Great Britain players are ready for the biggest test of their international careers.
They fly to Slovakia this week to play in their first top-flight World Championship since 1994.
GB face Canada, USA, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Slovakia and France between May 11 and May 20 in Kosice.
Head coach Peter Russell and his players completed their pre-Championship warm-up matches by playing back-to-back fixtures against KHL club Torpedo over the weekend.
GB won the first game 5-4 in Nottingham, but went down 5-2 in the second fixture at Sheffield.
“These two games were an excellent test for us and we took a lot from them,” said Russell.
“There were good and bad points, but playing such a high-caliabre team was great preparation for us.
“The squad has a few days off before we fly to Slovakia to continue our training camp.”
There is tremendous spirit and togetherness in the GB camp and Robert Farmer, a 28-year-old Nottingham Panthers forward who made his GB debut in 2012, says: “This is one of the biggest moments in a generation for UK ice hockey and it will be a special tournament to play in.
“We will be coming up against some World class players who play in the best leagues.
“But we are not going just to make up the numbers. We want to make an impact at the tournament and get people talking about us for the right reasons.
“I am proud to be named in any GB squad but this one is just that little bit more special playing in the top flight.”
Farmer has been named in his eighth successive World Championship squad, while Cardiff Devils have five players in the 25-man squad.
Ben Bowns, Thomas Murdy, Mark Richardson, Evan Mosey and Matthew Myers have all been selected.
Newport-born former Devils player Joe Lewis is among three players given their first World Championship call-ups, along with Tim Billingsley and Ben Lake.
Welshman Lewis now plays for ESV Kaufbeuren in Germany.
Cardiff-born GB captain Jonathan Phillips is also in the squad along with fellow Welshman Ben Davies.
Britain were beaten 5-2 by Torpedo in their final game in the UK ahead of the World Championship.
Jackson Whistle was given the start in goal with Ben Bowns, Steve Lee, David Phillips and Colin Shields the scratches for GB, while Torpedo iced the same side beaten 5-4 in Nottingham.
GB took the lead after only 17 seconds Richardson’s shot from right point went through traffic and into goal.
Farmer was denied on a breakaway, while Liam Kirk went close and Ben O’Connor hit the left-hand post with a wrist shot.
A broken play left Anton Shenfeld open in the slot and he fired low for Torpedo’s equaliser at 16-03.
GB had some good pressure at the start of the second period, but Pavel Makarenko’s one-timer from the slot put the visitors ahead at 22-44.
Torpedo grabbed a third as Daniil Ilyin was credited with the goal following a goalmouth scramble after the puck had hit Whistle up high (32-13).
Their fourth came on the powerplay when a well-worked move came to came to Shenfield at the backdoor and he fired a one-timer past Whistle (34:43).
The visitors added a fifth as an odd-man rush saw Kirill Urakov alone at the top of the crease and he scoredTorpedo’s fifth.
GB had a late powerplay, lifted Whistle in favour of the extra skater for a six-on-four situation and O’Connor’s shot was tipped in by Brett Perlini (58-45).
GB World Championship squad
Netminders
Ben Bowns – Cardiff Devils
Thomas Murdy – Cardiff Devils
Jackson Whistle – Sheffield Steelers
Defencemen
Tim Billingsley – Nottingham Panthers
Dallas Ehrhardt – Manchester Storm
Steve Lee – Nottingham Panthers
Evan Mosey – Cardiff Devils
Ben O’Connor – Sheffield Steelers
David Phillips – Sheffield Steelers
Mark Richardson – Cardiff Devils
Paul Swindlehurst – Belfast Giants
Forwards
Ollie Betteridge – Nottingham Panthers
Ben Davies – Guildford Flames
Robert Dowd – Sheffield Steelers
Robert Farmer – Nottingham Panthers
Luke Ferrara – Coventry Blaze
Mike Hammond – Manchester Storm
Liam Kirk – Peterborough Petes
Robert Lachowicz – Nottingham Panthers
Ben Lake – Coventry Blaze
Joey Lewis – ESV Kaufbeuren
Matthew Myers – Cardiff Devils
Brett Perlini – Nottingham Panthers
Jonathan Phillips – Sheffield Steelers
Colin Shields – Belfast Giants
Former Cardiff Devils, MK Lightning and Glasgow Clan forward Guillaume Doucet has from playing hockey and has been appointed ‘Director of Hockey’ at Nottingham Panthers.
Doucet’s role will see him oversee the on-ice operations including recruitment of both players and a new coach.
Panthers also confirmed that Doucet will head up a new Panthers hockey board on which they hope to include Rick Strachan.
Canadian Strachan, also an ex-Devils player, took over as interim head coach after Rich Chernomaz’s departure midseason and he will now revert to an assistant coach position.
Glasgow Clan have signed former Devils player Craig Moore.
The 23-year-old Scot, who can play on defense or offense, joins Clan from Fife Flyers, where he spent half of the season after joining midway through the previous campaign from Cardiff.
“I am delighted to welcome Craig to Clan,” said head coach Pete Russell.
“I regard him as one of the top up and coming British D-men and he will complement our defensive line-up. A number of clubs were after Craig’s signature and I am delighted we were able to entice him to Glasgow.”
Belfast Giants have confirmed Blair Riley has left the organisation. The team captain has opted out of his two year contract which was due to run until the end of 2019-20.
Riley has accepted an offer from another team.
Elite League ins and outs for 2019-20 so far:
Belfast Giants
In:
Out: Blair Riley (F), Dustin Johner (F), Colin Shields (F),
Re-signed:
Cardiff Devils:
In:
Out:
Re-signed: Joey Martin (F)
Coventry Blaze:
In:
Out: Nicolai Bryhnisveen (D)
Re-signed: Alex Forbes (F), Justin Haché (D), Jordan Hedley (G), Dillon Lawrence (F)
Dundee Stars
In:
Out:
Re-signed: Drydn Dow (D)
Fife Flyers
In:
Out: Craig Moore (D)
Re-signed:
Glasgow Clan
In: Patrick Killeen (G), Craig Moore (D)
Out: Guillaume Doucet (F), Michal Gutwald (D), Joel Rumpel (G), Vaclav Stupka (D), Zach Sullivan (D)
Re-signed: Scott Pitt (F)
Guildford Flames
In:
Out:
Re-signed: Calle Ackered, Jesse Craige, John Dunbar, Brett Ferguson, Kruise Reddick
Manchester Storm
In: Zach Sullivan (D)
Out: Dane Byers (F), Ciaran Long (F), Luke Moffatt (F), Félix-Antoine Poulin (D)
Re-signed: Matt Ginn (G)
Nottingham Panthers
In: Guillaume Doucet (Director of Hockey)
Out:
Re-signed: Josh Tetlow (D)
Sheffield Steelers
In: Aaron Fox (Head Coach), Alex Graham (F), Marc-Oliver Vallerand (F),
Out:
Re-signed: John Armstrong (F), Kieran Brown (F), Anthony DeLua (F), Robert Dowd (F), Jordan Griffin (D), Ben O’Connor (D), David Phillips (D), Jonathan Phillips (F), Brandon Whistle (F), Jackson Whistle (G)