GB NEWS

Great Britain's Senior Womens squad marked their first Division II campaign with a bronze medal, although their campaign ended with a defeat by second-seeded North Korea.

Laura Saunders started in net for Great Britain, started the game quickly as did the Koreans and it was Taylor who had the first opportunity for the Brits with shot from wide of the net which the Koreans managed to block out.
DPR Korea then had a promising passage of play, forcing some key saves out of Saunders, before they opened the scoring with a shot through the five hole from Ryu.

The Koreans put together an impressive display of possession playing at their maximum for a good 8-9 minutes before the game settled down and GB started to create some attacking opportunities.

GB went onto the powerplay after an incident behind the net. Farman let rip with a cracking shot, and Taylor couldn’t find the net from the tightest of angles. Turner had another chance on a productive powerplay from the slot, well saved by the Koreans.

A defensive error let the Koreans dangerous Ri through on the breakaway and she made no mistake dekeing Saunders to double their lead.

The 2nd period started after a short delay as the ice had failed to dry behind the GB net but GB failed to make progress against a well organised Korean defense.

GB started to increase the intensity of the game with a series of attacks. Henry caused the Koreans a series of problems which saw GB gain a powerplay. Kavanagh had the puck come to her in open space in the slot but failed to hit the target.

It was a frustrating period for GB as nothing seemed to go their way and they were unable to find the target when presented with scoring opportunities.

GB went on another powerplay towards the end of the period which was dominated by the Korean PK and shortly after it ended DPR Korea extended their lead to three with a rebound goal after an excellent save by Saunders.

The second period also ended with a GB powerplay after Taylor was tripped when going to shoot on goal but at the start of the 3rd Korea easily killed off the penalty.

Korea scored their 4th of the game with a shot across the net which easily beat Saunders.

In the third period GB struggled to make progress against a determined Korean defence and they were unable to put together the same passing and movement that had got them within reach of the Gold medal.

After 51 frustrating minutes, GB got themselves on the scoreboard with a hard worked rebound goal from Katie Henry who fired the puck into the bottom right.

In the end however Korea won the game against a GB team that were in truth were a shadow of themselves over the past week and never reached the same level of hockey that made this a game for the Silver medal.

Tait the overtime Hero for GB

Ashley Tait was the British overtime hero as he scored a Bronze medal winning goal 2 minutes into sudden death overtime against the host nation Poland on Friday evening.

After a scoreless first period with chances at both ends it was David Longstaff, playing in his 92nd international game, who broke the deadlock in the 37th minute (assisted Greg Chambers and Mark Thomas).

For long periods it looked like that would be enough for Paul Thompson's men but penalties started to come GB's way and with Mark Thomas in the penalty box for hooking the Poles equalised through Mikolaj Lopuski with just 14 minutes remaining.

With the British still killing penalties the Poles started to have the better of the chances late in the game but the bull dog spirit carried the British through and into overtime. With less than 2 minutes played in the sudden death period Colin Shields hard pass was shot home by Ashley Tait for the winning goal, and more importantly a Bronze medal and improved World rankings.

Goal scoring hero Ashley Tait said "Just an unbelievable feeling, I can't think of any team I have ever played in that deserved success more than this one. When the chance came my way I only had a split second to think about, I just kept thinking finish, finish and I did. This is a brilliant team effort, amazing and right now so hard to take in. Many didn't give us a chance but those of us here inside the room always believed"

GB Women lost out on the gold medal with a 3-0 loss to Latvia in a great battle with the favourites. The scoreline did not reflect the possession and chances that the GB team had with tournament hotshot Koka proving the difference.

The two best lines of the tournament opened the period as neither team gained the upper hand in the first period. Leanne Ganney had a chance to open the scoring in the 5th minute but shot narrowly wide. With GB struggling to coordinate line changes Alice Lamb had to stretch herself to deny a Latvian break before Angela Taylor hit the post from a long drive early into a powerplay. After a soft interference call on Beth Kavanagh, GB ended the period goalless but with a penalty left to kill.

With the penalty killed GB took control of the Latvian zone. Taylor and Emily Turner combined to create a chance for Kavanagh and then Kathy Wiggins was cleared from the post before she could shoot home.

Latvia opened the scoring at 31:52 with Koka losing her opponent to walk in and shoot high over Herring. The Latvian tactic of cycling, tying up four defenders and going one-on-one paid dividends two minutes later when Peterson extended the lead to 2-0. A Reg Wilcox timeout seemed to calm the nerves with Taylor hitting the post from wide right before the period ended.

A thrilling end-to-end final period saw an early goal when a solo effort from Koka saw her go round Herring to fire into an open net. GB threw everything at the Latvians with Taylor double shifting to try and force the play. A GB powerplay saw them spend the whole two minutes in the Latvian zone but shot after shot was saved. Even the late pulling of Herring for the extra skater could not force a goal.

GB lost out on the gold but a gallant performance from Captain Taylor and Best Player Kavanagh showed how far the team have come.

The showdown for bronze and silver with DPR Korea will take place tomorrow at 13:15.

After Tuesday’s big win against Romania, GB came into their fourth game of the World Championships in Torun, Poland knowing that a win was essential to maintain their quest for a bronze medal. In their way was a Dutch team, five places above them in the world rankings, but seeded 5th to GB’s 4th thanks to a GB victory against them in the 2008 World Championships in Austria.

Two minutes later it was three when a smart pass from David Clarke found Colin Shields on the right hand boards who fired in a great shot which Groeneveld in the Dutch net could only parry into the path of Ashley Tait who rifled the puck into the net at 17.26.

It was a completely different Dutch team that came out for the second period, throwing everything they could at the GB defence. They dominated the first half of the period but despite being virtually camped in front of the GB goal, they only managed to turn all their possession into a single goal, their best player, Schaafsma tapping in after a scramble in front of Lehman at 22.54.

Thanks partly to a few big saves from Lehman, GB weathered the storn and by the thirty fourth minute were back controlling the game and creating the better of the chances in front of goal, the best of them falling to Danny Meyers who saw his wrist shot ping off the post. The second period ended with GB still leading by 3 goals to 1.

The third period was more even and the only goal again went to Dutch, Schaafsma again with a redirect on a powerful shot from the blue line that gave Lehman no chance in front of goal. That goal at 57.28 set things up for a fantastic finish with chances at both ends but thanks to the save of the tournament from Lehman, GB held on to win the game 3-2 and a vital 3 points.

GB take on the hosts Poland tomorrow night at 7pm in what they hope will be the bronze medal game of the tournament. For GB to be in that position, they will need group favourites Italy to beat the hosts, Poland on Thursday night.

The GB Women were left savouring a third successive victory in Division II and a gold medal game with Latvia to come on Day 4. The 3-1 victory over the 2nd seeded Denmark left the team tied with the Latvians at the top of the group.

After early pressure in the first, when Kelly Herring was forced into a fine triple save, GB settled and opened the scoring at 6:25 with Beth Kavanagh centering for Angela Taylor to slot home. Within two minutes GB had opened up the Danish defence on a powerplay for Emily Turner to shoot low and opened a 2-0 lead.

A tripping penalty to Alice Lamb was only five seconds old when a Denmark face-off win, and point shot, found its way through a crowd at 12:04 to narrow GB's first period lead to 2-1.

GB successfully killed a penalty to start the 2nd and fell under more pressure from the big Danish forwards. With Taylor caught on a line change she could have been tempted to dump the puck after a long double shift; instead she broke and went end-to-end to shoot home and leave GB 3-1 ahead.

Denmark came out fighting in the third but tenacious defence from the Brits gave Herring time to boss her crease and deny the Danes any clear chances. Katie Henry forced a save on a breakaway five minutes into the period and GB were able to force enough breakouts to relieve the Danish pressure and maintain a 3-1 winning margin.

A fantastic result leaving GB and Latvia left to fight for gold on Thursday.

GB oust Romania

Great Britain picked up three vital points on Tuesday beating Romania 3-0. Both teams went head-to-head having yet to register any wins from their first two games making this an early decision match. The Brits prevailed and did a good job in their effort to avoid relegation.

Playing against a higher ranked team, Romania did a solid job in the first period. The 0-0 stalemate was a correct reflection of the balance between both teams on the ice, best illustrated by the 20 shots taken being equally divided.

As in yesterday’s game against Poland, the decimated Romania squad collapsed in the second period. Missing a handful of key players due to various reasons and only 19 skaters registered makes the tournament a genuine stamina test to them.

At 23:30 Greg Chambers released a accurate slapshot that found the top corner behind Szabolcs Molnar. Jonathan Weaver doubled the lead halfway the period and Colin Shields ensured Great Britain would get its first win tapping home a rebound from a difficult angle with less than a minute left to play.

It was all white, red and blue in the third period as “GB” went to work on its offensive game much to the joy of their loud and vocal drum banging fans. The “Hey rock’n roll. GB scored a goal”-chants filled the arena five more times resulting in a lopsided 0-8 victory for the Brits.

Greg Chambers led the scoring pack with two goals and four points for Great Britain who saw Jody Lehman register a shutout.

Second win sees GB top Division

Back-to-back wins see GB top Division II of the Womens World Championship. The Brits beat the Netherlands 2-0 only 15 hours after their opening victory against Italy (5-3).

Despite early domination GB were unable to open the scoring until the 20th minute when an Angela Taylor centre from behind the goal banked off the netminder to give the GB captain he fourth tournament goal and a 1-0 lead at the break.

With the physicality stepped up from the previous day, both teams exchanged penalties throughout the game. The Dutch never gained any periods of sustained pressure and GB should have made more from the time they spent in the opposition zone.

The second period saw Angela Taylor force a pad save after a break from an inch perfect Beth Kavanagh pass, before Emily Turner hit the post before the period ended.

In the third period all three GB lines threatened as the Dutch tired, but when Dutch breaks came they were efficiently dealt with by the defense with Ledger and Best Player Kelly Walsh (nee Simpson) outstanding at the back.

The game was sealed on the powerplay with 8:14 remaining when a Kavanagh centre from the corner found Katie Henry who shot high into the Dutch net.

GB top the group with 2 wins. The only other unbeaten nation, Latvia, to play the hosts later.

19:02 1-0 GB #3 Taylor, #2 Lamb
51:46 2-0 GB #6 Henry, #13 Kavanagh

In GB's second game of the tournament Italy took the chances that Ukraine could not compete yesterday. Italy opened the scoring at 9.37, the second appeared not much after at 10.52. The 3rd goal of the third period was AT 19.33. The refree left this to become a fast flowing period.

Stevie Lyle took over in nets for the 2nd period. Which saw 2 more goals by the Italians at 29.58 and 34.12 before Colin Shields hit home at 38.55.

GB were the far better team in the 3rd period but only manage to score at 46.00 by young Rob Dowd. After outshooting them 19-7.

Afterwards Paul Thompson expressed his dissapointment at our inability to match the level of performance we had given against the UKraine

Italy - Great Britain 5-2 (3-0, 2-1, 0-1)

Herring supreme as Taylor bags three in GB victory over hosts

Andy Smith - Womens Div II, Torre Pellice, Italy

Kelly Herring backstopped GB to a 5-3 victory over Italy in their first ever win at this level. The host nation came up against a gritty and determined GB team who were outshot 17-41 but never fell behind after establishing a 3-1 lead in the opening 10 minutes.

As in the Olympic Qualifiers, it was the line of Angela Taylor (3+0), Emily Turner (1+0) and Beth Kavanagh (0+1) who did the damage for GB. Kathy Wiggins (1+0) scoring the other.

Despite all the Italian pressure it was Alice Lamb and Alex von Haselberg Palyvou who proved inspirational to their defensive teammates and Herring who used her quick glove hand to pull off a string of close range saves.

Although todays victory is a milestone for the GB team the first day has seen strong perfomances from all the teams. Latvia were flattered by a 6-1 win over North Korea and Denmark needed a penalty shootout to overcome the Nederlands 2-1.

In a change to the schedule GB face Nederlands at 16:45 on Monday.

PIMs 14:12 SOG 17:41
Best Player Kelly Herring (GB), Anna de la Forest (ITA)

Heartbreak for GB in World Championship Opener

Team GB put up a gallant effort in their first game of the 2009 World Championships in Poland on Saturday afternoon going down 4-2 to the highly ranked Ukraine national side.

After a goalless first period Nottingham's David Clarke opened the scoring (assisted Greg Chambers) only for the Ukrainians, ranked 12 places higher than GB, to equalise 84 seconds before the end of the middle period through Shaferenko

With Team GB on the power play and looking to go ahead David Clarke went close but the Ukrainians broke shorthanded for Lytvyenko to score on a 3 on 1 breakaway. GB were quickly back in it, on the same power play when Nottingham's Danny Meyers shot home assisted by Belfast's Colin Shields and Sheffield's Robert Dowd

GB looked like they were going at pick up a valuable point until Sergi Varlamov fired past Jody Lehman with just 3.27 remaining in the game. GB valiantly pressed on but Lytvyenko hit his 2nd of the afternoon in the dieing moments for a 4-2 victory for the Ukrainians

Fixtures

Monday 13th April - Italy v Great Britain - 12.00pm

Tuesday 14th April -Romania v Great Britain - 3.30pm

Thursday 16th April -Great Britain v Netherlands - 12.00pm

Friday 17th April -Poland v Great Britain - 7.00pm

Paul Thompson confirms Great Britain team for World Championships

Great Britain’s ice hockey Head Coach, Paul Thompson has today confirmed his team to travel to the World Championships in Torun, Poland which takes place from 11th to 18th April. The team will open the tournament on 11th April against Ukraine before facing Italy, Romania, Holland and the hosts Poland in the six team group.

The team will warm up for the tournament with two international fixtures on home soil, taking on the Finland Under 23 national team in back to back games at Ice Sheffield on Tuesday 7th and the Coventry Skydome on Wednesday 8th April. Tickets for both games are on sale now.

Thompson has named a twenty-two man team and an additional netminder, Manchester’s Stephen Murphy, who will travel with the team as emergency cover should there be an injury to one of the two starting goalies – Sheffield’s Jody Lehman and Belfast’s Stevie Lyle, during the tournament.

Sheffield Steelers’ captain, Jonathan Phillips has been named in the team but a final decision will be taken on Friday as to whether he will travel with the team due to his impending fatherhood. Coventry Blaze forward, Tom Watkins is also a doubt, being currently out injured with a broken hand. Watkins will undergo a fitness test on Monday next week to determine whether he is able to take his place on the team. Cardiff Devils’ Phil Hill has been placed on standby should either of Phillips or Watkins not be able to travel. Belfast Giant’s player coach, Steve Thornton has withdrawn from the squad through injury.

Two players will receive their international debuts in the World Championships – Lehman and Belfast Giants’ defenceman, Shane Johnson, with Sheffield’s Mark Thomas recalled to the squad for the first time since 2006. Coventry Blaze defenceman, Jonathan Weaver will continue as captain of the national team, with Sheffield’s Ashley Tait and Newcastle’s David Longstaff appointed as his assistants.

Team in Full

Netminders
Jody Lehman (Sheffield Steelers)
Stevie Lyle (Belfast Giants)

Defencemen
Shane Johnson (Belfast Giants)
Danny Meyers (Nottingham Panthers)
Ben O’Connor (Coventry Blaze)
David Phillips (Belfast Giants)
Mark Richardson (Nottingham Panthers)
Mark Thomas (Sheffield Steelers)
Graeme Walton (Belfast Giants)
Jonathan Weaver (Coventry Blaze) – Captain

Forwards
Greg Chambers (Basingstoke Bison)
David Clarke (Nottingham Panthers)
Russell Cowley (Coventry Blaze)
Robert Dowd (Sheffield Steelers)
Jason Hewitt (Sheffield Steelers)
David Longstaff (Newcastle Vipers) – Assistant Captain
Matt Myers (Nottingham Panthers)
Greg Owen (Briancon Diables Rouge)
Jonathan Phillips (Sheffield Steelers)
Colin Shields (Belfast Giants)
Ashley Tait (Sheffield Steelers) – Assistant Captain
Tom Watkins (Coventry Blaze)

Standby Reserves

Netminders
Nathan Craze (Belfast Giants)
Stephen Murphy (Manchester Phoenix) – travelling reserve

Defencemen
Kyle Horne (Edinburgh Capitals)
Leigh Jamieson (Coventry Blaze)

Forwards
Phil Hill (Cardiff Devils)
Marc Levers (Nottingham Panthers)
Lee Mitchell (Hull Stingrays)

Great Britain have won promotion to Division I, two years after we were relegated. We won on game 4 by beating Belgium 7-1

GB Finished 2nd last year. It started with a 16-2 win over China then infront of 1,300 spectators beat the home tem 5-1
It was then a 10-2 victory over Serbia.

Ben Davies is top goal scorer with 7 goals and 8 Assists.

The Under 18s finished their campaign with an 8-5 win over the Netherlands after the Dutch went 1-0 up.

John Connolly was voted Best Defenceman and Benjamin Davies Best Forward, the Best Goalkeeper went to Rauno Tikka from Estonia

well done guys

Ice Hockey UK are delighted to announce that the Great Britain team will warm up for the forthcoming World Championships with two international matches on home soil.

The team will take on the Finland Under 23 national team in two games, firstly at Ice Sheffield on Tuesday 7^th April and then at the Coventry Skydome Arena on Wednesday 8^th April. Both games will face off at 7.30pm.

The GB team then flies out to Poland for the World Championships in Torun on Thursday 9th April where they will take on Ukraine, Italy, Holland, Romania and their Polish hosts.

Eamon Convery, Chairman of Ice Hockey UK, is delighted that ice hockey fans will again get to see the team perform in the UK.

“We’re thrilled that the Finnish Federation have accepted our invitation for their Under 23 team to come to the UK to play these two games. This time last year we played a fantastic game against the Swedish Under 20 side in Coventry and not only was it great preparation for the World Championships but it also gave hockey fans the chance to see the GB team play on home soil.

“So many people have said that we need to do more by way of support and preparation for the GB Teams so we are hoping that these two games will provide that opportunity. As everyone knows, the standard of the opposition will be very high and the games will provide a real test for our national team.

“All GB Teams require considerable funding and at IHUK we are fully aware ice hockey fans throughout the UK wish to see a strong team represent our country. So these games are a very important initiative and I would ask everyone who supports ice hockey to try to get to at least one of the games so that we can continue to arrange this sort of fixture in the future. We are very close to finalising games for this time next year and it would help the sport considerably if these two games go well and are strongly supported.”

Tickets for both games go on sale from 10am on Monday morning (16^th March). Prices at both venues are £15 for adults, £7 for under 16’s, £38 for a family ticket of 2 adults and 2 under 16’s, £10 for NUS card holders and £10 for senior citizens.

Tickets for the Coventry game can be booked by calling the Skydome Arena box office on 02476 630693 or by booking online via the Coventry Blaze website (www.coventryblaze.co.uk) and click on the Buy Tickets link.)

Tickets for the Ice Sheffield game can be booked through the Sheffield Steelers office (cash or cheque only) by calling 01142 423535. They will also be on sale from the VIP desk at the Elite League Finals weekend on Saturday 4^th and Sunday 5^th April. Any remaining tickets will be on sale from Ice Sheffield from Monday 6^th April.

Great Britain ice hockey Head Coach, Paul Thompson has today announced his initial squad of 30 players for the forthcoming World Championships in Torun, Poland. The final team of 23 players will be selected from the 30 in a few weeks time.

The World Championships, which run from Saturday 11th to Friday 17th April, will see Great Britain face Ukraine, Italy, Holland, Romania and the hosts, Poland.

Netminders
Nathan Craze (Belfast)
Jody Lehman (Sheffield)
Stevie Lyle (Belfast)
Stephen Murphy (Manchester)

Defence
Kyle Horne (Edinburgh)
Leigh Jamieson (Coventry)
Shane Johnson (Belfast)
Danny Meyers (Nottingham)
Ben O’Connor (Coventry)
David Phillips (Belfast)
Mark Richardson (Nottingham)
Mark Thomas (Sheffield)
Graeme Walton (Belfast)
Jonathan Weaver (Coventry)

Forwards
Greg Chambers (Basingstoke)
David Clarke (Nottingham)
Russell Cowley (Coventry)
Robert Dowd (Sheffield)
Jason Hewitt (Sheffield)
Phil Hill (Cardiff)
Marc Levers (Nottingham)
David Longstaff (Newcastle)
Lee Mitchell (Hull)
Matt Myers (Nottingham)
Greg Owen (Briancon, France)
Jonathan Phillips (Sheffield)
Colin Shields (Belfast)
Ashley Tait (Sheffield)
Steve Thornton (Belfast)
Tom Watkins (Coventry)

Report from IHUK Website

Tony Hand is to step down as Assistant Coach for forthcoming World Championships.

Great Britain ice hockey Head Coach, Paul Thompson has today confirmed that Manchester Phoenix Head Coach, Tony Hand is to step down as one of his Assistant Coaches for the forthcoming World Championships in Poland.

Hand won 59 caps for Great Britain between 1988 and his international retirement in 2002, during which time he scored 40 goals for the national team. He was lured back onto the team by Thompson when he took over the national team programme, playing 5 further games in the 2007 World Championships in Slovenia whilst also serving as one of Thompson’s Assistant Coaches.

After retiring from the ice again at the end of the 2007 tournament, Hand continued in an Assistant Coach role under Thompson for both the 2008 World Championships in Austria and the Olympic Qualification tournament in the same year.

“I’ve been delighted to have had Tony as part of my coaching team for the last couple of years,” said Thompson, “ but I understand why he has decided to step down, at least for a while. He is still playing for his club side and at the end of the season he’s going to need surgery on his knee which makes it nearly impossible for him to travel with the team in April.

“He’ll still be a good sounding board for me though and I very much still consider him to be a part of the GB set up. I’ll definitely be calling on his experience and knowledge when it comes to putting the team together for the World Championships in April.”

“I’ve really enjoyed my time with the Great Britain programme,” commented Hand. “And I’m certainly not closing the door at all. I do need to have the operation at the end of the season and the timing of the World Championships makes it impossible for me to do both. I really do wish Thommo and the rest of the boys every success when they go out to Poland in April.”

Thompson has also confirmed that he has asked Sheffield Steelers Head Coach, Dave Matsos to join the GB coaching staff to fill the void left by Hand’s absence. Thirty-five year old Matsos played 46 games for Team Canada before coming to the UK where he enjoyed successful spells as a player with Belfast, Bracknell and Cardiff.

After starting his coaching career as Assistant Coach of the Cardiff Devils in 2005, Matsos became Head Coach of the Sheffield Steelers in 2006 and has since led the team to the UK Elite League’s 2008 Play off title. He has also guided his team to the top of this season’s Elite League table.

“Dave has done a tremendous job with the Steelers and he has several of the GB players on his club roster. I’m looking forward to working with him in the lead up to the World Championships and to having him with us out in Poland. He’s very excited about joining the coaching staff and I know he is very proud to be part of the programme.”

Great Britain will travel to Poland on 9th April and open their World Championships against the Ukraine on Saturday 11th April

	P	W	L	GF	GA	Pts	GD
Croatia	5	5	0	34	15	15	19
Great Britain	5	4	1	29	10	12	19
Holland	5	3	2	28	12	9	16
Mexico	5	2	3	11	27	6	-16
Spain	5	1	4	12	19	3	-7
China	5	0	5	9	40	0	-31

	P	W	L	GF	GA	Pts	GD
Croatia	4	4	0	22	11	12	11
Great Britain	4	3	1	24	6	9	18
Holland	4	3	1	24	7	9	17
Spain	4	1	3	11	16	3	-5
Mexico	4	1	3	8	26	3	-18
China	4	0	4	5	28	0	-23

	P	W	L	GF	GA	Pts	GD
Croatia	3	3	0	12	9	9	3
Holland	3	2	1	20	5	6	15
Great Britain	3	2	1	15	4	6	11
Spain	3	1	2	9	12	3	-3
Mexico	3	1	2	6	16	3	-10
China	3	0	3	3	19	0	-16

	P	W	L	GF	GA	Pts	GD
Croatia	2	2	0	7	5	6	2
Holland	2	1	1	10	5	3	5
Great Britain	2	1	1	8	3	3	5
Spain	2	1	1	5	7	3	-2
Mexico	2	1	1	5	9	3	-4
China	2	0	2	3	9	0	-6

They lost 3-2 against a faster well oiled Croatian team who got a two goal lead with no reply from GB. Second period saw GB contain Croatia with chances few and far between.

Croatia defended effectively backed by some excellent net minding. A more determined GB came out in the 3rd period to take back a goal and give hope to the traveling massive.

A second goal by GB was not enough as Croatia came out the deserved winners, leaving GB hoping for some dutch courage.

Other Results
Holland 7- 1 Mexico
China 1-5 Spain

Team GB rounded off their ultimately unsuccessful Pre-Olympic Qualifying campaign with a comprehensive demolition job on Romania.

Greg Owen 1+0, David Phillips 1+0, Jonathan Weaver 1+1, Colin Shields 1+0, Greg Chambers 0+4, David Clarke 2+1, Ashley Tait 1+2, Leigh Jamieson 1+0, Matt Myers 0+2, Graeme Walton 0+1, Jonathan Phillips 1+2, Mark Richardson 1+1, Russell Cowley 1+1, Paul Sample 0+2, Stevie Lyle 0+1

Other Result: Poland 1-3 Japan

	P	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	Pts	GD
Japan	3	3	0	0	0	12	2	9	10
Poland	3	1	1	0	1	13	6	5	7
Great Britain	3	1	0	1	1	14	6	4	8
Roumanai	3	0	0	0	3	2	27	0	-25

Team GB went out of the Olympic pre qualification tournament in Solak , Poland following a 2-1 defeat to Japan on Friday afternoon

It was a story of missed chances for the British especially in the first period when GB controlled much of the game. Japan took the lead on the power play when Tanaka scored with a wrist shot that beat goalie Stevie Lyle on his stick side. GB showed good resilience and Coventry Blaze skipper Jonathan Weaver blasted a slap shot to level the scores at the first period interval.

Japan out shot GB 2 to 1 in the middle period, but the eventual game winning goal came when GB found them selves on the power play after Osawa took a holding penalty, with GB pushing forward on the one man advantage Japan broke to score short handed through Obara at 27.48

GB had two further power play chances in the final period, but the harder they tried it seemed the unluckier they became with Japanese goalie Haruna pulling off a string of fine saves

GB have Saturday off before playing the final game of the competition against Rumania on Sunday afternoon.

	P	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	Pts	GD
Japan	2	2	0	0	0	9	1	6	8
Poland	2	1	1	0	0	12	3	5	9
Great Britain	2	0	0	1	1	3	5	1	-2
Roumanai	2	0	0	0	0	1	16	0	-15

Yet again GB have lost out for the second time to poland on penalty shots. In fact in two shootouts only Poland have managed to score and then only Two shots.

In a tight game Poland seemed to have the slight upper hand, but GB came back and tied the game late in the third period to send the game to overtime, and to a penalty shootout.

GB started the scoring when David Clarke beat Rafal Radziszewski at 6:02 on powerplay. Between the two British goals, Poland scored two goals of their own. First, just a few minutes after Clarke’s goal, Maciej Urbanowicz, leveled the score.

And then in the second period, Poland seemed to take a grip of the game having had the better period, especially after Krzysztof Zapala gave his team the 2-1 lead at 30:53 with Poland on a one-man advantage.

All in all, 30 minutes on penalties were given, which also set the tone for the sometimes scrappy game.
Despite several powerplays, neither team managed to capitalize on them.

In the third period, Poland seemed to offer GB a chance to comeinto the game whe they drew three two-minute penalties, GB at one point on a five on Three. GB did not manage to convert this and when it looked like our hopes were dashed at 56:21 Danny Meyers tied the game and offer GB the lifeline.

When no goals were scored on the five-minute overtime, the stage was set for a penalty shootout.

All GB's three shots were dissapointing and did not work the goalie too hard.
Damian Slabon beat Stephen Murphy on their first shot to give Poland the win as Poland and GB missed the final two shots ending the shootout 1-0

Poland gain two points in the first game of the tournament while GB have to be content with just one.

On Friday, Poland takes on Romania, and GB challenges Japan but GB will now need REsults to help them and of course will need to win against Japan tomorrow to have any chance of progressing through.

Other Result: Japan 7-0 Romania

	P	W	L	OTW	OTL	GF	GA	Pts	GD
Japan	1	1	0	0	0	7	0	3	7
Poland	1	0	0	1	0	3	2	2	1
Great Britain	1	0	0	0	1	2	3	1	-1
Roumanai	1	0	1	0	0	0	7	0	-7

Head Coach Paul Thompson has drafted in 3 new recruits ahead of Team GB’s Olympic qualification tournament in Poland this November. Jez Lundin (Newcastle Vipers) Ben O’Connor (Coventry Blaze) and Jason Hewitt (Sheffield Steelers) all make the squad for the first time alongside returnee’s Steve Thornton, Paul Sample and Colin Shields.

”We’re a better team than we were for the World Championships at the end of last season,” said Thompson, looking forward with relish to his side’s offensive talents. “Having Steve Thornton back in the team just makes us a better team, it’s as simple as that. Then we bring in Colin Shields who missed the World Championships through injury and Paul Sample, a guy who plays a specific, disciplined role in the National team.

”I thought long and hard about the new faces, but these guys aren’t new to the big occasions -they all play important roles on their club teams. These guys have worked hard all of their careers for this opportunity. They have earned their chance. They deserve their chance.

”We have good depth, which in these tournaments is so important. Our strength is going forward. We are good offensively, we skate well and have great speed. We also have several different guys who can put the puck in the net.

”We go to Poland with a positive attitude and the determination that we can make it through this round and be one step closer to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.”

The Great Britain team will travel to Sanok, Poland for games against Poland (Nov 6th), Japan (Nov 7th) and Romania (Nov 9th). The tournament winners will advance to the final qualifying round in 2009.

Great Britain Team for Olympic Pre Qualification Tournament in Poland

Netminders
Stevie Lyle - Belfast Giants
Stephen Murphy - Manchester Phoenix

Defencemen
Kyle Horne - Edinburgh Capitals
Leigh Jamieson - Coventry Blaze
Jez Lundin - Newcastle Vipers
Danny Meyers - Nottingham Panthers
Ben O’Connor - Coventry Blaze
David Phillips - Belfast Giants
Graeme Walton - Belfast Giants
Jonathan Weaver - Coventry Blaze

Forwards
Greg Chambers - Basingstoke Bison
David Clarke - Nottingham Panthers
Russell Cowley - Coventry Blaze
Jason Hewitt - Sheffield Steelers
David Longstaff - Newcastle Vipers
Matt Myers - Nottingham Panthers
Greg Owen - Briancon, France
Jonathan Phillips - Sheffield Steelers
Paul Sample - Belfast Giants
Colin Shields - Belfast Giants
Ashley Tait - Sheffield Steelers
Steve Thornton - Belfast Giants

Reserves
Robert Dowd - Sheffield Steelers
Mark Garside - Edinburgh Capitals
Marc Levers - Nottingham Panthers
Lee Mitchell - Hull Stingrays
Mark Richardson - Basingstoke Bison
Matt Towe - Cardiff Devils
Geoff Woolhouse - Nottingham Panthers

The Great Britain men’s ice hockey team will visit Poland twice during the 2008/09 international season, following the confirmation of the groups for both Olympic qualifying and the World Championships.

The team will begin their quest to qualify for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics in a four team pre qualification tournament from November 6th to 9th. Poland are the highest world ranked team of the four teams (world ranking 21st) and as such have the right to host the event. As well as the hosts, GB (ranked 29th) will also face Japan (22nd) and Romania (27th). The winner of the group will progress to a final qualifying tournament in February.

Following their recent fourth place finish in the recent World Championships in Austria, GB will play in Division 1, Group B of the 2009 World Championships. The tournament will take place in April and will again be held in Poland after the Poles were successful in their bid to host the event.

The six team tournament will see GB again face Poland along with relegated Italy (ranked 14th), Ukraine (17th), Holland (24th) and promoted Romania (27th). The other Division One group will take place in Lithuania and will feature Kazakhstan, Japan, relegated Slovenia, Croatia and promoted Australia.

The Great Britain women’s team will also enter the Olympic qualifying process in a pre qualifying tournament, scheduled for 4th to 7th September. The event will be hosted by Slovenia (16th) and will see GB (23rd) also take on Austria (19th) and Norway (14th). The winners of the group will progress to a final qualifying tournament in November.

The women will travel to Italy for their World Championship group in April where they will face the hosts (15th), Latvia (13th), Denmark (18th), Korea (20th) and Holland (21st).

Ice Hockey UK Chairman, Bob Wilkinson is looking forward to next season’s international exchanges.

“It’s going to be a very exciting international season. It’s been eight years since we took part in Olympic qualifying so we’re really looking forward to being part of it again. Both the men and the women are in very tough groups but the Olympics are something very special and everyone will be very motivated to try to get through to the next round.

“The women had a fantastic World Championships in 2008, bringing home a gold medal and winning promotion to a higher division so it will good for them to see how far they have progressed as a team against much higher rated opposition. The men also did really well out in Austria and I know they will be going all out to try to win a medal this time around.”

Next year the Seniors will play in Torun, Poland from 11 - 17 April. The other Division 1 senior group will be played in Lithuania.

The Women will be playing in Torrepellice, Italy from 12 to 18 April.

The Under 18's will be in Narva, Estonia from 16 to 22 March.

The Venue for the Under 20's is still to be confirmed, and will likely now not be assigned until the next IIHF congress in September.

It has just been announced that the GB Women will hold be in Slovenia for Pre Olympic Qualifiers 4- 7 September, venue to be announced. In our Group will be Austria, Norway and Slovenia

With the conclusion of the 2008 World Championships, the IIHF updated rankings show Great Britain have kept their place of 29th.

As a result of the last Olympic Qualifiers still being worth 50% of their value, Great Britain find themselves behind teams that traditionally spend a lot of time in Division 2; China (28th, +20 points), Romania (27th, +125 points) and Croatia (26th, +145 points). The Netherlands, thrashed 8-1 by Great Britain in the recent World Championships are still ranked 5 places higher than the Brits in 24th place, 290 points ahead of the Brits.

The rankings are used to decide the Olympic qualification groups. As a result of their non-participation last time, Great Britain may end up playing pre-qualification tournament if more than 30 teams want to play.

The IIHF have confirmed that Italy have finished in 16th place and therefore will be in Great Britain's group for the 2008-09 World Championships. There had been doubt which of the 2 relegated teams would finish in last place due to the change in format of the relegation round.

Traditionally, all 4-teams have played one game against each other to decide the bottom two places. However, due to the large distance between the two Canadian hosting cities, this year was run as two best-of 3 series between the two relegation round pairs. As a result, Italy never played the other relegated team, Slovenia, to decide who was 15th and who was 16th. It would appear that Italy's poorer goal difference has been used as the deciding factor.

Great Britain's group can now be confirmed as (in order of seeding):
1. Italy
2. Ukraine
3. Poland
4. Great Britain
5. The Netherlands
6. Romania

Standings

	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Austria	5	5	0	0	34	12	15
Kazakhstan	5	4	1	0	21	12	11
Poland	5	3	1	1	18	17	9
Great Britain	5	2	2	1	19	17	7
The Netherlands	5	1	4	0	15	30	2
South Korea	5	0	4	1	8	27	1

Great Britain 1 - 3 Kazakhstan

Great Britain where in with a silver medal chance with five minutes of their game remaining, before Kazakhstan broke the deadlock and left GB fourth.

At the end of a first period which saw limited 5-on-5 play, GB saw an early powerplay goal that was cancelled out bz a Kazak equaliser midway into the period.

Kyle Horne took an early hooking call at 1:11 but after limited Kazak pressue it was Horne who was elbowed against the boards leading to a 5 plus game for the culprit. Horne was treated on the ice before being helped away and on the resulting penalty it was Greg Chambers who cycled the puck and centred from beside the goal for David Clarke to force the puck home at 6:28.

A soft penalty against Russ Cowley for tripping (when the Kazak player lost an edge) was only the start of a string of four GB penalties which left them on the backfoot for the remainder of the period.

The best chance fell to Leigh Jamieson coming out of the box at 11:49 for an interferance call. Jamo was 1 on 1 but despite us all thinking of two breakaway goals he scored in Hungary '05 he doubled back and the chance was lost.

At 12:34 Kazakhstan equalised with heavy pressure giving a rebound chance that was slotted home from close range.

GB will have to keep out of the box to gain more quality attacking time in the Kazak zone, but at this point they appear capable of handling their much higher ranked opponents.

More of the same with regards to penalties in the second period.

The referee was wise to an early diving call on Kazakhstan but little effective pressure was applied until late into the two minutes when a number of scambling chances were had.

GB continued to occupy the Kazak zone with one great save coming from a Matt Myers effort from long range.

It was at 10:05 that things heated up when Greg Chambers was caught out by a Kazak forward breaking into the GB zone. Chambers was called for a high stick that boardered on decapitation. However a subsequent penalty 18 seconds later on Jon Weaver was soft, with a mild tap sending his opponent crashing and leaving GB 5-on-3.

Murphy was superb in turning away everything the Kazaks threw at him and the fun started when Chambers left the box to chase down a clearance which the netminder smothered 30 foot from goal. Chambers snowed him and when the dust settled two Kazaks and David Phillips found themselves in the box.

But again the GB powerplay was ineffective and after some end to end play in which few clear cut chances were created the period ended scoreless.

The third period opened with a sight new to the travelling fans, a streaker! An Austria fan managed half a lap of the rink via the front row of seats before the police stopped him, gave him his clothes and allowed him to watch the rest of the game!

Back onto the ice and GB had good pressure in the opening minutes before Kazakhstan gained the upper hand to return the pressure. The remainder of the game was spent with attacks and counter attacks with both netminders making superb saves. For GB a Jon Phillips break was squared for Longstaff, but a stretching defensive stick just overted a great opportunity.

The niggling continued with Matt Myers being called for a penalty before Longstaff was involved in some more pushing and scuffling in front of the GB bench.

Close chances came in the 51st minute when Phillips chased down a clearance and robbed the netminder behind the goal, his wraparound attempt being scrambled away. Two minutes later Matt Myers broke to centre for an on rushing David Clarke who forced the save.

The netminders physical strength was called upon as first the Kazak goalie made multiple saves in a melee that saw him buried under his d-men and almost immediately Murphy suffered the same pile up at the other end.

When a goal came is was a soft long flip from a Kazak that hit a stray skate sending Murphy the wrong way with only 5:18 left on the clock. A lapse in GB concentration after the goal saw a shot rebound to two onrushing forwards for Kazakhstan to take the game winning 3-1 lead at 15:14.

With Kazakhstan sitting back GB mounted some pressure but to little effect and the possibility of silver was lost.

Jono Phillips came away with the Man-of-the-Match award with Greg Chambers claiming the IIHF Player of the Tournament.

A reflective Paul Thompson admitted that Kazakhstan were the better team, but GB had put up a great showing and pushed them all the way. "We gave all we had and you cannot ask more", said Thompson.

Disappointed with the penalties Thompson appreciated the zero tollerance rule but said that teams weren't allowed to battle in the corners anymore and that was a loss to players and fans alike. "It's men playing a man's game", he said.

With regards to GB the coach believes that this Championship is a step forward. It is one point more than last year and a more consistent set of performances which could have ended in a silver medal with 5 minutes to play. The preperation was better this year and in Mont Blanc he was able to see a lot of players that will be involved in the programme next season. There are a number of older players and we need to find their replacements for the future. When questioned on the Olympic year Thompson admitted it will be difficult with the leagues not wanting a break, something will have to be negotiated.

After a day to consider, GB coach Paul Thompson decided to go with Stephen Murphy in goal and his decision was vindicated in the opening minute when a sloppy blueline pass by Dave Phillips was intercepted and Murphy saved from the on-rushing forward.

Line changes saw Ashley Tait move to pair up with Russ Cowely and Tom Watkins. Matt Myers took his place alongside Greg Owen and Greg Chambers.

GB opened the scoring at 5:36 with a Chambers cross-ice pass finding Owen, wide open to shoot high into the Dutch net.

A tripping penalty to Leigh Jamieson saw an interesting penalty kill technique from Greg 'Steve Redgrave' Owen as he slipped, fell and rowed the puck to safety!

The second goal came after another move from the first line which saw Chambers drive low behind the net and drop a pass to Jon Phillips to score from close range at 11:15.

The second half of the period was littered with penalties with, first, the Dutch picking up a tripping call at 12:10 and then GB picking up three penalties, the last of which at 19:56 saw Netherlands shoot just wide in the final second.

The period started with 1:54 remaining on a GB penalty kill and almost immediately on its conclusion a clash between Longstaff and a Dutch forward saw GB shorthanded with Lobby taking 4 minutes roughing to the Dutch 2. But the Dutch put little pressure on Murphys goal during the powerplay.

With GB on the powerplay they took a 3-0 lead with Greg Owen netting his second of the game as he guided a rebound from a Weaver shot into the net at 28:34.

The appearance of the 4th line at 29:07 gave confirmation of GB control as chances fell to Owen, Longstaff and both Jono and Dave Phillips.

It was Weaver who gained GBs fourth at 34:04 in a great move that saw Longstaff skate down the boards and Clarke draw away the Dutch defence for Weaver to shoot home the cross.

A decidely shell shocked netminder then saw Greg Chambers skate in and fire off his right hand post for 5-0 before he fumbled a rebound and then left his post uncovered as Watkins bundled home Taits efforts close in for the sixth.

Late period penalties to both sides left the period with open ice chances as the teams skated four on four.

With the Dutch having shown themselves to be a 40 minute team in each of their three previous games it was hard to see a third period comeback and it only took 36 seconds for Chambers to extend the score to 7-0 at 40:36 past the replacement netminder. With the GB team sitting back and conutering it was Chambers who headed a breakout at 47:59. When he doubled back, two Dutch defensemen collided and he shot home from the top of the slot for the eighth and final GB goal.

Murphy made a string of saves to protect his shutout and it was disappointing that late penalties to Walton and Myers saw the Dutch net at 59:02 in the last action of the game.

With 3 goals and 2 assists Greg Owen picked up Man of the Match honours with Greg Chambers picking up 2 goals in his 5 points.

When asked for his impression of the game Thompson said that "the scoreline speaks for itself, it was a great performance." The rest day was spent watching video of the previous games and the line changes for Tait and Phillips clearly proved the time was well spent. "The longer the team play together the more they start to read each other and the confidence grows", Thompson added.

Kazakhstan play Austria in the evening game giving GB an extra fewer hours rest and Thommo is hoping the Kazaks get a bit of a beating. When asked about the prospect of the probable all or nothing, silver or 4th place game tomorrow Thompson replied "we're only thinking of silver".

Report from GBSC Website

16/04/2008

GB gained a scrappy win against the bottom seeded Korea with a 4-1 victory.

With Stephen Murphy starting in goal GB got off to a flying start with David Clarke netting on a rebound after a shot by Matt Myers at 1:29.

James Pease conceeded back to back penalties, effectively ending his game as he was overlooked by Thompson for the remainder of the game. A further penalty to Dave Phillips left GB facing an onslaught of Korean pressure with only rare escapes on breakaways.

In the second period GB stared to gain the upper hand but only a wonder goal from David Longstaff made any lasting impression. Picking up a Clarke pass Lobby came inside his marker before beating the defencemen and shooting low into the bottom left corner. It was a glimpse of the Longstaff we would like to see in every game for GB.

With a 2-0 lead going into the third Thompson still felt unable to consistently ice his fourth line which saw only occasional shifts during the first two periods. Danny Meyers hit a rocket of a shot as he came in to recieve a Greg Chambers pass from behind the goalline at 46:52.

Korea finally broke the shutout at 50:43 as Cho Mh was allowed two chances as he went unchallanged in front of Murphy with Matt Towe sitting a slashing minor.

Two further penalties gave Korea late opportunities to tighten the scoreline but Ashley Tait managed to slot the shorthander to end the game at 58:13.

Thompson was disappointed in his teams first period performance but knew that the Koreans would not be easy opposition after the fight they gave Kazakhstan. Whilst not small the opposition where quick and broke as a team. As the game went on Thompson felt GB gained the upper hand but never had sustained control of the Korean zone.

Man of the Match Murphy was praised at being outstanding with few front of net rebounds, something that had given GB headaches in the opening two games. Thompson has what he described as a nice decision to make before chosing his netminder before the Friday game against the Netherlands.

Great Britain lost their 2nd game in the Division 1 Group A World Championships 10-5 to hosts Austria.

A tight first period saw Britain come out only 4-3 down to the group's top seeds and favourites after goals from Chambers, Ashley Tait and Watkins. However, a middle period collapse in which the Brits only managed a single shot on the Austrian goal allowed the home team to extend their lead to 4 goals; a lead that they were never likely to lose.

Some pride was restored in the 3rd period when Weaver and David Clarke both found the net. However, swapping Lyle for Murphy at the start of the 3rd period wasn't enough to prevent Austria closing out with a 5-goal winning margin.

Matt Myers was man of the match for Britain. NHL star, Thomas Vanek, was man of the match for Austria.

Britain now enjoy a day off before playing the bottom seeds, South Korea.

Team GB gained a valuable point as they opened their World Championship campaign against the 2nd seeded Poland side on Sunday afternoon in Innsbruck. The Poles eventually took 2 points to GB’s 1 after overtime and a penalty shoot out in which Krzysztof Zapala was the only scorer.

Poland started the stronger and scored the only goal of the first period when Macief Urbanowicz scored with a deflected shot from the point that beat GB goalie Stevie Lyle. As the game progressed though GB’s confidence grew as Lyle made some outstanding saves and then chances fell to Warren Tait, Greg Chambers and Greg Owen

The middle period saw GB get back on level terms, just seconds after Lyle made the stop of the night Basingstoke forward Greg Chambers, playing in his first senior international, went end to end and shot past Polish goalie Rafal Radziszewski

Both teams failed to take power play chances as the game opened up in the 3rd period with GB having more of the play as the game came to its conclusion. The match went into sudden death overtime after a scoreless final period, GB had a late power play opportunity only to be denied by desperate Polish defending.

The lottery of penalty shots followed with Messrs: Chambers, Clarke and Longstaff all failing to score past Radziszewski and Zapala shooting a backhand high over the shoulder of Lyle for the game winner.

GB Women today took the step back to Division 2 with a nail biting win on penalties.
Although heavily oustshooting Slovenia 54-18 the women had to do it the hard way and win on penalties as overtime failed to provide a winner.

The first period saw GB dominating the game but not able to break Boznar in the Slovenian net. Slovenia then made matters worse by scoring to lead 1-0 at the end of the first.
GB continued to rain shots in on the Slovenians and finally equalised through Katie Henry at 28.41 to level the game going into the third.

Drama struck in the third when Slovenia were then awarded a penalty shot at 44.11 when Alex Van Haselberg was called for tripping. Slovenia converted the opportunity and GB were again looking to equalise to save the game.
It took GB to 52.56 then to finally equalise through Angela Taylor on the powerplay.

More Drama then as the promotion was to be decided in overtime or penalties.

The overtime failed to find a winner and penalties it was to be. GB missed the first and Slovenia scored theirs but GB managed to level to 1-1 after the following two shots were both missed. Slovenia missed their last shot meaning it was now into sudden death penalties.

Angela Taylor then kept here nerve leaving Slovenia to try to score to save the game. Kelly Herring came up with the big save to send the team back to Division 2 and send the beanch and players into a state of elation.

Given the events of last year and the fact tht GB lost to Australia on penalties it was a gutsy performance that has sent GB back to the higher level and the chance to stay in the higher level.

The GB women continued to make great progress with an emphatic win and are now one game from promotion.

GB completed an 8-0 trouncing of hosts Hungary with A Taylor grabbing a brace.The shots on goal were 62-4

Slovenia are the only other team with a perfect record so it si winner takes all when the teams play today at 4.00 CET

The British Women's National Team cruised to an 8-0 win over hosts Hungary. The win guarantees the team at least a silver medal, with Saturday's game against top seeds Slovenia the gold medal decider. Both GB and Slovenia are on 12 points, therefore, the game is a straight winner takes all, regardless of overtime and shoot-outs.

Against Hungary, Herring and Saunders only needed to share 3 saves to record the goose egg. Kavanagh and Wiggins were joint top scorers with 2+1, while Angela Taylor was the top goal scorer with a pair top earn the best player of the game award.

The gold medal game faces-off at 3pm UK time.

Great Britain earned a creditable draw against a Sweden U-20 team last night in Coventry. In front of over 1,000 fans, GB took the lead in the first period through Ashley Tait and were good value for their advantage.

A stronger performance from the fast-skating Swedes saw them equalise mid way through the second period. An even final session looked to have beeen settled in the visitor's favour when they took the lead with 5 minutes left in the game.

However, a late equaliser from David Clarke, with 55 seconds remaining, saw GB share the honours. An entertaining game and a useful workout for the GB squad, who gave regular ice time to all 4 lines. Good luck in Innsbruck lads.

Great Britain Head Coach, Paul Thompson has been forced into three late changes to his squad to compete in the World Championships in Austria next week.

Peterborough Phantoms forward, Nathan Rempel has chosen to withdraw from the squad and Belfast Giants defenceman, Shane Johnson has not received his international clearance in time to take part. Thompson received a further blow when influential centreman, Colin Shields of the Newcastle Vipers suffered a broken foot in the Elite League Playoff semi final against the Coventry Blaze. Ironically, Shields sustained the injury blocking a shot from GB captain Jonathan Weaver.

Thompson has moved quickly to call up Sheffield forward Warren Tait, Hull defenceman Luke Boothroyd and Nottingham blueliner Danny Meyers. Meyers had previously been unavailable for selection but has now been able to make himself available to once again play for his country. Tait and Boothroyd had been placed on standby for the squad and will now link up with the rest of the team in Coventry tomorrow.

Great Britain play a full international against World under 20 silver medallists, Sweden at the Coventry Skydome this Thursday and tickets are still available from the box office on 02476 630693

Great Britain team for World Championships in Austria announced.

Great Britain ice hockey Head Coach, Paul Thompson has today announced his twenty two man team for the forthcoming World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria.

The team will have a pre tournament training camp in Coventry from 8th to 11th April before flying to Austria to take on the hosts plus Poland, Kazakhstan, Korea and the Netherlands between 13th and 21st April. The team will also play a warm up international against the Sweden under 20 World Silver medallists at the Coventry Skydome Arena on Thursday 10th April.

Nottingham’s Danny Meyers and Newcastle’s Shaun Johnson have both withdrawn from Thompson’s original thirty-four man squad. Belfast’s Canadian born Shane Johnson has been included in the team although his participation will depend on receiving his British passport before the Championships. Hull’s Luke Boothroyd has been placed on standby should Johnson not be able to take his place in the line up.

Thompson has also taken the decision that a third goalie, Coventry’s Steve Fone should go with the team to Austria as a travelling reserve. Fone would only be allowed to play in the event of injury to one of the two registered keepers during the championships.

Squad in Full

Netminders
Stevie Lyle Belfast Giants
Stephen Murphy Stjernen, Norway
Steve Fone Coventry Blaze (Travelling Reserve)

Defencemen
Kyle Horne Edinburgh Capitals
Leigh Jamieson Belfast Giants
Shane Johnson Belfast Giants
James Pease Coventry Blaze
Dave Phillips Hull Stingrays
Graeme Walton Belfast Giants
Tom Watkins Coventry Blaze
Jonathan Weaver Coventry Blaze

Forwards
Greg Chambers Basingstoke Bison
David Clarke HC Alleghe, Italy
Gary Clarke Milton Keynes Lightning
Russell Cowley Coventry Blaze
David Longstaff Newcastle Vipers
Matt Myers Nottingham Panthers
Greg Owen Basingstoke Bison
Jonathan Phillips Sheffield Steelers
Nathan Rempel Peterborough Phantoms
Colin Shields Newcastle Vipers
Ashley Tait Sheffield Steelers
Matt Towe Cardiff Devils

GB U18s lost their final game 3 - 1 against Hungary. This means they get the silver medal, while Hungary win the gold and promotion to Division I. GB led 1 – 0 after 2 mins 27 secs, but Hungary equalised in the last minute of the period. Hungary took the lead in the second period, and scored again at 57.23.

GB scorers: Tom Squires 1 + 0, Callum Fowler 0 + 1, Ben Davies 0 + 1.

GB U18s made it four wins out of four so far in the World Championships today, beating Spain 4 – 2. GB were 2 – 0 down at the end of the first period, but came back to score three unanswered goals in the second period, and score again with 5 minutes 27 seconds remaining. Their final game, against Hungary, is on Saturday.

GB scorers: Stephen Lee 2 + 0, Iain Bowie 1 + 1, John Connolly 1 + 0, Jamie Hayes 0 + 2, Tom Squires 0 + 1

In the World Championships today GB U18s won their third game against Israel. The result was GB 12 Israel 0, with GB scoring four goals in each period. Their next game is tomorrow against Spain.

GB scorers: Iain Bowie 6 + 2, Jamie Hayes 2 + 2, Stephen Lee 1 + 3, Callum Fowler 1 + 2, Willie Nicolson 1 + 0, Ryan Handisides 1 + 0, Tom Squires 0 + 2, Ben Davies 0 + 1, Jamie Tinsley 0 + 1

GB U18s gained another victory in the World Championships today, beating Romania 5 – 3. Romania led 3 – 0 at the end of the first period, but GB equalled the scores in the second. GB took the lead at 45.28, and scored on the empty net 17 seconds from the end. Tomorrow is a rest day, with the next game for GB on Wednesday against Israel.

GB scorers: Iain Bowie 2 + 1, Richard Bentham 1 + 0, Matthew Haywood 1 + 0, Jamie Hayes 1 + 0, Stephen Lee 0 + 1, Ryan Handisides 0 + 1, James Neil 0 + 1

Other Results
Israel 4 Spain 12,
Hungary 3 Estonia 2

GB U18s got off to a winning start in the World Championships Division II Group B in Tallinn, Estonia. The first period finished scoreless. In the second Estonia led 2 – 0 before GB came back to take the period 4 – 3. Another goal in the third period made the final score 5 – 3 to GB. GB’s second game is tomorrow against Romania.

GB scorers were Iain Bowie 3 + 0, Jamie Hayes 1 + 1, Robert Lachowicz 1 + 0, Jamie Line 0 + 1, Stephen Lee 0 + 1, Matthew Haywood 0 + 1

Thompson confirms preliminary squad for World Championships

Great Britain Head Coach, Paul Thompson today announced a squad of thirty-four players from which twenty-two will be selected for the World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria in April.

The final twenty-two will have a four day training camp in Coventry from 8th to 11th April, before flying to Austria on Saturday 12th. Great Britain will play five games at Innsbruck’s TWK Arena against Poland, Austria, Korea, Netherlands and Khazakstan.

The team will also play a warm up game in Coventry on Thursday 10th April against the Sweden Under 20 team, current world silver medallists at that age group.

Netminders
Steve Fone Coventry Blaze
Stevie Lyle Belfast Giants
Stephen Murphy Stjernen, Norway

Defencemen
Luke Boothroyd Hull Stingrays
Paul Dixon Guildford Flames
Kyle Horne Edinburgh Capitals
Leigh Jamieson Belfast Giants
Shane Johnson Belfast Giants
Jez Lundin Newcastle Vipers
Danny Meyers Nottingham Panthers
James Pease Coventry Blaze
Dave Phillips Hull Stingrays
Graeme Walton Belfast Giants
Tom Watkins Coventry Blaze
Jonathan Weaver Coventry Blaze

Forwards
Greg Chambers Basingstoke Bison
David Clarke HC Alleghe, Italy
Gary Clarke Milton Keynes Lightning
Russell Cowley Coventry Blaze
Jason Hewitt Sheffield Steelers
Shaun Johnson Newcastle Vipers
Marc Levers Nottingham Panthers
David Longstaff Newcastle Vipers
Matt Myers Nottingham Panthers
Greg Owen Basingstoke Bison
Jonathan Phillips Sheffield Steelers
Nathan Rempel Peterborough Phantoms
Mark Richardson Nottingham Panthers
Paul Sample Cardiff Devils
Colin Shields Newcastle Vipers
Ashley Tait Sheffield Steelers
Warren Tait Sheffield Steelers
Matt Towe Cardiff Devils
Greg Wood Basingstoke Bison

Ice Hockey UK are pleased to announce the following GB Women team for the World Championship tournament in Miskolc, Hungary on 6 - 12 April:

Netminders
Kelly Herring - Slough
Laura Saunders - Sheffield

Defence
Alexandra von Haselberg-Palyvou - Bracknell
Alice Lamb - Slough
Amanda Carr - Bracknell
Georgina Farman - Sheffield
Lauren Halliwell – Hill Academy, Ontario
Sarah Ledger - Sheffield

Forwards
Angela Taylor – University of New Hampshire
Bethanie Kavanagh - Sheffield
Claire Oldfield - Newcastle
Debbie Palmer - Slough
Eleanor Maitland - Newcastle
Emily Turner - Sheffield
Hannah Glenn - Kingston
Katherine Wiggins - Sheffield
Katie Henry - Solihull
Laura Byrne - Slough
Nathalie Aldridge – Hill Academy, Ontario
Nicola Bicknell - Slough

Reserves
Kelly Simpson - Sheffield
Teresa Lewis - Newcastle
Michelle Powell - Solihull

A disappointing end to GB’s participation in the Euro challenge at the hands of the tournament hosts going down 4-0

Coach Paul Thompson said “it’s a shame the way the score line looks because it does not reflect the game in any way. We are without so many of our experienced players and these young lads did their nation proud. The never stopped working, they never stopped battling. Everyone of them went up in mine and my coaching staffs estimation”

It was a scoreless first period with young British team rocking the French with some big hits and keeping the home teams scoring chances down to just a few quality shots. In fact going forward Gary Clarke and Nathan Rempel both went close.

All of Frances scoring came in an ill tempered middle period. Papa opened the scoring on 25 minutes as the French rained in shots of Guildford Fames goalie Joe Watkins, Papa added a 2nd and Henderson also scored 2 goals for the 4-0 advantage.

Thompson asked his players for one last big period “I didn’t want the guys down at the end of this tournament, we have got so much from these days away and I just looked them all in the eye and asked them for everything they got. Do you know what, every one of them gave me it me as well, when I look at the age of this team we have had out here I just keep thinking that we have such a bright future, we showed that in the 3rd period”

The final session was scoreless but not without British chances as David Clarke, Gary Clarke and Remple once again went close. The best chance fell to Colin Shields but to no avail.

Basingstoke Bison forward Greg Wood secured GB’s man of the match award.

Several changes in Paul Thompson’s team for the 2nd game of the Euro Challenge, the biggest of which saw Stephen Murphy starting in goal and replacing Tuesdays hero Stevie Lyle

Murphy saw a lot of the puck in the early stages as the experienced Norwegian team put early pressure of the GB goal. Both teams had powerplay chances but the defences of both nations had the better of the first session. Belfast forward Leigh Jamison had GB’s best chance in the 18th minute, his shot went through a crowd of players before clipping the outside of the post.

Whilst the first period was scoreless the 2nd was end to end with goals a plenty. GB first went 1-0 ahead through Jonathan Phillips at 24.15 before Norway quickly equalised on a powerplay goal from Per Age Skroder

GB, ranked well below their Norwegian opponents, didn’t let their heads go down and capitalised on a double mina high sticking penalty against Ostli scoring 2 powerplay goals in less than a minute through Leigh Jamieson and Jonathan Phillips 2nd of the night

The Norweigans though battled back when Ostil made amends for his earlier penalty scoring a power play goal of his own at 36.15. Then with GB killing a 5 on 3 Norwegian power play, with Greg Owen and Graeme Walton sitting out minor penalties the game was tied 3-3 with Aaasan shooting past Murphy.

Norway, a Pool A nation, came out hard again in the 3rd and had an early powerplay when Hull Stingrays defenceman Luke Boothroyd was called on a hooking penalty, 14 seconds later Norway had a lead they weren’t going to relinquish when Skroder scored his hat trick goal

GB did all that they could to tie the game, first Graeme Walton went close, Gary Clarke created a chance for him self forcing a super save from the Norwegian goalie. GB’s final chance fell to Basingstoke’s Greg Owen who shot just wide.

GB’s brave effort ended with less than 5 minutes remaining when Matts Hansen scored a 5th for the Norwegians.

Outstanding Start for GB in the Euro Challenge Game 1

Team GB Off to the Perfect Start

Period Scores: 3-1 / 0-1 / 2-1 – 5-3 Final
GB Scorers: Jason Hewitt / Greg Chambers / Colin Shields / David Clarke / Ashley Tait

Paul Thompson’s GB side started their Euro Challenge campaign with a stunning 5-3 victory over a Lithuanian side that had beaten them in last Aprils World Championship.

Team GB started like they meant to go roaring in to an early 3-0 lead. Steeler Jason Hewitt scored on his GB debut with a power-play strike at 7.27 (ass David Clarke). With GB controlling the first period it was left to another debutant Greg Chambers to double Paul Thompson’s side advantage with an un-assisted goal at 16.12.

It was only to get better as well when Ashley Tait broke down the left wing and centred a pass to Newcastle forward Colin Shields for him to bury the puck into the bottom corner.

One slip of the period came in the dieing seconds when the impressive Lyle was beaten for the first time by the Lithuanian forward Kulevicius after a goal mouth scramble

This inexperienced GB team were put under the cosh in the 2nd period as the Lithuanians piled pressure on goalie Stevie Lyle and his GB defence. Early powerplays for Lithuania called on Lyle to make several outstanding saves.

GB had their own one man advantage when first Jonathan Phillips and then Ben O’Connor drew Lithuanian penalties. The middle period was a lot tighter until Tommy Watkins visited the penalty box for the 2nd time of the period. This time the Lithuanians made no mistake with Kelevicius scoring his second goal of the game on the 18 minute mark.

The Lithuanians once again came out strong in the 3rd period and had an early powerplay with Nathan Remple sitting out an interference penalty. GB were again outstanding on the penalty kill with James Pease and Tommy Watkins keeping Lithuania at bay.

Pressure though told 5 minutes into the final session as a long range shot found its way through a crowd of players and past Lyle to tie the game at 3-3. On a rare powerplay relief came in the way of a strike from David Clarke and a 4-3 lead

Again the Lithuanians came forward forcing several outstanding saves by Lyle, with 90 seconds remaining Lithuania pulled their goalie for an extra attacker. Newcastle Vipers winger Colin Shields won the important face off that followed and GB Captain Ashley Tait shot into the empty net for a 5-3 win and an outstanding start for GB in the Euro Challenge

Report from IHUK Website

Great Britain ice hockey Head Coach, Paul Thompson has today announced his 33 man squad for February’s Euro Challenge Tournament in France.

The team will fly out from the UK on Monday 4th February and will play three international fixtures before returning to the UK on Friday 8th February.

The team will play Lithuania in Morzine on Tuesday 5th, Norway in Courchevel on Wednesday 6th and hosts France in Meribel on Thursday 7th February.

All players in the squad will play in two of the three games with the Belfast Giants and Sheffield Steelers players missing the last game to enable them to return to the UK a day early for their domestic fixture on Friday 8th February.

Squad in Full

Netminders
Stevie Lyle - Belfast Giants
Stephen Murphy - Stjernen, Norway
Joe Watkins - Guildford Flames

Defencemen
Luke Boothroyd - Hull Stingrays
Paul Dixon - Guildford Flames
Leigh Jamieson - Belfast Giants
Jez Lundin - Newcastle Vipers
Paul Moran - Belfast Giants
James Morgan - Peterborough Phantoms
Ben Morgan - Sheffield Scimitars
Ben O'Connor - Edinburgh Capitals
James Pease - Coventry Blaze
Mark Thomas - Sheffield Steelers
Graeme Walton - Belfast Giants
Jonathan Weaver - Coventry Blaze

Forwards
Greg Chambers - Basingstoke Bison
David Clarke - HC Alleghe, Italy
Gary Clarke - Milton Keynes Lightning
Russell Cowley - Coventry Blaze
Mark Garside - Edinburgh Capitals
Jason Hewitt - Sheffield Steelers
Marc Levers - Nottingham Panthers
David Longstaff - Newcastle Vipers
Greg Owen - Basingstoke Bison
Jonathan Phillips - Sheffield Steelers
Nathan Rempel - Peterborough Phantoms
Mark Richardson - Nottingham Panthers
Colin Shields - Newcastle Vipers
Ashley Tait - Sheffield Steelers
Warren Tait - Sheffield Steelers
Matt Towe - Cardiff Devils
Adam Walker - Manchester Phoenix
Tom Watkins - Coventry Blaze

A number of Great Britain regular players were not available for selection for this tournament but will be available for consideration for the World Championships in Austria in April. These include the Hull pair of David Phillips and Lee Mitchell, Nottingham duo of Danny Meyers and Matt Myers, Cardiff’s Paul Sample, Edinburgh’s Kyle Horne and Newcastle’s Shaun Johnson.

Ice Hockey UK are pleased to announce the following team for the Under 18 World Championships:

Netminders
Ben Bowns - Sheffield
Thomas Murdy - Whitley

Defence
Richard Bentham - Blackburn
John Connolly - Okanagan
Stevie Lee - Hull
Craig Mitchell - Fife
Willy Nicolson - Dundee
Sam Oakford - Bracknell

Forwards
Joe Allen - Invicta
Iain Bowie - Edinburgh
Matty Davies - Swindon
Callum Fowler - Chelmsford
Ryan Handisides - Sheffield
Jamie Hayes - Swindon
Matt Haywood - Sheffield
Jamie Line - Bracknell
Jimmy Moutrey - Billingham
James Neil - Nottingham
Tom Squires - Sheffield
Jamie Tinsley - Newcastle

Reserve Netminder
Jonathan Tindall - Sheffield

Reserve Defence
Joe Graham - Nottingham
James Francis - Guildford

Reserve Forwards
Ben Davies - Cardiff
Robert Lachowicz - Nottingham

Great Britain Under 20s were beaten by France in the relegation tussle in Riga, Latvia, today.

Needing a win to ensure they kept their position in Division I, they went down 6 - 2 to fellow-strugglers France. Next season they will be competing in Division II of the Under 20 World Chamapionships.

GB scorers were Aaron Nell and Ben O'Connor.

Report from IHUK Website

BLR = Belarus , FRA = France , GBR = Great Britain , HUN = Hungary
LAT = Latvia , SLO = Slovenia

Date	Game	Result
12.12.2007 Wed 13:00	SLO	-	GBR	4 - 3 ( 1 - 0 , 1 - 3 , 1 - 0 , 0 - 0 , 1 - 0 )
12.12.2007 Wed 16:30	HUN	-	BLR	2 - 3 ( 1 - 2 , 0 - 0 , 1 - 1 )
12.12.2007 Wed 20:00	FRA	-	LAT	3 - 9 ( 2 - 1 , 0 - 5 , 1 - 3 )
13.12.2007 Thu 13:00	GBR	-	HUN	2 - 5 ( 1 - 0 , 1 - 3 , 0 - 2 )
13.12.2007 Thu 16:30	BLR	-	FRA	6 - 1 ( 1 - 0 , 3 - 1 , 2 - 0 )
13.12.2007 Thu 20:00	LAT	-	SLO	2 - 3 ( 0 - 0 , 2 - 2 , 0 - 1 )
15.12.2007 Sat 13:00	HUN	-	FRA	7 - 4 ( 0 - 1 , 2 - 0 , 5 - 3 )
15.12.2007 Sat 16:30	BLR	-	SLO	2 - 1 ( 0 - 0 , 1 - 0 , 1 - 1 )
15.12.2007 Sat 20:00	LAT	-	GBR	6 - 0 ( 2 - 0 , 3 - 0 , 1 - 0 )
16.12.2007 Sun 13:00	FRA	-	SLO	0 - 5 ( 0 - 2 , 0 - 3 , 0 - 0 )
16.12.2007 Sun 16:30	GBR	-	BLR	1 - 9 ( 0 - 0 , 0 - 8 , 1 - 1 )
16.12.2007 Sun 20:00	LAT	-	HUN	8 - 2 ( 2 - 1 , 2 - 0 , 4 - 1 )
18.12.2007 Tue 13:00	SLO	-	HUN	4 - 1 ( 0 - 1 , 3 - 0 , 1 - 0 )
18.12.2007 Tue 16:30	GBR	-	FRA	2 - 6 ( 1 - 3 , 1 - 1 , 0 - 2 )
18.12.2007 Tue 20:00	BLR	-	LAT	1 - 3 ( 0 - 0 , 1 - 1 , 0 - 2 )

Great Britain lost their fourth match in the Under-20 World Championships in Riga today. Playing Belarus, they held their opponents to a goalless first period. However, in the second period Belarus took control of the game, scoring eight unanswered goals. The final period was 1 -1, leaving GB on the losing side of a 9 – 1 encounter.

GB’s goal was scored by Stephen Lee.

This result leaves GB in fifth position in the tournament, with one point, just above France, who have lost all their matches.

Tomorrow is a rest day.

For both GB and France, everything now hangs on the result of their game on Tuesday: the winner will remain in Division I, while the loser is relegated to Division II.
Other result: France 0 - 5 Slovenia

Ice Hockey UK are delighted to confirm that the Great Britain senior men’s ice hockey team will compete in the Mont Blanc Tournament in France in February.

The tournament is a four team Euro Challenge that will see the national team take on hosts France as well as Norway and Lithuania. The team will travel to France on Monday 4th February and will open the tournament against Lithuania the following day at 8.30pm local time, in Morzine. They take on Norway at 8.30pm on Wednesday 6th in Courchevel and then France at 8.30pm on Thursday 7th in Meribel. The team flies home on Friday 8th Feb.

Head Coach Paul Thompson will take a squad of 33 players to the event with all of the players playing in two of the three games. Players from Belfast and Sheffield will sit out the final game and fly home a day early to enable them to play in their Elite League fixture against each other on the Friday night.

Thompson is delighted that he will be able to get more time to work with his players ahead of April’s World Championships in Austria.

“It’s going to help us a lot to be able to get together for this tournament ahead of going to Austria. It will give me chance to look at and work with a lot of players and obviously, the more time we can get together, the better.”

Report from IHUK Website

Great Britain suffered another defeat today against Latvia in the Under-20 World Championships. In front of an estimated 5,000 – 6,000 crowd in the Riga Arena, GB dominated the home team for much of the first period. However, Latvia converted their chances; and then went on to take control of the game in the second and third periods, eventually inflicting a 6 – 0 defeat on GB. GB’s next game is tomorrow against Belarus.

Other results from the World Under-20 Championships: Belarus 6 - 1 France Latvia 2 – 3 Slovenia Hungary 7 – 4 France Belarus 2 - 1 Slovenia

GB Under 20s had another disappointing result today in their World Championship game against Hungary. GB led after the first period with a goal from Aaron Nell. However in the second period Hungary took a 3 – 1 lead. GB got a goal back before the end of the second break through Craig Peacock. In the third period Hungary scored one second after playing off a penalty to lead 4 – 2. They then scored another at 59.08, to make the final score 5 - 2.

The results of yesterday’s games were
Hungary 2 Belarus 3
France 3 Latvia 9

Tomorrow is a rest day, with GB taking on Latvia on Saturday.

GB U20s started their Division I campaign today against Slovenia. Slovenia led 1 – 0 after the first period. In the second GB went 3 – 1 up with goals from Jeremy Lundin, Robert Dowd and Aaron Nell, before Slovenia pulled a goal back 28 seconds from the end of the period. Slovenia then equalised 9 minutes before the end of the game. Five out of the six goals came from powerplays. Five minutes of overtime did not produce a goal, and so the game went to penalty shots, which Slovenia won.

GB’s second game is against Hungary tomorrow.

IHUK are pleased to announce the following list of names for the World U20 Championships Division I Group B in Latvia on 12 - 18 December:

NETMINDERS
Martin Clarkson - Northern Massachusetts Jr. Cyclones
Joe White - Swindon Wildcats

DEFENCE
Alex Symonds - Cardiff Devils
Ben O'Connor - Edinburgh Capitals
David Savage - Guildford Flames
Jeremy Lundin - Newcastle Vipers
Lewis Christie - Belfast Giants
Michael Farn - Swindon Wildcats
Sam Oakford - Bracknell Bees
Stephen Lee - Hull Stingrays

FORWARDS
Aaron Nell - Kenai River Brown Bears
Craig Peacock - Peterborough Phantoms
Dean Holland - Newcastle Vipers
James Ferrara - Nottingham Panthers
James Neil - Nottingham Panthers
James Archer - Peterborough Phantoms
Lloyd Gibson - Sheffield Scimitars
Mark Garside - Edinburgh Capitals
Matt Towe - Cardiff Devils
Matt Davies - Swindon Wildcats
Robert Dowd - Sheffield Scimitars
Ryan Watt - Bracknell Bees

Report from IHWC Website

GB U20s play their Division I Group B World Championships in Latvia on 12 - 18 December 2007. All games are at Arena Riga.

Their fixtures are
Wed 12/12/07 13.00 Slovenia
Thu 13/12/07 13.00 Hungary
Sat 15/12/07 20.00 Latvia
Sun 16/12/07 16.30 Belarus
Tue 18/12/07 16.30 France

GB U18s will play their Division II Group B World Championships at Premia, Estonia.

The fixtures are
23/03/08 16.30 Estonia
24/03/08 13.00 Romania
26/03/08 13.00 Israel
27/03/08 13.00 Spain
29/03/08 16.30 Hungary

GB Women will play in Division III on 6 - 12 April 2008 in Miskolc, Hungary.

The fixtures are
Sun 06/04/08 12.30 Korea
Mon 07/04/08 12.30 Belgium
Wed 09/04/08 16.00 Croatia
Fri 11/04/08 19.30 Hungary
Sat 12/04/08 16.00 Slovenia

		P	W	W-ot	L-ot	L	GF	GA	Pts	GD
1	Slovenia	5	5	0	0	0	29	5	15	24
2	Hungary	5	3	1	0	1	20	13	11	7
3	Japan	5	1	1	1	2	19	22	6	-3
4	Great Britain	5	2	0	0	3	14	15	6	-1
5	Lithuania	5	2	0	0	3	13	20	6	-7
6	Romania	5	0	0	1	4	12	32	1	-20

Great Britain – Romania 6-1 (1:0, 4:1, 1:0)
With relegation on the line, Great Britain produced an impressive 6-1 win against Romania to stay in Division I for another year. With the loss, Romania makes the quick return to Division II.

Nathan Rempel was the man of the day for Great Britian, scoring three goals in the key game.

It was a one-goal game until Great Britain broke things wide open with a strong four-goal second period performance that ultimately was the difference between Division I and II. Rempel led the second period explosion, netting two goals. All four goals came in the first half of the period as Britain came out from the first intermission on a mission to put some distance between themselves and the Romanians.

The only blemish of the period for Great Britain was a shorthanded goal by Tibor Basilidesz, but by the time the goal came, Britain owned the commanding five-goal lead, so the tally made little difference.

Rempel completed the hat trick, scoring the only goal of the third period to earn the 6-1 win, and more importantly secure fifth place in the

Japan 1–7 Slovenia (1:3, 0:1, 0:3)
There are neighborhoods in Toronto that have easily over 100 registered hockey players. The two-million nation of Slovenia has just about that. But today, that number is irrelevant. Slovenia is promoted to the 2008 IIHF World Championship in Canada after winning its fourth consecutive game at the Division I World Championship at home in Ljubljana.

Hungary 4–2 Great Britain (0:1, 2:1, 2:0)
The Great Britain team is left wondering “what if”. What if they were better at protecting 2-0-leads? Well, they would definitely been out of the danger zone of relegation. Instead, they have to earn at least one point against Romania in their last game on Saturday.

The British squandered a 2-0-lead against Lithuania on Monday and they did it again against Hungary on Thursday, to lose the game 4-2. After defenseman Tom Watkins gave GBR the lead on a neat one-timer in the first period, the team got an unusual break eight minutes into the second. They were desperately killing a two-man disadvantage, but as soon as the penalized Jonathan Phillips came in, he was sent on a breakaway and scored a short-hander, much to the delight of the hundred or so fans from the GBR Supporter’s Club.

Goals like that usually are killers for teams that allow them, but the Hungarians surprisingly took over after the 2-0-goal. Gabor Ocskay scored the contact-goal at the midway point of the game and Gergely Majoross leveled things up three minutes later. This could have gone either way in the third, but no one was really surprised when Marton Vas found Balazs Ladanyi in the slot and his low shot beat Stevie Lyle for the winner.

Krisztian Palkovics added the insurance in power-play when he found the gab between Lyle’s pads with a backhander after a rush. Hungary outshot Great Britain 30-14.

Slovenia – Great Britain 4 – 0 (0:0, 3:0, 1:0)
Slovenia won – but it wasn’t easy. The score doesn’t tell the whole story of a game where the British could have played the role of party spoilers, if not for a 19-year old kid by the name of Kopitar. “Amazing Anze” had three assists and the newly inserted first-line winger Gregor Poloncic had three goals when Slovenia defeated Great Britain 4-0. A win against Japan on Thursday will be enough to guarantee promotion to the top division of the IIHF World Championship. Kopitar has one goal and seven assists for eight points in three games.

It was the first time that the Slovenians faced adversity in the tournament. Ivo Jan, the heart and soul of the team and winger on the Kopitar-line, injured his back in the game against Hungary on Monday and he is gone for the tournament. Coach Ted Sator decided to tinker as little as possible with the lineup that won the two previous games and inserted fourth-liner Gregor Poloncic with Kopitar and Tomaz Razingar.

It didn’t work out well in the beginning. The line didn’t seem to connect, Kopitar looked lost, was inefficient and the Brits produced as many good chances as the home favorites. Great Britain could actually have been ahead had not goalie Andrej Hocevar done crucial saves on Mike Ellis, David Longstaff and Greg Owen in the opening period.

With almost half the game gone, and Slovenia getting absolutely nowhere, the situation that entirely changed the game popped up just like that. Anze Kopitar found himself carrying the puck on a two-on-one and he seemed to hold on to it for an eternity before he dropped a pass to Tomaz Razingar who had an open net for the 1-0-goal at 08.10 of the second period.

This opened the floodgates. Poloncic, who until then created little, was perfectly positioned in front after goalie Stevie Lyle gave up a rebound on a shot from Damjan Dervaric. With less than six minutes remaining of the period Kopitar showed the packed Tivoli Arena why he is a world class player. The Los Angeles King held the puck in the corner, and when he saw Poloncic driving to the net, Kopitar made a wrap-around backhand pass and Poloncic could score from the door step, at 14.28. Game over. Poloncic added his third goal for the night midway through the third period, again assisted by Kopitar. It was the lone power-play goal of the night. Slovenia outshot the British 40-18.

Either Lithuania went through the motions in the two first periods, or Great Britain simply ran out of gas in the third. The Brits held a 2-0-lead in the second period and started the third 2-1 up, but goals from Andrius Kaminskas and Sarunas Kulesius turned the game around. Both teams are 1W-1L after two days.

Both Lithuanian goals came after lengthy pressure where the Brits where chasing the puck without being able to clear the zone. Kaminskas scored at 5.38 of the third when his shot from the blue line took some crazy bounces and hopped by goalie Stevie Lyle. Kulesius’ winner at 13.33 came after an intensive goalmouth scramble, with Lyle down and unable to cover.

The British took the lead late the first period on a fine shot from the point by defenseman Tom Watkins. Without dominating, they were still the better team so Mark Richardson’s 2-0-goal midway through the second period didn’t by any means come against the course of the play. Richardson had the final tap on the puck but all credit must go to Jonathan Phillips who made the perfect cross ice pass.

The Lithuanians were definitely both shaken and stirred so the ensuing two-on-one break that developed only 19 seconds after Britain ’s second goalie came very timely. Martynas Slikas connected with Dalius Vaiciukevicius who got the puck past goalie Stevie Lyle. Despite the win, Lithuania does not resemble the team that took Tallinn , Estonia with storm one year ago. They managed only eleven shots on goal through the two first two periods, but equaled that number in the third, where they outshot Britain 11-4. Except for some parts of the last period, this game did not reach any entertainment level.

GB came out at the start determined to show Japan how good the team could be and it showed after 3 minutes when Danny Meyers put us 1-0 up. good defence and fore-checking helped us put Japan on the back foot and GB score via Greg Owen with less than 2 minutes to go in the 1st period.

Unfortunately GB were caught out early in the 2nd period when Japan scored, but soon found their shape again. Ashley Tait was alledgedly called for charging at 27:39 , but GB defended well and when he came out the box, Mike Ellis passed it to him to beat the netminder 1-on-1.
Paul Sample score with 3 mnutes left to take the 2nd period score to 4 - 1.

3rd period was end to end action, but Japan could not score past a solid defence until 57:45 and then again after pulling their netminder with less than a minute to go, GB hung on the win 4 - 3 which flattered Japan.

Paul Sample got MOM for GB.

The Great Britain u18 team were unable to emulate the u20's result of breaking the yo-yoing between Division 1 and Division 2 with a 5-3 defeat to Ukraine in a hard-fought match.

Ultimately, the Brits were unable to match their performance of the previous day and too many rash penalties went a long way to their undoing.

The first penalty came as early as the 6th second, and Ukraine were able to use it to take an early lead on the 2nd minute mark. However, Britain went on to have the better of the remainder of the period, outshooting the Ukrainians 11-6 and found their equaliser whilst on a delayed penalty. Tonks, yet again, scoring the Brits opening goal. His 3rd in as many days.

Truth be told, the 2nd period fell into a more familiar pattern for the Brits. Heavily outshot by the Ukrainians, 14-6, the young Brits never managed periods of sustained pressure in their offensive zone. A shame as the Ukrainian netminder, Balaban, looked ready to collapse for most of the game.

An early Ukrainian goal was again matched by the Brits. This time it was Lee, after 35 minutes, who was having a strong game. But the killer was another powerplay goal for Ukraine with just 71 seconds left in the period.

Any expectation that this may have given the Ukrainians an extra push never really came to fruition, though. Admittedly helped by starting the period a man down, Ukraine seemed to come out flat and unable to match their previous intensity.

However, that didn't seem to equate to more British shots on goal. Ukraine doubled their lead with just over 10 minutes left, and while Britain got their 3rd just over a minute later, there was uncomfortable feeling that the game was getting away from the Brits. But, to the great credit of a British team who refused to give up, it took until their was 70 seconds left in the game until they finally killed the game off.

That left only a fight between Lee and Dolynin to close matters off. Both got a match penalty for their efforts. Amazingly, the match officials thought it was wise to let both players walk down the tunnel to their repsective dressing rooms at the same time and unsupervised. As a result, we had another slight delay as both went at it again in the tunnel before the game could come to a somewhat anti-climatic finish for the Brits.

Another tournament where Britain showed that they can compete at this level, but with a level of preparation that leaves them constantly playing catch-up during the whole tournament.

Report from GBSC Website

The ice hockey world championships are just 6 days away with Team GB taking on Japan on the 15th April in Slovenia.

Team GB are this week in Coventry for an intense 5 day training camp which will include an exhibition game against a GB under 25 select on Wednesday at the Skydome Arena.

GB Head Coach Paul Thompson couldn't hide his excitement as his GB team arrived at the Skydome Arena in Coventry on Monday for their training camp, and after their first training session confirmed "We are all here, all fighting fit and all ready for a tough couple of weeks which we are confident will end with Team GB back in the Worlds top 30 teams"

Thompson was relieved that after the league play offs all the boys arrived injury free "you have to have a concern about that, the Play Offs were high intensity this year as always, but all the guys came through fine. Some of the Nottingham and Cardiff guys were a little tired and drained after the finals but I was impressed how keen and focussed all the players were. There is certainly a feeling with this group that their time has come to make a difference, make the Nation proud and put ice hockey on the map

"We have just 5 days to put in place our systems, so the week will be busy but I am confident that we will be ready and prepared come next Sundays game against Japan"

A more spirited performance by the British u18 couldn't avoid defeat to a Danish team who would be confirmed as gold medallist before the day was over.

For the first 5 minutes of the game, it would be fair to say that this looked like a contest between the two teams looking destined to finish 1st and 6th in the competition. During that initial 5 minute spell, the young British side struggled to clear their zone, never mind mount an attack of their own.

However, having withstood that initial spell with a clean sheet, thanks to a stellar man of the match performance by Euan King, the Brits seemed to grow in confidence and started causing the Danes concern at both ends of the ice.

It was to be the Danes who scored first, however; Boedker on the powerplay with 13 minutes gone. But just 5 minutes later Tonks would again score a big British opener, with help from 2 Danes sitting on the penalty bench.

The 2nd period was more of the same. Long periods of Danish pressure amounting to little, thanks to a defensive unit that was far tighter and doing a far more effective job of getting in the forwards faces, with the Brits trying to catch the Danes out on the break. But the only goal of the period was to be another Danish one, with 34 minutes played.

The Danes scored another goal early in the 3rd period, but any concerns about Britain's short bench (4 players were unable to play due to a variety of ailments and injuries) proved unfounded as the Brits kept their intensity right to the end for a very respectable 3-1 defeat.

Ultimately, if Britain had managed this performance 48 hours earlier against Poland, relegation would seem unlikely. Sadly, the team are yet again showing Division 1 ability hampered by Division 2 preparation.

Their only hope now is that Poland beat Ukraine, and that GB do likewise, within 60 minutes regulation time, on Tuesday.

Report from GBSC Website

Great Britain lost 5-3 to Poland in their third game of the 2007 u18 Division 1 Group B World Championships. With Ukraine's earlier OT win against Norway, the defeat means it is unlikely that GB can avoid relegation.

GB turned up very flat in the first period and gifted Poland an easy 4-0 lead going into the first break.

Britain did manage to raise their game in the 2nd period, but only enough to allow Poland to extend their lead by a solitary goal. However, Watt was unlucky to have his goal disallowed when the referee adjudged him to have interfered on the play.

In the 3rd period, a revitalised GB team hit the ice and scored their first goal at 47:25 when Tonks opened the scoring. Just 50 seconds later, the Brits had doubled their tally through Davies and the Poles were clearly rattled. When Nicolson scored Britain's 3rd with just under 5 minutes left, it did look like an upset may have been on the cards. However, Poland held on for the 2 points.

Euan King was Britain's man of the match.

Report from GBSC Website

GB fell to their 2nd loss of the tournament with a 6-1 defeat by Japan in the u18 Division 1 Group A World Championships. Davies scored the lone British goal, a consolation goal at 54:11.

Britain now enjoy a rest day before facing hosts Poland on Saturday.

Report from GBSC Website

The British u18 team lost their first game of the u18 Division 1 Group B World Championships in Sanok, going down 7-2 to a strong Norwegian side.

Britain went to a quick 2-0 lead after just 7 minutes thanks to goals from Tonks and Betham. However, with GB being the lowest seeds in the group against the highest seeds, Norway, the rest of the game went to form with 7 unanswered Norwegian goals.

GB Ice Hockey Coach Paul Thompson has confirmed his 22 man squad for the forthcoming World Championships in Slovenia, commencing on Sunday 15th April. The squad sees the return of some of the most experienced players in the British game such as Tony Hand, David Longstaff and Shaun Johnson whilst new faces James Pease, Graeme Walton and Nathan Remple also make the team.

Coach Paul Thompson said "this has been a difficult team to select, for the first time in many years there has been a real competition for places, the final team was only agreed on Sunday evening as I wanted to give all the players available as much time as possible, I needed to see every player as much as possible and in this final 22 I truly believe that I have selected the best players to do the best job for our nation

"We have selected players who are in form playing on top of their game right now, players who I know are committed to the programme and determined to help us succeed in our aim of IIHF Pre Olympic qualification"

Great Britain team for the World Championships in Slovenia (15th to 21st April)

Netminders
#1 Stephen Murphy Edinburgh Capitals
#30 Stevie Lyle HC Morzine, France

Defence
#4 Mike Ellis Nottingham Panthers
#11 David Phillips Hull Stingrays
#13 James Pease Coventry Blaze
#14 Jonathan Weaver Newcastle Vipers
#15 Tom Watkins Coventry Blaze
#24 Graeme Walton Belfast Giants
#28 Danny Meyers Nottingham Panthers

Forwards
#5 David Clarke Nottingham Panthers
#8 Matt Myers Nottingham Panthers
#9 Tony Hand Manchester Phoenix
#10 Greg Owen Basingstoke Bison
#12 Warren Tait Sheffield Steelers
#17 Mark Richardson Cardiff Devils
#18 Shaun Johnson Newcastle Vipers
#20 Jonathan Phillips Sheffield Steelers
#21 Ashley Tait Coventry Blaze
#22 Paul Sample Cardiff Devils
#25 David Longstaff Newcastle Vipers
#26 Nathan Rempel Cardiff Devils
#27 Russell Cowley Cardiff Devils

Reserves
1st Forward #2 Jason Hewitt Sheffield Steelers
2nd Forward #7 Gary Clarke Milton Keynes Lightning
1st Defenseman #23 Mark Thomas Sheffield Steelers
1st Netminder #29 Mark Lee Newcastle Vipers

The Great Britain women's team won the silver medal in the Division 3 World Championships in Sheffield. Great Britain lost to Australia in a penalty shoot-out in their 2nd game of the tournament in what turned out to be the gold medal decider. Great Britain did, however, end up with the best goal difference thanks to a 27-0 win over South Africa, in what is believed to be a record winning margin for a British national team.

Standings

		P	W	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	Australia	5	5	0	41	9	14
2	Great Britain	5	4	1	57	8	13
3	Belgium	5	3	2	22	18	9
4	Hungary	5	2	3	22	19	6
5	South Korea	5	1	4	12	27	3
6	South Africa	5	0	5	4	77	0

Great Britain Ice Hockey Head Coach Paul Thompson, has narrowed down his squad of players for the forthcoming World Championships in Slovenia in April 07.

Under IIHF rules Thompson has named a roster of 30 players from which the final 22 must be taken for the final squad selection.

Thompson said : "This has been a very difficult decision. The players this season have certainly shown me that they want to play for their nation and certainly want to be involved in our programme, heading towards the Olympic qualification tournaments. Together with my assistants Rob Wilson and Tony Hand we have diligently chartered the progress of many players this year. The competition has been tougher for places than in any other year I can remember.

"I have had an amazing response from both the players and 99% of the clubs we have had contact with. Unfortunately, however, some players are not available. Todd Kelman for example, has taken a new and important job with Belfast and that is taking his time at the moment. Kyle Horne has always supported the National programme, however his wife is expecting a baby right in the middle of the Championships and it would be unfair to ask him to come away during that period.

"In recent years the British player has had the opportunity to flourish in the leagues in this country. I am proud to lead this group of players. I have confidence and faith in them and can’t wait for the opportunity to work with them all in training camp and the competition in Slovenia.

Netminders

#1 Stephen Murphy Edinburgh Capitals

#29 Mark Lee Newcastle Vipers

#30 Stevie Lyle HC Morzine, France

Defence

#4 Mike Ellis Nottingham Panthers

#11 David Phillips Hull Stingrays

#13 James Pease Coventry Blaze

#14 Jonathan Weaver Newcastle Vipers

#15 Tom Watkins Coventry Blaze

#23 Mark Thomas Sheffield Steelers

#24 Graeme Walton Belfast Giants

#28 Danny Meyers Nottingham Panthers

Forwards

#2 Jason Hewitt Sheffield Steelers

#3 Paul Moran Sheffield Steelers

#5 David Clarke Nottingham Panthers

#6 Leigh Jamieson Belfast Giants

#7 Gary Clarke Milton Keynes Lightning

#8 Matt Myers Nottingham Panthers

#9 Tony Hand Manchester Phoenix

#10 Greg Owen Basingstoke Bison

#12 Warren Tait Sheffield Steelers

#16 Marc Levers Belfast Giants

#17 Mark Richardson Cardiff Devils

#18 Shaun Johnson Newcastle Vipers

#19 Colin Shields Idaho Steelheads, ECHL

#20 Jonathan Phillips Sheffield Steelers

#21 Ashley Tait Coventry Blaze

#22 Paul Sample Cardiff Devils

#25 David Longstaff Newcastle Vipers

#26 Nathan Rempel Cardiff Devils

#27 Russell Cowley Cardiff Devils

The final squad of 22 to travel to Slovenia will be confirmed in two weeks time.

So it is finally here! The morning before the Womens World Championships is upon us as GB prepare to gain revenge for two years ago by getting promotion back to Division 2.

The tournament starts in Ice Sheffield at 12.30 today with the opener between Belgium and dark horses Korea.

This is followed by outsiders South Africa facing GB's main rivals Australia.

Then finally GB get their campaign started at 19.30 when they face a Hungarian team that two years ago they beat 5-0 in Cape Town.

Without a doubt must pundits are looking at the game on Tuesday against Australia as being the one that could be a potential gold medal game, but Korea who gained promotion two years ago (no tournament last year due to Olympics) are according to sources improving at agreat rate which should make GB's game against them on Wednesday an interesting one.

Should the team get through these obstacles they will only have themselves to blame should they lose the gold as the last two evening games are by far the easiest. GB face on Friday evening South Africa who they beat 15-0 two years ago and then the final game is on Saturday evening again a Belgium side that again two years ago they beat 11-0.

All at GBSC wish the team the best of luck and we hope to see many fans there to support the team.

We will be having period by period scores/details of GB's games in the GBSC Forum section for all of those unable to attend.

Admission at Ice Sheffield is free to all games.

GBSC are proud to be sponsors of the GB womens tracksuits and have also sponsored the player of the match awards for each tournament game.
GBSC members will be presenting around half of the awards during the tournament.

The total sponsorship of both of these items equates to wll over £1500.

The under 18 Squad for the World Championships as been announced.

Netminders
Martin Clarkson - Lake Placid USA
Euan King - Peterborough

Defence
Richard Bentham - Blackburn
Lewis Christie - Fife
Joseph Graham - Solihull
Michael Holland - Sheffield
Stephen Lee - Hull
Thomas Mills - Lake Placid USA
William Nicolson - Dundee Stars

Forwards
Jonathan Boxill - Lake Placid USA
Mathew Davies - Solihull
Mark Garside - Edinburgh
James Hayes - Swindon
Robert Lachowicz - Nottingham
Jamie Line - Bracknell
James Moutrey - Billingham
James Neil - Nottingham
Aaron Nell - Okanagan Canada
James Tinsley - Newcastle
Dean Tonks - Peterborough
Ryan Watt - Bracknell

Reserve Netminder
Gary Russell Edinburgh

Reserve Defence
Lloyd Gibson - Sheffield
Jordan Pryce - Royal Guildford

Reserve Forwards
Daniel Hammond - Chelmsford
Samuel Bullas - Nottingham

Staff
Team Leader Ian Turner
Head Coach Michael Mishner
Assistant Coach Jonathan Kynaston
Assistant Coach David Graham
Physiotherapist Donald Lyall
Equipment Manager Daniel Sampson
Team Staff Neville Moralee

Great Britain have been denied the gold medal with two late Austrian goals in the final 5 minutes of their last game. Great Britain must now wait on the result of the Norway v Kazakhstan tie to discover if their medal will be silver or bronze.

06:01 0-1 Tom Carlon (Robert Dowd)
06:20 0-2 Lee Mitchell (u/a)
18:41 1-2 Michael Raffl (Rotter)
20:32 1-3 Ben Morgan (Towe)
26:00 2-3 Wilhelm Lanz (Geier)
29:09 3-3 Manuel Geier (Rotter)
56:51 4-3 Rafael Rotter (Raffl)
59:30 5-3 Stefan Geier (u/a)

Bronze for GB
Great Britain have got the bronze medal from the u20 Division 1 Group B World Championships in Torre Pelice, Italy, after Kazkahstan scored a late goal against Norway to win 3-2. A Norwegian win would have given the Brits silver.

The newly promoted Brits win 3 of their 5 games to record the nation's best ever result at u20. Great Britain will now return to Division 1 in 12 months time with even more confidence to build on their achievements this year.

Great Britain have moved to top of the group with a 3-0 win over Kazakhstan.

The team now have a rest day before playing their final game against Austria on Saturday (face-off 12:00 GMT). A win over Austria, even in OT, would guarantee the gold medal for Great Britain.

01:19 0-1 Shaun Thompson (Bronnimann)
19:09 0-2 Robert Dowd (Mitchell, Carlon)
57:04 0-3 James Archer (Thompson)

GB Guaranteed Bronze
With one day to go, Great Britain are the only team guaranteed a medal in Group B of the u20 Division 1 World Championships. Norway beat hosts Italy 4-1 in their penultimate game, meaning that only Austria or Kazakhstan can now finish with a points total greater or equal to the Brits.

Great Britain now enjoy a rest day before playing their final game against Austria. Any win for Great Britain in that game would guarantee the gold medal and a place in the elite division for next season.

Great Britain have won their 2nd match of the tournament with a 4-2 win over France. GB were made to fight for the win after France tied the score at two goals apiece in the 48th minute. However, two goals in the last 2:08 from Shaun Thompson, including a short-handed empty netter, sealed the win.

22:03 1-0 Lee Mitchell (Dowd)
25:51 1-1 Kevin Igier (Reverdin)
35:19 2-1 Shaun Thompson (Phillips, Wood)
47:25 2-2 Hugues Cruchandeau (u/a)
57:52 3-2 Shaun Thompson (Wood)
59:28 4-2 Shaun Thompson (u/a)

u20s Stay in Division 1
With 2 games still left to play, the Great Britain u20 squad have avoided relegation back to Division 2. This will be the first time GB have ever managed 2 consecutive seasons in Division 1.

Kazakhstan's 4-1 win over Italy means that Great Britain are now one of 3 teams who can not be relegated, along with Kazakhstan and Austria. It also means that after 3 days, Great Britain hold the bronze medal position. However, GB's last 2 games are against the two teams that are above them in the table so it will be a tough fight to keep the medal spot.

Italy have beaten Great Britain in their 2nd game of the tournament. The game remained tight until Italy pulled away with a couple of goals in the last 15 minutes.

The result means Great Britain drop 1 place to 4th in the standings. They now have a day's rest before playing France in what could be the relegation decider. Face-off is 15:30 GMT.

08:59 1-0 Davide Mantovani (Pozzi)
14:58 1-1 Robert Dowd (Mitchell, Carlon)
44:06 2-1 Christian Sottsas (Zandonella, Erlacher)
56:36 3-1 Christian Sottsas (Hofer)

Report from GBSC Website

Great Britain have started their u20 campaign in spectacular fashion by beating Norway 4-3. Not only was this the first time GB had won an u20 Division 1 game, Norway were the top seeds of the group.

Match report to follow.

06:42 0-1 Mats Aasen (Holos)
08:03 1-1 Oliver Bronnimann (Morgan, Thompson)
37:42 2-1 Robert Dowd (Carlon, Mitchell)
40:59 3-1 Oliver Bronnimann (Boothroyd)
42:49 3-2 Robin Dahlstrom (Mathisrud, Solberg)
45:01 3-3 Robin Dahlstrom (Eidsather, Csiszar)
45:21 4-3 Greg Wood (Towe, Garside)

Norwegians Shocked
Norway are still reeling from Great Britain's shock win over them on the first day of the Under 20 Division 1 Group B World Championships. As a result, the Norwegian coach has decided to "reset the clock". The Norwegian team will not have any ice training today (Tuesday). Instead, the players are going to go sightseeing before going straight to the arena for their game.

Norway play in the first game of the day, against a French team who were beaten 4-1 by Kazakhstan yesterday. Great Britain get the longest rest of all teams today, not playing until the last game of the day at 1930 GMT against hosts Italy. With the Italians losing heavily to Austria yesterday, a British win today would all but secure a Division 1 place for next year.

Planet Ice team up with GB national side

Leading ice facility operators, Planet Ice have given their full backing to the reinvigorated Great Britain senior ice hockey programme, by agreeing to become the home of the team for the next two years.

With the team’s regular base at ice Sheffield being unavailable for the dates required by Head Coach Paul Thompson for his pre World Championship training camp, Planet Ice have offered their Coventry Skydome facility as an alternative venue.

The Skydome Arena, home of bmibaby Elite League team Coventry Blaze, will now be used by the international squad for it’s week long preparation camp in April and will also host two international fixtures, one targeted for the February international break and the other during the April training camp week.

“This is really good news for the GB team.” Confirmed Andy Buxton, General Manager of the national team programme. “We really wanted to create a settled base for the team, somewhere that people can consider the home of the national side. Somewhere where the players, management and supporters can get used to for international training camps and fixtures.

“The Skydome is absolutely perfect for that. It’s an ideal size for international games, it’s centrally located for both the players and the supporters, it already knows how to stage top level ice hockey games and it has a good ticket booking system. Importantly as well, the Arena management and the Planet Ice group want to work with the national team. They are proud to have us using their facility and they will be as committed as we are to making the camps and the games a great success.

“The lack of ice availability at the right times at ice Sheffield was going to cause the national team a serious problem so we are very grateful to Planet Ice for helping us out and for wanting to work with us. I’m sure we will form a great partnership and make a real success of the relationship.”

“We’re very pleased to be able to support and work with the GB team in this way.” Added Planet Ice MD Mike Petrouis. “When we heard the team was struggling to get the ice time it needed we were only too happy to be able to step in and provide the solution. The profile of the GB team is increasing rapidly and we’re delighted to be part of it.”

GB Ice Hockey Head Coach Paul Thompson has completed his line-up of Senior National Team coaching staff with the appointments of Milton Keynes Player/Coach Nick Poole and Dundee Stars Head Coach Roger Hunt as associate coaches.

Thompson explained the appointments.

“My aim was to build a network of coaches around the Country so that there isn’t a player that won’t get noticed if he is playing well and deserves a call up to the National programme.

“Nick will be my eyes in the EPL where he is the most successful coach in that league right now and Roger will look after the Scottish and Irish players. I don’t want any British player who is doing his job well to think that he isn’t being watched and his progress noted.

“Nick and Roger will scout these teams and report back to Rob (Wilson), Tony (Hand) and myself with regular updates. Although these two guys won’t be coaching the National team they will be recommending players to us based on the same rating system that the three senior team coaches will be using.”

GB Ice Hockey Head Coach Paul Thompson has announced that Tony Hand MBE, has confirmed his return to the international fold, becoming a Player/Assistant Coach of the National Team for their forthcoming World Championship Pool B tournament in Slovenia.

Hand, the player coach of bmibaby Elite League outfit Manchester Phoenix, previously retired from international hockey, but has agreed to return to the new professional set- up being installed by Thompson.

“I want the GB programme to work and to win” Hand said. “Once Paul confirmed to me how the programme was to operate and that we were going to Slovenia in April to try to make progress on previous seasons, I wanted to be involved.”

The Scot added, “I am a coach now and that is my future, so the position of player/assistant coach is one that certainly had my mouth watering. I believe that I have a lot to offer the Great Britain programme both as a player and as an assistant to Paul.”

Thompson confirmed that one of his main goals with the GB programme had now been achieved. “Tony has to play.” said Thompson. “He is the best player we have and he can do things that other player can’t. He can pick locks that others can’t even find, let alone pick. I said off the bat that I wanted the best, I needed the best, if we are going to go to Slovenia and do well. Tony Hand is still the best in my book and getting him on board is a major boost to the whole programme. I just couldn’t have imagined going away without him.”

A clearly delighted Thompson added, “It’s also a double whammy for me. Not only do I get a great player but, I get another first class coach for the team. In Assistant Coaches Rob Wilson and Tony Hand I now have two trusted lieutenants. Men who know the game, who know and have played international hockey before and guys who will work around the clock with me in preparing a team that will go to the Championships geared to improving our standing.”

Newly appointed GB Ice Hockey Head Coach Paul Thompson has confirmed three more members of his national team support staff. Newcastle Vipers Head Coach, Rob Wilson joins as one of Thompson’s two assistant coaches, Sheffield Steelers Press & Media Manager, David Simms takes on a similar role for the national team and Coventry Blaze Chairman, Andy Buxton takes the position of General Manager of the national team programme.

Thompson said of the appointments,

“I always make a priority of having good people along side me. People who can help me run the whole programme, people I can trust and people who I know will support me and what I am trying to achieve.

“Rob Wilson was a natural choice for me. He has experience of coaching for four years and we seem to share many of the same beliefs as to how a team should play and prepare. Rob is a standout individual who knows what it takes to win and he will be a solid ally in the months ahead.

“I intend to have a second assistant coach and I hope to announce that person shortly. I’m ninety-nine percent of the way there with agreeing with the person I want and he will also really help the programme.”

Wilson Said

“When Paul called me I was excited. Whilst I was born in Canada I class myself as British and have always been a proud member of the National team. My Dad’s Scottish roots remain with me.

“Paul is the right person to lead this new GB mission and I am delighted to be standing beside him. We both get on well, trust one another and we also share the ambition of the programme. We are determined to take this opportunity and make it work.”

Thompson has always been adamant that the programme must run smoothly off the ice and be a well-oiled machine with regards to professionalism, preparation and communication. He sees his appointment of both Buxton and Simms as a key move to drive this forward.

Thompson confirmed, “One of the reasons for bringing them in is to improve the professionalism, preparation and communication around the programme. These guys do this type of work on a daily basis in their professional lives. Andy Buxton is as organised and prepared a person as you could get and I know he will leave no stone unturned to make sure this whole programme runs smoothly.

“As many know, David Simms has his ear to the ground on the hockey circuit and can help us spread the message of Team GB. He will make sure that the whole of the country knows what our programme is about and will help to generate the support that it requires.”

Coventry Blaze coach, Paul Thompson, has replaced Rick Strachan as the new GB national team coach. Thompson will continue his role with Coventry.

Rick Strachan had been in charge of the team for the past 2 World Championships after replacing Chris McSorley.

GB Finish 5th

Germany won gold and promotion back to the
elite level after defeating hosts France 5-0.

Final standings in Group A
1. Germany
2. France
3. Japan
4. Hungary
5. Great Britain
6. Israel (relegated)

Final standings in Group B
1. Austria
2. Lithuania
3. Poland
4. Estonia
5. The Netherlands
6. Croatia (relegated)

Lyle Gets GBSC Award
Steve Lyle has been named GBSC Player of the Tournmanet
after a large majority vote.

David Phillips was second and Matt Myers third.

Report from GBSC Website

The final score from the 5th and final game.
Great Britain needed at least draw to avoid the drop.

Man of the match was Danny Meyers.

The result means GB finish 5th.

06:43 1-0 Myers (Clarke, Moody)
14:48 2-0 Myers (D.Phillips)
25:04 3-0 Ellis (Owen, D.Phillips)
27:16 4-0 Shields (Levers)
30:27 5-0 Shields (Cowley, Weaver)
32:28 6-0 D.Phillips (Owen, Cowley)
41:32 7-0 Meyers (Clarke, Jamieson)
42:04 8-0 Shields (Cowley, Levers)
48:17 9-0 Cowley (Levers, Meyers)
51:19 10-0 Moran (Sample, Meyers)
52:58 11-0 Clarke (J.Phillips, Thomas)
59:24 12-0 Myers (J.Phillips, Clarke)

Report from GBSC Website

Final score from GB's 3rd game. Weaver got man of the match in a game that the Brits never looked like scoring in.

France 3 Hungary 3
Hungary came from behind to beat hosts France 3-3.

Hungary 8 Israel 0
Hungary beat Israel 8-0 to keep the Israelis bottom. After 2 games each, GB are in 4th place. Germany top the group.

Report from GBSC Website

Great Britain narrowly lost their 2nd game 1-0 to hosts France. Lyle got man of the match.

Div 1 Day 1 Wrap
The first day of the Group A Division 1 Champs
finished with wins for Germany, Hungary and hosts
France.

Germany's win over Israel was even more comfortable
than the score suggests. 4-0 up within 8 minutes,
Germant coasted the rest of the game.

Great Britain gave a Jeckyll and Hyde performance.
Looking lacklustre for much of the first 55 mins, a
late 5 on 3 gave them the energy that they needed.
Had they found it earlier, the game was certainly
winnable.

France finished Day 1 in an uninspiring 4-1 win over
Japan.

Group B has now played it's first 2 rounds with some
surprising results:

Lithuania 3 The Netherlands 3
Estonia 1 Poland 3
Croatia 0 Austria 6
Poland 1 Lithuania 2
The Netherlands 5 Croatia 1
Austria 3 Estonia 1

A late revival isn't enough to stop Britain Losing their opening game against Hungary 4-3. Matt Myers got man of the match.

09:47 0-1
22:45 1-1 Myers (Cowley)
28:38 1-2
44:44 1-3
46:33 1-4
56:50 2-4 J.Phillips (Ellis)
57:26 3-4 Shields (Owen)

Hungary edge a poor 1st period dominated by a fussy referee. Four GB penalties haven't allowed the team to gain momentum.

Second period again dominated by inconsistent refereeing. Matt Myers tied the game for the Brits early on, but a poor Meyers pass in
front of the British net gifted the lead Back to the Hungarians.

The Brits were caught for 2 early goals in the 3rd and this along with frustration at the ref dropped the heads. But a late 5 on 3
set up a grandstand finish. But despite pulling Murphy with 90 seconds left, the equaliser prooved elusive.

Report from GBSC Website

The GB Senior Squad has been announced today for the World Championships in Amiens France 24-30th April 2006.

The team will also be together in Tilburg,Holland prior to the tournament for their training camp which is sponsored by GBSC.

During the camp GB will play Holland in two exhibition games (18 and 20th April face off 19.00 GMT). GB Captain Ashley Tait has sadly been ruled out due to a broken jaw and Neil Liddiard is unable to play due to family commitments.

GB U18's skated to a hard earned victory tonight in Elektrenai, Lithuania against the host nation.

In front of a capacity crowd the game was a tense and tight affair as both teams failed to score in
the first period. The game was full of chances as the play went end to end. Both teams had a 5 on 3
powerplays but were unable to convert their chances.

In the 2nd period Lithuania opened the scoring much to the delight of their noisy partisan crowd. GB
though kept up the pressure and equalised shorthanded through Robert Dowde to end the period
on Level terms at 1-1.

The third period saw GB begin to take hold of the match and a powerplay goal from Nicholas Compton
made the score 2-1. GB did not take their foot off the pedal and Craig Peacock gained the insurance
goal to leave GB victorious and heading back up to Div 1 next year. Both GB junior teams have returned
back to Div 1 as the U20's won their tournament during December in Romania.

On another note Euan King won Gold tonight 20 years after his father - coach Kevin won Gold for the
18's.

IIHF player of the tournament - Robert Dowde
IIHF defenceman of the tournament - Micheal Farn
GBSC player of the tournament - James Ferrara
(presented on the ice by Frances Macphee!)

Silver - Lithuanis
Bronze - Australia

Report from GBSC Website

Great Britain maintained their 100% record in the Division 2 Group B U18 World Championships in
Lithuania with a 6-0 win over Croatia. The hosts own 10-0 win over Australia wasn't enough to take
their goal difference beyond GB's. As a result, Great Britain only need to tie the last game
against Lithuania to win gold and gain promotion.

Cardiff's Martin Clarkson, now playing for Lake Placid in the USA, got the man of the match in the
Croatia game for his 16-shot shut-out. Robert Dowd (2+2) and James Ferrara (0+4) were the top British
scorers.

Mexico beat Iceland 1-0 in the day's other game to maintain their chances of getting bronze.

Great Britain continued their unbeaten run in Division 2 Group B of the U18 World Championships
with a 14-2 win over Iceland.
Peterborough's Craig Peacock, now playing for the Florida Everblades,
was man of the match for his 4+5.

The Great Britain sledge hockey team finished 7th at the Paralympic Winter Games in Turin after
beating Italy 2-1 in overtime.

The two teams had already met earlier in the group stages, where GB
again rolled out 2-1 winners.

A 6-2 win over Mexico left Great Britain at the top of the table in Division 2 Group B of the U18 World
Championships.

However, the big shock of the day was Australia beating 3rd seeds Croatia 5-3
to move into 3rd place in the table.

Great Britain started their U18 Division 2 Group B campaign with an 11-0 shut out over Australia.

Sheffield's Matt Towe (1+3) and Guildford's Andrew Hemmings (3+0) were the top scorers for Great Britain. Martin Clarkson and Euan King shared the 11-shot goose egg. The game was delayed due to the late arrival of the Australian kit.

The result also means that Great Britain finish the 1st day of the tournament top of the table after Croatia beat Iceland 11-1 and hosts Lithuania beat Mexico 8-3. Great Britain next play Mexico tomorrow (Thursday 16th March) at 3pm UK time.

Some of Great Britain's competitors in the Division 1 World Championships have started to announce their warm-up games.

6 April Debrecen:     Hungary - Germany
8 April Budapest:     Hungary - Germany
13 April Straubing:    Germany - Switzerland
13 April Vienna:       Austria - France
15 April Landshut:     Germany - Switzerland
15 April Linz:         Austria - France
18 April               Austria - Germany
20 April               Austria - Germany

Rick Strachan will be holding a second training camp at Ice Sheffield on 6th and 7th February. This will
give Rick the opportunity to get the players together before the friendlies in Holland and the forthcoming World Championships in Amiens

With all U20 groups finished, the groups for next year's U20 World Championships have now been finalised.

Great Britain will take part in Division 1 Group B along with (in order of seeding):
   Norway
   Kazakhstan
   Italy
   France
   Ukraine
   Great Britain

The other groups have also been finalised as:

Elite Group A
   Canada
   USA
   Finland
   Switzerland
   Belarus

Elite Group B
   Russia
   Czech Republic
   Sweden
   Slovakia
   Belarus

Division 1 Group A
   Latvia
   Denmark
   Slovenia
   Poland
   Austria
   Estonia

Division 2 Group A
   Hungary
   Croatia
   Romania
   Spain
   Australia
   Lithuania

Division 2 Group B
   Japan
   The Netherlands
   Korea
   Serbia & Montenegro
   Mexico
   Iceland

Division 3
   China
   New Zealand
   Iceland
   Turkey
   Bulgaria

Note that the IIHF can change groups to solve any
hosting issues.

Ice Hockey UK are pleased to announce the squad for
the forthcoming World Championships in Lithuania

Netminders
Martin Clarkson USA
Euan King   Peterborough

Defense
Chad Briggs Swindon
Nick Compton USA
Michael Farn USA
Stephen Lee Hull
Jeremy Lundin Whitley Bay
William Nicholson Fife
David Savage Guildford

Forwards
James Archer Peterborough
Jonathan Boxill USA
Robert Dowd USA
James Ferrara Peterborough
Andrew Hemmings Guildford
Greg Martyn Bracknell
Tom Mills   USA
Craig Peacock USA
Dean Tonks Solihull
Matt Towe   Sheffield
Andrew Turner Peterborough

     Reserves
Netminder : Blair Daly   Fife
Defense : Lewis Christie Murrayfield
Forward: Alan Hamilton Dundee

      Head Coach Mick Mishner
Asst Coach Jon Kynaston
Team Manager Ian Turner

GB U20 7-1 Romania U20
Great Britain convincingly beat Romania 7-1 to win the gold medal and promotion back to Division 1 after just 1 season in Division 2. Mark Richardson received the man of the match award in a testy match that saw Bari McKenzie thrown out of the game for spearing. In the battle of the southern hemisphere teams to decide the relegation position, Australia beat New Zealand 6-0 to survive another season in Division 2. The Netherlands beat Spain 10-0 to guarantee at least a bronze.

Kiwis Relegated
In the battle of the southern hemisphere teams to decide the relegation position, Australia beat New Zealand 6-0 to survive another season in Division 2. Great Britain face-off against Romania at 1830 GMT to decide the gold medal.

Standings

	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Great Britain	5	5	0	0	53	3	10
The Netherlands	5	3	1	1	38	8	7
Romania	5	3	1	1	31	11	7
Spain	5	2	3	0	15	33	4
Australia	5	1	4	0	17	37	2
New Zealand	5	0	5	0	2	69	0

The British U-20 squad for the 2005-06 season has been announced by Ice Hockey UK. In addition, the practice schedule for the team has also been announced. A warm-up game will be played at Ice Sheffield against the Sheffield Scimitars on 13th October, with the game facing-off at 1945. There will then be a 3 day camp at Ice Sheffield starting on 22nd November and a 1 day camp at the same venue on 7th December. They will then start the U-20 Division 2 Group A tournament in Bucharest, Romania, on 12th December.

Defence

		Shane Moore	Basingstoke Bison
		Ben Morgan	Sheffield Scimitars
		David Phillips	Hull Stingrays
		Kevin Phillips	Hull Stingrays
		Chad Reekie	Slough Jets
		Kurt Reynolds	Hartford Jr Wolf Pack

Forwards

		James Archer	Peterborough Phantoms
		Oliver Bronniman	Guildford Flames
		Simon Butterworth	Sheffield Steelers
		Thomas Carlon	Telford Tigers/Coventry Blaze
		James Cook	Hull Stingrays
		Lewis Day	Hull Stingrays
		Bari McKenzie	Milton Keynes Lightning
		Mark Richardson	Cardiff Devils
		Shaun Thompson	Basingstoke Bison
		Matthew Towe	Peterborough Phantoms
		Adam Walker	Swindon Wildcats
		Greg Wood	Sheffield Scimitars

Reserves

		Joe Dollin	Swindon Wildcats
		Julian Smith	Peterborough Phantoms
		James Ferrara	Peterborough Phantoms
		Scott McKenzie	Slough Jets

Ice Hockey UK have announced that the Great Britain senior team will hold a training camp in The Netherlands prior to their World Championships in Amiens. As part of the training camp, two games will be held against the Dutch at a venue still to be decided. The first game shall be held on Wednesday 19th April, with the follow-up game being held two days later.

GBSC will be arranging travel for anyone interested in going to these games. The expected route will be to fly to The Netherlands and then travel on to Amiens by coach on the Saturday.

Ice Hockey UK have announced that Rick Strachan is to continue as head coach for the Great Britain senior team.

Strachan took over the head coach role for the 2005 World Championships after Chris McSorley's resignation, having spent the previous two years as one of McSorley's assistant coaches. He retired as a player from the national team after the 2002 World Championships, having been a stalwart of the team since receiving his first cap at the 1995 Pool B World Championships. Rick first came to Britain in 1990 with the Nottingham Panthers, and has played all of his hockey since in the country with Haringey, Milton Keynes, Basingstoke, Cardiff, Solihull MK and Hull where he is now coach.

Roger Hunt will continue as Strachan's assistant coach, as both pursue their long-term goal of qualifying for the 2010 Olympic Games.

At the IIHF Congress yesterday, it was announced that Great Britain will travel to Amiens, France for the 2006 Division 1 Group A World Championships. Great Britain will be the 5th seeds in the group which has (in order of seeding) Germany, France, Hungary, Japan and Israel. It will be the first time ever that Great Britain have played Israel. The tournament will take place from 24th to 30th April.

The U20 team will travel to Bucharest, Romania for their Division 2 Group A World Championships from 12th to 18th December. The British team will be the top seeds in a group along with (in order of seeding) Romania, The Netherlands, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.

The u18 team will travel to Lithuania for their Division 2 Group B World Championships. Dates and venue are to be confirmed, although the tournament is expected to be in March. Traditionally, Lithuania have used the ice rinks in Kaunas and Elektrenai for their international tournaments. Great Britain will be the the top seeds in the group, with (in order of seeding) Lithuania, Croatia, Spain, Serbia & Montenegro and Australia.

21:58 1-0 Ellis (Clarke, Weaver) PP1
22:33 2-0 Myers (Cowley)
25:03 3-0 Myers (Jamieson)
32:04 4-0 Clarke (Weaver)
38:58 5-0 W.Tait (Levers) PP1
39:37 6-0 Levers (W.Tait, Ellis)
43:29 7-0 Clarke (Weaver, Radmall)
49:18 8-0 Levers (Jamieson)
55:15 9-0 Richardson (Clarke)
57:31 10-0 Jamieson (Ellis, Tait)

Stephen Murphy recorded his 2nd shut-out in a row as Great Britain overcame a nervy first period to beat China 10-0 in the relegation game. The result left Great Britain tied with Japan on points, but the Japanese 5-3 win puts them in 4th, a place higher than Great Britain. Indeed, the success of this team can be measure by the fact that had Japan not scored their two goals in the last minute of that game (the 2nd being an empty netter), Great Britain would actually have left the tournament with a bronze medal. Colin Shields did not play in the final game after breaking his wrist yesterday.

Stephen Murphy was voted GBSC Player of the Tournament, and must surely have pushed Hungary's Levente Szuper close for Netminder of the Tournament. Norway won the gold with Poland and Hungary taking the bronze medals respectively. China were relegated to Division 2. Next season, Great Britain will be the 5th seeds in a group with France, Hungary, Japan, Croatia and the 15th place team in the elite group. The venue will be decided in early May.

Division 1 Group A World Championships
17th - 23rd April 2005
Debrecen, Hungary

Standings

	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Norway	5	4	0	1	43	8	9
Poland	5	3	1	1	16	8	7
Hungary	5	2	1	2	15	6	6
Japan	5	2	3	0	14	14	4
Great Britain	5	2	3	0	19	15	4
China	5	0	5	0	5	61	0

No.	Player	P	G	A	Pts	PP	SH	GW	PIM
5.	David Clarke	5	2	6	8	0	0	0	4
26.	Mike Ellis	5	3	4	7	2	0	0	6
14.	Jonathon Weaver	5	2	4	6	2	0	1	6
21.	Ashley Tait	5	2	3	5	0	0	0	8
6.	Leigh Jamieson	5	2	2	4	0	0	0	6
19.	Colin Shields	4	2	2	4	2	0	0	6
8.	Matthew Myers	5	3	0	3	1	1	0	10
9.	Marc Levers	5	2	1	3	0	0	0	0
12.	Warren Tait	5	1	2	3	1	0	0	0
17.	Mark Richardson	5	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
27.	Russell Cowley	5	0	1	1	0	0	0	2
11.	Adam Radmall	5	0	1	1	0	0	0	2
24.	Paul Moran	5	0	1	1	0	0	0	4
4.	Neil Liddiard	5	0	1	1	0	0	0	14
3.	Kyle Horne	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
15.	Stephen Murphy	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
22.	Paul Sample	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30.	Joe Watkins	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
2.	James Pease	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
7.	Kevin Phillips	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
20.	Jonathon Phillips	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	14
23.	Mark Thomas	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	16

Netminder Stats

		P	Mins	Shots	GA	Save%	GAA	W	L	T
	Stephen Murphy	5	247:57	158	7	.956	1.69	2	2	0
	Joe Watkins	1	50:01	36	6	.833	7.20	0	1	0

35:50 0-1 Weaver (A.Tait, Phillips) PP1
54:32 0-2 Jamieson (Shields, Weaver)
57:24 0-3 A.Tait (Ellis, Liddiard)

Great Britain won their first game of their 2005 Division 1 campaign with a 3-0 win over hosts, Hungary. Stephen Murphy recorded the shut-out, with David Clarke awarded Man of the Match for the British side. Coach Rick Strachan had informed his players to simply go out and enjoy the game, as the only game left that Great Britain must win is the next game against China. The attitude clearly worked on the team who put in their best performance in the tournament, with Ashley Tait and Jonathon Weaver both scoring 1+1. After Norway's 25-1 destruction of China today, the Brits must now be confident of defeating the Chinese and avoiding relegation.

22:59 1-0 Keller (Suzuki, Kobori) PP1
23:59 Saito 5+Game - Roughing
28:22 1-1 Shields (Clarke, Ellis) PP1
30:02 2-1 Osawa (Kon)
43:24 2-2 A.Tait (u/a)
51:50 2-3 Shields (Ellis) PP1
57:34 3-3 Sato (Miyauchi)
59:00 4-3 Kon (Nishiwaki, Suzuki)
59:22 Murphy pulled from goal
59:50 5-3 Saito (Iwata) ENG

Great Britain came frustratingly close to their first win of the 2005 Division 1 World Championships in a hard, physical game against top seeds Japan. Colin Shields put the British side into a 3-2 lead with just 8 minutes left, but Japan forced an equaliser with less than 2 and a half minutes left. Japan then scored the game winner goal after Murphy was blocked by one of his teammates, before Japan made things safe with an empty net goal 10 seconds from time.

Report from GBSC Website

Paul Sample's X-ray has confirmed that his wrist is broken, the result of a slash in the Norwegian game. The Sheffield player will take no further part in the tournament.

09:25 1-0 Ask (Spets)
09:59 2-0 Hansem (Trygg, Spets)
09:59 Watkins replaces Murphy
16:36 2-1 Myers (A.Tait, Weaver) PP1
17:10 3-1 Marthinsen (Ask, Bastiansen)
18:04 4-1 Vikingstad (Trygg, Olsen)
22:38 5-1 Skasdammen (Bastiansen, Knold)
24:54 6-1 Knold (Trygg) PP1
35:17 6-2 Weaver (A.Tait, Clarke)
46:53 7-2 Vikingstad (Olsen, Thoresen) PP1
51:19 7-3 Ellis (Clarke) PP1
57:33 8-3 Hallem (Trygg, Hansem)

Great Britain fell to their 2nd defeat in the Division 1 World Championships, this time to favourites, Norway. Stephen Murphy was pulled after the 2nd goal so that Strachan could rest his number 1 goalie, who picked up a slight injury the previous day. Also on the injury list is Paul Sample, who was taken to hospital to get his hand X-rayed. Great Britain were largely outclassed in the game, although Marc Levers played well. The team now have a day to recover before playing the top seeds, Japan.

Great Britain started their 2005 senior Division 1 campaign with a close 2-0 defeat after letting in an empty net goal with 16 seconds left to play. Poland's only other goal was a double powerplay effort midway through the 2nd period. Man of the Match Stephen Murphy guarded the net for the Brits, recording a 97.5% save percentage. The team's next game is tomorrow (Monday) against favourites Norway.

2005 IIHF World U18 Championship Div I Group A
Maribor, SLOVENIA
03.04.2005 - 09.04.2005

Due to Slovene airline Adria not putting their kit on the flight to Slovenia, the Great Britain U-18's first game against Belarus has had to be cancelled by the IIHF. The game has been awarded as a 5-0 win to Belarus pending an IIHF directorate decision.

The squad to travel to the Division 1 Group A World Championships has been announced. Great Britain travel to Debrecen, Hungary for the tournament which runs from 17th to 23rd April 2005. Promoted Great Britain will compete against Japan who were relegated out of the top flight last season after their protected status was removed after 5 years, along with Norway, Poland, hosts Hungary and China.

Defence

		James Pease	Coventry Blaze
		Kyle Horne	Fife Flyers
		Neil Liddiars	Guildford Flames
		Leigh Jamieson	Belfast Giants
		Kevin Phillips	Hull Stingrays
		Jon Weaver	Newcastle Vipers
		Danny Meyers	Bracknell Bees

Forwards

		David Clarke	Nottingham Panthers
		Matt Myers	Nottingham Panthers
		Greg Owen	Bracknell Bees
		Mark Richardson	Bracknell Bees
		Jon Phillips	Ashley Tait
		Ashley Tait	Coventry Blaze
		Paul Sample	Sheffield Steelers
		Paul Moran	Nottingham Panthers
		Mike Ellis	Bracknell Bees
		Russ Cowley	Coventry Blaze
		Colin Shields	Greenville Growl (ECHL)
		Warren Tait	Cardiff Devils

Reserves

		Adam Radmall	Hull Stingrays
		Mark Thomas	London Racers
		Marc Levers	Belfast Giants

Team Staff

		Rick Strachan	Head Coach
		Roger Hunt	Assistant Coach
		Stuart Robertson	Team Manager
		Jason Ellery	Equipment Manager
		Jan Musil	Team Doctor
		Mark Elliott	Physiotherapist
		Claire Goodwin	Physoptherapist

Senior National Team Coach, Chris McSorley, has handed in his resignation with immediate effect. A copy of his resignation letter can be found below. Rick Strachan and Roger Hunt will coach the senior national team in Debrecen, Hungary, for the Division 1 Group A World Championships starting on the 17th April.

I wish to address the IHUK Board of Directors with this letter as a note of gratitude for supporting my involvement over the past four years as your Head Coach of our GB Senior Men’s National Ice Hockey Program.

In addition it is with some regret that I must now inform the Board of my decision to relinquish my position as the GB Men’s National Team Coach. Due to my recent expanded business interests, continuing workload, and time demands with my club the Geneva Eagles of the Swiss National League, I am not able to adequately dedicate the required energy and time to the standards necessary to coach our National Program.

I wish to extend my deepest gratitude to you the Board of IHUK. Jim, Neville, Stuart, Gary, Alan, and Richard – thank you for selecting me to lead our men’s team. Andy, Gill, Gary, Paul, Rick, Roger, Taffy, Bruce, and Mark - thank you for your brilliance in coaching and superb management to bring our program together year after year. The program is in very capable hands with your continued involvement.

To the players – it has been my absolute honour. You guys threw your hearts on the ice each and every shift of every match, (Willy, Lobby, Hoady, and Tasker – if you guys don’t make it any further as hockey players you can always turn to comedy).

To Allan, Annette, Gordon, Jim, and Sara and all of you with the GB Supporters group - your financial generosities and incredible support on the road – you guys are truly amazing (and please for the sake of our sport please keep your shirts on at this year’s World Championships).

To the Mr. Philip Anschutz and the Anschutz Group - for providing me the opportunity to come to the UK and to work with the London Knights Hockey Club. Furthermore, for their consideration towards the GB National Program in providing me the time off necessary to dedicate the time and commitment required to perform the job.

To Jo, Andy, Alan, Stewart, Mich, Jan, Geoff, Martin, Tim, Simon, Lindsay, Tony, Peter, Henry, Paul, Russell, Dianne, Andy, Jim, John, Tina, David, Mike, Sue, and to my special bud Jamie - thank you all for your support and wonderful friendships. I sincerely wish all of you my very best; and even though it pains me to say this – to the referees. I enjoyed every minute harassing each of you on and off the ice. Thanks for the job you guys do; and to the late Frank Dempster and Vic Batchhelder who did so much for our sport long before I arrived in the UK.

Finally,
I would like to close my letter of resignation with a message to our current UK professional leagues. SUPPORT YOUR MEN’S AND WOMEN’S NATIONAL PROGRAMS. In 1996 the year the ISL Superleague was created, the World Ranking of the GB Men’s National Team was 12th. This league had no indigenous British player development policy and for the next six years virtually eliminated their existence from top level UK League play. Subsequently, the GB Men’s National Program has dropped to this date to 25th in World Rankings. I assure you that a strong and properly funded National Program will pay enormous future dividends in respect to your sponsor’s financial participation, enhancing fan bases, and respect in international hockey sporting circles. The development of UK’s next group of ‘Super Brits’ is in your hands! Please adequately fund our National Programs and respect the IIHF National Team training breaks (currently the UK with just one per year versus each country having four).

I would like to close my letter by again thanking all of you and with my best wishes to all involved in the future of the National Program.

Great Britain recoreded a 6-2 win over Australia in their last game of the Women's Division III World Championships to confirm their silver medal. Great Britain have finished top of the tournament in goals scored and goals against, making the 3-0 final period against Slovenia the only thing that separated them from gold and promotion to Division II.

Division 3 Women World Championships

3rd - 9th March 2005

Cape Town, South Africa

Standings

	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Slovenia	5	5	0	0	41	8	10
Great Britain	5	4	1	0	42	6	8
Hungary	5	2	3	0	16	14	4
Australia	5	1	3	1	15	18	3
Belgium	4	1	2	1	4	18	3
South Africa	4	0	4	0	4	59	0

3rd March	12:30	Hungary	Great Britain	0	-	5
	16:00	Belgium	Slovenia	0	-	6
	19:30	South Africa	Australia	1	-	11

4th March	12:30	Great Britain	Belgium	11	-	0
	16:00	Australia	Hungary	0	-	3
	19:30	Slovenia	South Africa	19	-	2

6th March	12:30	Australia	Belgium	1	-	1
	16:00	Great Britain	Slovenia	1	-	4
	19:30	South Africa	Hungary	1	-	9

7th March	12:30	Slovenia	Australia	7	-	1
	16:00	Hungary	Belgium	0	-	3
	19:30	Great Britain	South Africa	19	-	0

9th March	12:30	Slovenia	Hungary	5	-	4
	16:00	Australia	Great Britain	2	-	6
	19:30	Belgium	South Africa		-

Great Britain won the silver medal in the Women's Division III World Championships with a 20-0 win over hosts South Africa. No team can now pass Great Britain for second. However, Slovenia's 7-1 win over Australia earlier on in the day guaranteed them the gold medal and promotion.

Great Britain now enjoy a last rest day before playing Australia on Wednesday, facing off at 1400 GMT.

The Great Britain's women's team won both of their games against Division 2's The Netherlands in Sheffield at the weekend. On Friday (11th February), they shut-out the Dutch 2-0 with goals from Nicola Bicknell and Emily Turner. Vicky Robbins recorded the shut-out. The following night, they held on for a 3-1 win over the higher-league Dutch. This time, Teresa Lewis, Claire Oldfield and Angela Taylor scored for Great Britain.

The team now travel to Cape Town, South Africa for the Division 3 World Championships starting 3rd March. The team travel as 2nd seeds in the group, behind Australia, but ahead of Slovenia, Hungary, Belgium and hosts South Africa.

Every year, GBSC arrange trips to watch all GB teams play around the globe. We are now awaiting venue details from the IIHF for the forthcoming championships. Once we have these, prices and dates will be posted here.

Every year, GBSC arrange trips to watch all GB teams play around the globe. The following trips are currently available, although shorter trips are always available. If interested in any of the trips please email enquiries@gbsc.co.uk.

The Great Britain U-20 team were relegated to Division 2 after crashing to defeats to Norway (10-3) and Kazakhstan (10-2). Norway went on to win the gold medal, with Kazakhstan silver medallists. Austria took the 3rd place on the podium. GB's 3-0 loss to Italy on Day 3 of the tournament turned out to be the relegation decider.

Standings

	P	W	L	GF	GA	Pts
Norway	5	5	0	29	12	10
Kazakhstan	5	4	1	29	15	8
Austria	5	3	2	12	16	6
France	5	2	3	18	19	4
Italy	5	1	4	11	16	2
Great Britain	5	0	5	8	29	0

13th December	13:00	Kazakhstan	France	5	-	3
	16:30	Italy	Norway	2	-	4
	20:00	Great Britain	Austria	0	-	1

14th December	13:30	Norway	Kazakhstan	5	-	3
	16:30	Austria	Italy	5	-	1
	20:00	France	Great Britain	5	-	3

16th December	13:00	Austria	Kazakhstan	3	-	8
	16:30	Norway	France	5	-	4
	20:00	Great Britain	Italy	0	-	3

18th December	13:00	France	Austria	2	-	3
	16:30	Italy	Kazakhstan	2	-	3
	20:00	Norway	Great Britain	10	-	3

19th December	13:00	France	Italy	4	-	3
	16:30	Austria	Norway	0	-	5
	20:00	Kazakhstan	Great Britain	10	-	2

The Great Britain U-20 team crashed to their 3rd defeat out of 3 games, after losing 3-0 to Italy. Great Britain must now get 3 points from their last two games (against 1st placed Norway and 2nd placed Kazakhstan) and hope that either France or Italy fail to get any points in their remaining two games to avoid relegation.

Other results:
Austria 3-8 Kazakhstan
Norway 5-4 France

The competition now takes a day's break with Great Britain next playing league leaders Norway at 8pm Saturday.

Two late goals gave France a 5-3 win over Great Britain on the 2nd day of hte 2004 Group A Division 1 World U-20 Championships. Jamieson, Kevin Phillips and Brittle scored the British goals, with Leigh Jamieson also taking the British Man of the Match award.

The competition now takes a day's break with Great Britain next playing last placed Italy at 8pm Thursday.

Great Britain's U-20 squad narrowly lost 1-0 to top seeds Austria in their first game of the 2004 Group A Division 1 World U-20 Championships. David Lawrence made 39 saves in the game.

Head Coach, Roger Hunt, has been forced to make his first change to the U-20 squad for the Division 1 World Championships. Hull's David Phillips replaces Ben O'Connor, and will wear the number 13 jersey.

Head Coach, Roger Hunt, has named the Great Britain Under 20 team who will take on the teams from Austria, France, Norway, Kazakhstan and Italy. The squad have had two training camps at iceSheffield in October and November and will meet again before they take to the ice in December.

Defence

		Kevin Phillips	Hull
		Kurt Reynolds	South Ice Lightning, USA
		Shane Moore	Swindon
		Steve Duncombe	Sheffield
		Leigh Jamieson	Belfast
		Chad Reekie	Dundee
		Chace Farrand	Sheffield
		Euan Forsyth	Fife
		Luke Boothroyd	Hull

Forwards

		Ben O'Connor	Canada
		Simon Butterworth	Sheffield
		Shaun Thompson	Slough
		Adam Brittle	Telford
		Bari McKenzie	Milton Keynes
		Lee Mitchell	Fife
		Tom Carlon	Telford
		Mark Richardson	Bracknell
		Adam Walker	Guildford
		Andy Thornton	Newcastle
		Lewis Day	Okanagan Academy, Canada

Reserve

		Dan Shea	Coventry
		Robert Wilson	Newcastle
		Shaun Littlewood	Swindon
		Joe Miller	Telford
		David Phillips	Hull

Team Staff

		Roger Hunt	Head Coach
		Mick Mishner	Asst. Coach
		Jim Laing	Manager
		Jason Ellery	Equipment
		Don Lyall	Physio
		Bob Wilkinson	GM

Ice Hockey UK have unveiled the new World Championship jerseys to be worn in Great Britain's 2005 campaigns. The jersey is an updated version of the previous IIHF approved jersey, with the lion still taking pride of place on the player's chest.

Ice Hockey UK have announced that all Great Britain games in the U-20 Division 1 World Championship will face-off at 1930. All the games will be held at Ice Sheffield. Great Britian face Austria, France, Italy, Kazakhstan and Norway in their bid to stay in Division 1 after promotion last year. The tournament runs from December 13th to 19th.

Great Britain have decided not to participate in the Olympic qualifying tournament to be held in 2004/05. Great Britain is the only team from Division 1 that has decided not to compete. They had been due to participate in the 1st round in France in September 2004. Had they been successful in that round, they would then have competed in a 2nd round in Feburary 2005, likely in Switzerland where coach Chris McSorley coaches his club side, the Geneva Eagles.

The groups have now been confirmed. The groups are listed below in order of seeding, with the top seeds confirmed as hosts in each group.

Group D: France, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria
Group E: Poland, Netherlands, Lithuania, Croatia
Group F: Norway, Hungary, China, Serbia & Montenegro

Group A: Switzerland, Denmark, Japan, Qualifier 3
Group B: Latvia, Belarus, Slovenia, Qualifier 2
Group C: Austria, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Qualifier 1

Qualifier 1 will be the highest ranked team out of the winners of Groups D, E and F, Qualifier 2 will be the 2nd highest ranked team and Qualifier 3 the lowest ranked team.

The locations of the World Championships for all of Great Britain's teams have been announced today by the IIHF. The locations are as follows:

Seniors - Budapest - 17th April
Under 18's Bled - 3rd April
Womens - Cape Town - 3rd March
Under 20's - Ice Sheffield - 13th December

Great Britain survived their Group A Division 1 World Championship relegation battle with Belgium, coming out comfortable 6-0 winners in the end. Danny Meyers got the Brits off to the perfect start, opening the scoring after just 20 seconds, as Great Britain comfortably took the first period 4-0. Belgium changing their netminder at the start of the 2nd period didn't change matters any, as the Belgians return to Division 2 after just one year at this level.

No.	Player	P	G	A	Pts	PP	SH	GW	GT	PIM
5.	David Clarke	5	4	3	7	3	0	0	1	2
16.	Steve Thornton	5	1	4	5	1	0	0	0	6
11.	Colin Ward	5	3	0	3	1	0	0	0	2
21.	Ashley Tait	5	2	1	3	0	1	0	0	2
24.	Matt Myers	5	1	2	3	0	0	0	0	2
3.	Paul Dixon	4	1	2	3	1	0	0	0	4
19.	Jeff Hoad	4	1	2	3	0	0	0	0	4
27.	Rob Wilson	5	0	3	3	0	0	0	0	4
20.	Jonathon Phillips	5	2	0	2	0	1	0	0	10
8.	Danny Meyers	5	1	1	2	0	0	1	0	2
18.	Colin Shields	5	0

	Forward of the Tournament	Dieter Kalt (Austria)
	Defenceman of the Tournament	Artyom Argokov (Kazakhstan)
	Netminder of the Tournament	Sergey Ogureshnikov (Kazakhstan)

	British MVP (Voted by IIHF)	Greg Chambers

	Forward of the Tournament	Jacek Plachta (POL)
	Defenceman of the Tournament	Tommy Jakobsen (NOR)
	Netminder of the Tournament	Levente Szuper (HUN)

	GBSC Player of the Tournament	1. Stephen Murphy
		2. Jonathon Weaver
		3. Mike Ellis

13th April	13:30	The Netherlands	Kazakhstan	3	-	6	(1-3, 1-0, 1-3)
	17:00	Great Britain	Poland	1	-	2	(1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
	20:30	South Korea	Austria	0	-	8	(0-3, 0-4, 0-1)

14th April	13:30	Poland	The Netherlands	6	-	4	(2-2, 1-1, 3-1)
	17:00	Kazakhstan	South Korea	5	-	1	(2-0, 1-0, 2-1)
	20:30	Austria	Great Britain	10	-	5	(4-3, 3-0, 3-2)

16th April	13:30	South Korea	Great Britain	1	-	4	(0-1, 0-1, 1-2)
	17:00	Poland	Kazakhstan	3	-	4	(0-1, 0-1, 3-1, 0-0, 0-1)
	20:30	Austria	The Netherlands	5	-	1	(0-0, 1-1, 4-0)

18th April	13:30	Great Britain	The Netherlands	8	-	1	(2-0, 4-0, 2-1)
	17:00	Poland	South Korea	4	-	1	(0-0, 2-1, 2-0)
	20:30	Kazakhstan	Austria	3	-	4	(1-1, 1-2, 1-1)

19th April	13:30	The Netherlands	South Korea	5	-	4	(2-1, 2-3, 1-1, 1-0)
	17:00	Kazakhstan	Great Britain	3	-	1	(1-1, 0-0, 2-0)
	20:30	Austria	Poland	7	-	3	(1-1, 5-0, 1-2)

15th April	Great Britain	4	-	3	Japan
	Hungary	6	-	1	Lithuania
	Romania	1	-	10	Slovenia
16th April	Lithuania	3	-	2	Great Britain
	Japan	6	-	5ot	Romania
	Slovenia	4	-	1	Hungary
18th April	Lithuania	2	-	6	Japan
	Romania	3	-	5	Hungary
	Slovenia	4	-	0	Great Britain
19th April	Lithuania	5	-	2	Romania
	Hungary	4	-	2	Great Britain
	Japan	1	-	7	Slovenia
21st April	Great Britain	6	-	1	Romania
	Japan	3		4ot	Hungary
	Slovenia	4	-	2	Lithuania

5th March	Belgium	South Korea	4	-	2	(0-0, 2-2, 2-0)
	South Africa	Australia	1	-	18	(0-8, 1-6, 0-4)
	Hungary	Great Britain	1	-	8	(1-2, 0-2, 0-4)

6th March	South Korea	South Africa	8	-	1	(4-0, 1-1, 3-0)
	Belgium	Hungary	5	-	0	(2-0, 2-0, 1-0)
	Great Britain	Australia	5	-	6	(3-1, 1-3, 1-1, 0-0, 0-1)

7th March	Belgium	South Africa	10	-	1	(3-0, 4-1, 3-0)
	Hungary	Australia	1	-	3	(0-2, 0-1, 1-0)
	Great Britain	South Korea	10	-	0	(3-0, 3-0, 4-0)

9th March	Australia	Belgium	8	-	2	(2-1, 3-1, 3-0)
	South Korea	Hungary	2	-	6	(0-0, 0-2, 2-4)
	South Africa	Great Britain	0	-	27	(0-9, 0-6, 0-12)

10th March	Australia	South Korea	6	-	0	(2-0, 2-0, 2-0)
	Hungary	South Africa	14	-	1	(6-0, 3-1, 5-0)
	Great Britain	Belgium	7	-	1	(1-0, 4-0, 2-1)

12th December	13:30	Australia	The Netherlands	2	-	7	(1-2, 1-3, 0-2)
	17:00	New Zealand	Great Britain	0	-	18	(0-4, 0-9, 0-5)
	20:30	Spain	Romania	0	-	6	(0-2, 0-3, 0-1)

13th December	13:30	The Netherlands	New Zealand	19	-	0	(3-0, 9-0, 7-0)
	17:00	Great Britain	Spain	9	-	1	(3-0, 4-0, 2-1)
	20:30	Romania	Australia	8	-	2	(2-1, 5-1, 1-0)

15th December	13:30	Great Britain	Australia	15	-	1	(3-0, 8-1, 4-0)
	17:00	New Zealand	Spain	2	-	7	(0-4, 1-1, 1-2)
	20:30	Romania	The Netherlands	2	-	2	(1-1, 1-0, 0-1)

16th December	13:30	Spain	Australia	7	-	6	(2-3, 2-1, 3-2)
	17:00	The Netherlands	Great Britain	0	-	4	(0-2, 0-0, 0-2)
	20:30	Romania	New Zealand	14	-	0	(2-0, 5-0, 7-0)

18th December	13:30	Australia	New Zealand	6	-	0	(1-0, 2-0, 3-0)
	17:00	The Netherlands	Spain	10	-	0	(5-0, 4-0, 1-0)
	20:30	Great Britain	Romania	7	-	1	(4-0, 1-0, 2-1)

17th April	13:00	Great Britain	Poland	0	-	2	(0-0, 0-1, 0-1)
	16:30	China	Japan	1	-	8	(0-2, 1-4, 0-2)
	20:00	Hungary	Norway	2	-	2	(2-1, 0-1, 0-0)

18th April	13:00	Poland	China	9	-	3	(2-1, 5-2, 2-0)
	16:30	Norway	Great Britain	8	-	3	(4-1, 2-1, 2-1)
	20:00	Japan	Hungary	0	-	3	(0-1, 0-1, 0-1)

20th April	13:00	Japan	Great Britain	5	-	3	(0-0, 2-1, 3-2)
	16:30	Norway	Poland	3	-	2	(1-0, 0-1, 2-1)
	20:00	China	Hungary	0	-	9	(0-2, 0-4, 0-3)

22nd April	13:00	Norway	China	25	-	1	(6-0, 9-1, 10-0)
	16:30	Poland	Japan	2	-	1	(1-0, 1-0, 0-1)
	20:00	Hungary	Great Britain	0	-	3	(0-0, 0-1, 0-2)

23rd April	13:00	Japan	Norway	0	-	5	(0-1, 0-2, 0-2)
	16:30	Great Britain	China	10	-	0	(0-0, 6-0, 4-0)
	20:00	Poland	Hungary	1	-	1	(0-1, 1-0, 0-0)

3rd April	13:00	Great Britain	Belarus	0	-	5	Forfeit (Kit	didn't arrive)
	16:30	France	Austria	4	-	1
	20:00	Kazakhstan	Slovenia	3	-	5

4th April	13:00	Austria	Great Britain	5	-	4
	16:30	Belarus	Kazakhstan	3	-	2
	20:00	Slovenia	France	4	-	1

6th April	13:00	Belarus	France	2	-	3
	16:30	Great Britain	Kazakhstan	2	-	4
	20:00	Slovenia	Austria	3	-	4

7th April	13:00	Kazakhstan	France	4	-	1
	16:30	Austria	Belarus	2	-	8
	20:00	Slovenia	Great Britain	7	-	1

9th April	13:00	Austria	Kazakhstan	3	-	6
	16:30	France	Great Britain	2	-	3
	20:00	Belarus	Slovenia	5	-	3

		Stephen Murphy	Björklöven Umeå (Sweden)
		Joe Watkins	London Racers

Womens World Championships	Cape Town, South Africa	3rd - 9th March 2005
Under 18 World Championships	Maribor, Slovenia	3rd - 9th April 2005
Senior World Championships 2005	Debrecen, Hungary	17th - 23rd April 2005

	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Belarus	5	5	0	0	34	9	10
Norway	5	3	1	1	30	14	7
Netherlands	5	2	2	1	21	22	5
Hungary	5	2	2	1	20	24	5
Great Britain	5	1	3	1	18	18	3
Belgium	5	0	5	0	7	44	0

12th April	12:30	Belgium	Belarus	0	-	10
	16:00	Great Britain	Hungary	3	-	5
	19:30	Netherlands	Norway	0	-	8

13th April	12:30	Hungary	Belgium	6	-	4
	16:00	Belarus	Netherlands	7	-	2
	19:30	Norway	Great Britain	4	—-˜	4

15th April	12:30	Belarus	Great Britain	5	-	4
	16:00	Belgium	Netherlands	2	-	11
	19:30	Norway	Hungary	6	-	4

16th April	12:30	Netherlands	Great Britain	4	-	1
	16:00	Hungary	Belarus	1	-	7
	19:30	Norway	Belgium	11	-	1

18th April	12:30	Great Britain	Belgium	6	-	0
	16:00	Hungary	Netherlands	4	-	4
	19:30	Belarus	Norway	5	-	2

GBSC Player of the Tournament	1. Ashley Tait
	2. David Clarke
	3. Jonathon Phillips