GREAT BRITAIN AIM FOR 2014 OLYMPICS QUALIFACATION!

The Great Britain Men`s Ice Hockey team are possibly 9 periods away from reaching the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia next year. The GB side go in the tournament as massive Underdogs as they travel to Latvia for the Final round of Qualifications to see who will make the Olympics.
The Great British side haven`t reached a Winter Olympics since 1948 . The National side have been Olympic Gold medalists back in 1936, When they Upset the Canadian side with 2 Canadians in their side too.



Great Britain have already overcome a massive hurdle when they beat the host nation Japan in their own backyard to move on to this stage as they weren`t expected to get through. But with a victory in Japan back in November, Head Coach of the GB side and Manchester Phoenix player-coach Tony Hand has certainly restored faith in the National side which he carried on from the great work from his predecessor ex-GB & current Coventry Blaze coach Paul Thompson had made with the side.


The road to the Olympics is a very hard one but with games against more "Hockey nations" like Latvia, France & Kazakhstan who have played in the Olympics more recently, It is a big ask for the men from the British Isles. But one the players will all be looking forward too as well.
As Danny Meyers has said in a recent interview "We feel we have the ability and the belief", "For us players, this is what we have dreamed of for so long and we are going to take the opportunity."


Tony Hand in a interview with the BBC
"I'm trying not to get too carried away but to get to this level shows there has been a lot of good work done,".
"I think our team morale and the fact we battle for every loose puck is one of our strengths.
"We have to play as a team for us to get any success and we'll need a little bit of luck - but you just never know."

 Great Britain come into the final round Ranked 21st in the World Rankings. With Kazakhstan in 17th place, France 14th and the Pre Tournament Favourites the Host nation Latvia is 11th in the World.


They start off against Latvia Thursday evening, then France on Friday in the Afternoon & finally Kazakhstan Saturday to which FINGERS CROSSED will hopefully see the Great British side through to Sochi 2014 Games.