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

GB suffer 6-2 defeat against Hungary

GB netminder Warren Gillfoyle makes a pad save against Hungary.

On Monday GB under 18’s were in their second match of the World Championship Division 2 – Group A round-robin in Estonia. Having defeated the hosts the previous night, GB was on a high and hoping to beat fellow opening day victors Hungary.

The game started evenly, however GB faced pressure early on when Oliver Betteridge was called for hooking at 4:45. Just over a minute later and GB were facing a 5-on-3 situation with James Wallace being called for boarding at 5:20. Despite the disadvantage GB kept the score level, but just 8 seconds after Wallace returned to the ice Hungary found the net for their opening goal; Captain Csanad Erdely making it 1-0.

GB were awarded their own powerplay at 7:42 and set about taking advantage of the extra skater. With the two minutes almost concluded Captain Floyd Taylor levelled the scores at 1-1; assisted by Betteridge and Harry Harley. With neither team finding the net again in the period; the opening 20 minutes ended level at 1-1.
It took just 23 seconds after the re-start for Hungary to show their quality and find the go ahead goal for a lead they would not give up for the remainder of the game. Daniel Szabo taking advantage of an early lapse in concentration to make it 2-1.

GB were trying to find a way back into the game, but their efforts were put on hold when Declan Balmer was called for boarding at 25:32 giving Hungary the powerplay. Despite their early attempts they could not make their chances count, but with the penalty dwindling to an end and just 8 seconds remaining on the clock, Szabo’s shot found a way past Warren Gilfoyle to extend Hungary’s lead to two.

Just past the mid-way point of the game and again GB were on the penalty kill as Taylor was called for elbowing. However the penalty killing unit was up to the task and was able to see out the two minutes without conceding. But luck was not with GB it would seem as Hungary were able to extend their lead further with an equal strength goal just 8 seconds after the penalty ended; Zsombor Kiss the scorer.

Head Coach Mark Beggs called a timeout at this point in the game to try and change the fortunes and reverse the 4-1 deficit and it worked. With Tamas Laday called for slashing GB were able to take advantage of the powerplay and Bobby Chamberlain reduced the lead to two at 36:37. But any chance of a dramatic comeback were killed off just under a minute later when Ferenc Kocsis was able to slot home making it 5-2; with the third period left to play.
Despite a two minute powerplay early in the third period, GB couldn’t take advantage and were unable to reduce the lead that Hungary held. The game was put out of all reach at 49:51 with Szabo slotting home his hat-trick marker to make it 6-2.

With the game entering its final stage once again GB ran into penalty trouble. Firstly Chamberlain was called for cross-checking at 49:51 shortly before Taylor was called for 5 minute major for cross-checking and a 20 minute game misconduct penalty. Hungary also faced their own issues and Richard Toth was called for cross-checking from behind and a 2+10 minute misconduct penalty; with the game ending 6-2 in favour for Hungary.

Coach Mark Beggs said: “We can’t fault the effort of the players and for large spells of the game it was even with both teams creating chances.

“Penalties at critical times in the second period it was the difference in the game. At this level momentum can get you chasing the game and the second period took a lot out of the team.

“We have an off day but will now recharge and prepare for the next game.”