveling to Latvia for the final Olympic qualification round. GB have been placed in Group E and will play Latvia, France and Kazakhstan between 7th and 10th of February 2013.

GB are ranked 21st in the world and will be the lowest seed in their group with Latvia ranked 11th in the world, France 14th and Kazakhstan 17th.

Coach Hand and Team GB are now within touching distance of the Winter Olympics due to be held in Sochi, Russia in 2014.