Great Britain 0, Canada 8
Cardiff-born Ben Davies was man of the match for Great Britain in their World Championship clash with Canada in Slovakia.
Former Bishop of Llandaff School pupil Davies, a former Cardiff Devils forward who is now with Guildford Flames, was a big influence for GB.
Betting odds suggested GB were 60-1 outsiders to beat Canada in this two-team contest.
Canada are the number one team in World ice hockey and had an abundance of NHL players even though this was far from their best team.
Action from the 3rd period v @HC_Men
📷 @woolster80 in association with @TriplePsuk pic.twitter.com/aYngozGExT
— Team GB Ice Hockey (@TeamGBicehockey) May 12, 2019
GB, though, have the aim of staying in the top flight and that means beating the likes of France and Denmark.
It is 25 years since GB were last in the top flight of World ice hockey when Doug McEwen, Ian Cooper, Stephen Cooper, Shannon Hope and Nicky Chinn were in the team.
That was in Bolzano during 1994 and one journalist, the Daily Mail’s Paul Newman was in Italy for that tournament – and he is in Slovakia.
“GB 2019 are a much better team than the 1994 group with all due respect,” says Newman, who started following ice hockey when he watched Lee Valley Lions as a youngster.
GB won’t spend too much time worrying about the defeat against Canada. Their task is to win one, maybe two games, over the tournament and stay in the top flight.
Action from the 2nd period v @HC_Men
📷 @woolster80 in association with @TriplePsuk pic.twitter.com/gXqvryLcPr
— Team GB Ice Hockey (@TeamGBicehockey) May 12, 2019
Match stats:
Period scores (GB first) 0-2; 0-3(0-5); 0-3 (0-8)
Scorers, Canada: Anthony Mantha 2+3, Mathieu Joseph 1+0, Kyle Turris 2+0, Sean Couturier 1+0, Dylan Strome 1+0, Dante Fabbro 1+0, Shea Theodore 0+1, Jared McCann 0+1, Troy Stecher 0+1, Adam Henrique 0+1, Darnell Nurse 0+1, Jonathan Marchessault 0+1, Thomas Chabot 0+2, Tyson Jost 0+2.
Shots on goal: GB (on Carter Hart) 4+2+6=12, Canada (on Ben Bowns) 22+18+16=56.
Penalties in minutes: GB 2+12+2=16; Canada 2+2+0=4
Referees: Aleksi Rantala and Jeremy Tufts.
Schedule for GB at the 2019 World Championship in Slovakia (face-off times local time).
Saturday, May 11: Germany 3 Great Britain 1
Sunday, May 12: Great Britain 0, Canada 8
Tuesday, May 14: Great Britain v Denmark 4.
GB 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