Great Britain 5, Torpedo 4
Great Britain played the first of two matches against KHL side Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in Nottingham – and the teams meet again in Sheffield this afternoon.
GB scratched goalie Jackson Whistle, Steve Lee, David Phillips and Joe Lewis from their full squad for the game.
Robert Farmer led the way with a hat-trick, while Robert Dowd (2) was also on target.
Devils have five players in GB’s 25-man squad for the World Championships in Slovakia next month.
Ben Bowns, Thomas Murdy, Mark Richardson, Evan Mosey and Matthew Myers have all been selected, while a sixth Devil, Josh Batch, is staying with the group as injury cover.
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 started the brighter and were rewarded with the opening goal inside four minutes. Farmer received the puck in neutral zone and beat a couple of defenders before slotting the puck past Andrei Tikhomirov in the visitors’ net.
Torpedo levelled at 6-04 as Donat Stalnov batted in a rebound after Devils’ Bowns had made the first stop. A giveaway by GB in front of their own goal moments later resulted in the go-ahead goal for Torpedo, Stalnov firing low into the net.
The home side were back on terms at 26-20 as Dowd let fly from the top of the right circle into the net. Dowd made it a double three minutes later, right man right place to get the final touch at the top of the crease after great work down low by Ben Lake (29-19).
Great Britain had the puck in the net a fourth time late in the period, but referee Dean Smith had blown the play dead seconds before. After a little skirmish beside the net the sides sat out matching unsportsmanlike minors and the period finished with GB just ahead.
Torpedo continued to take minor penalties in the third frame, but their PK led to the tying goal at 43-30 as Mikhail Varnakov skated in alone to beat Bowns and it was 3-3 at 43-30.
After a back and forth spell, Great Britain edged ahead with a powerplay goal from Farmer, picking the top corner from down low at 53-09.
Farmer went on to complete his hat-trick with another PP marker after Torpedo’s Veryayev was thrown out for roughing (goal at 57-05).
A penalty on Matthew Myers two minutes from time put the sides at four on four, and, after Torpedo pulled their goalie, the visitors scored with 19.8 seconds left. Dmitry Semin was the scorer.
Restarting without a Torpedo goalie, GB held out and won a couple of key face-offs before clinching the win 5-4 win.
Robert Farmer picked up GB’s man of the match award, with Stalnov getting the award for the visitors.
The two sides meet again at FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield on Sunday.