OLYMPIC DREAM OVER FOR GB SQUAD

The Olympic dream for the mens Great Britain squad unfortunately came crashing down in tatters last weekend in Latvia. As over the 3 games the GB national side played they came out with 3 defeats and unlucky in one of them.


The opening game for the Great Britain squad was against the Hosts Latvia, As a full Riga Arena had the home fans in full voice as the locals all anticipated their side to qualify for the Winter games in Socchi in Russia next year. And they expected to beat the GB team easily as they were the top seeds and the Brits were ranked 21st and the lowest side in the tournament.

GREAT BRITAIN  2  -  6   LATVIA  (Thursday)

So Thursday evening Great Britain faced off against Latvia, The game started off with a quick pace and both sides having early attempts. It was the home side that kicked off the scoring as Mejia put a one-timer past Stevie Lyle in the GB nets, thanks to some quick play against the backboards was passed towards the slot and the Latvian put wide of Lyle to send the home support into raptures with an early lead.


You`d be forgiven if you thought the occasion and early goal would make the heads drop within the ranks of the away side, But they did the complete opposite as they responded within a minute as Rob Dowd scored the goal to tie the game up. The Sheffield Steelers forward silenced the crowd apart from the 200 and odd Traveling army from the British Isles that celebrated the goal.


G.B goal came from good work by Belfast Giants player Colin Shields who knocked the puck down with his stick after a disappointing clearance by the Latvian Defenseman while along the boards, Shields then saw his hard work pay off as his pass towards the front of goal found Dowd who skated into space and slotted home for 1 - 1.

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G.B were taking a lot of penalties in the game as the officials were giving them every minute it seemed on Tony Hands men. Latvia then shown first hand how effective their Powerplay was, As with quick passing and movement within the powerplay Alexandra Nizivijs who was stood by the right of Lyle goal passed it quickly to the back post where Mike Indrasis was to put home for 2-1.

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As we entered the second period Britain was forced to play a defensive game as it was a penalty strewn period for the away side as they spent most of it with a man in the penalty box. For all the great effort GB put in on the defensive aspects, they had Shields in the penalty box for SLASHING before Latvia took advantage taking no longer than 16 seconds as Nizivijs passed to Bartulis on the blue line and his rocket from the slot went past Lyle before he could make any effort to stop it as he was screened for a 3-1 lead.

In the 3rd stanza Latvia pushed on as they increased they their lead with Ronalds Kenins scoring for 4-1, GB were forced into a solid 4 minute penalty kill as they took dumb silly penalties and Latvia were just breaking them down easier now. Georgis Pujacs made it 5-1 with play starting down in the GB zone by the corner, before the puck was played to the slot and was knocked along where the defenseman jumped on the play and hit it between the legs of Lyle.

Britain got a consolation goal back as Craig Peacock drove to the net to make it 5-2 while on a 5-on-3 powerplay. Matt Meyers was then kicked out of the game after a late Check from behind and got a 2 +10 penalty. There was still enough time for Lativa to scored a sixth as Lauris Darzins scored 16 seconds from the end of the game to make the scoreline a more commanding victory.

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GREAT BRITAIN   2  -  4   FRANCE (Friday)

Friday afternoon saw the Great Britain side face off in a close battle with France, Both sides went into the game losing their opening games so this was seen as a great opportunity for GB to beat a very good hockey nation.

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Both sides had chances with Fabrice Lhenry  & Stevie Lyle called into action early, GB then lost the services of the Phil Hill who was took to hospital to get an X-ray on his wrist as he was checked heavily into the boards so they were down a man. Ashley Tait was sat for 2 minutes for SLASHING  when the French took the lead through a rocket from Laurent Meunier who dashed over the blueline and slapshot past Lyle.

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Second period saw France up their game a bit more and GB were still getting in penalty trouble as the officials were calling some dubious calls on Tony Hand`s men and missing blatant calls. France then scored their 2nd goal on a delayed penalty, As Pierre Edouard Bellemare fired an accurate one time shot past Lyle from the slot. They were punished more so when a powerplay goal by Damien Fleury made it 3-0 as a shot from the hash marks found twine and GB were in a hole and in despair.

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The final period a come back from the Brits as Craig Peacock netted a rebound from a mad scramble infront of Lhenry crease and eventually Peacock effort went over the line to the joy of his teammates and travelling army of fans who were fantastic in all the game getting behind their side in every game. That made it 3-1 and hope was raised of a fantastic recovery when Robert Lachowicz scored to cut the lead to 1 as the French were in shock as his effort went top shelf and GB were in the ascendency now with less than 9 min to play.

However Great British heart were broken when a mistake behind his goals by Stevie Lyle was jumped on by Brian Henderson who dispossessed him and played it out front to Charles Bertrand who scored to condemn Team GB to 2 straight losses and eliminated them from the tournament with 1 game left as the final score was 4-2.

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GREAT BRITAIN   0   -  6   KAZAKHSTAN

The final game in the tournament for team Great Britain saw them take on the side 4 places above them in the World Rankings Kazakhstan. There was a change of starting goaltenders as Stevie Lyle was replaced by Hull Stingrays netminder and ex Sheffield Steeldogs young Ben Bowns for his debut on the world stage, Unfortunately it wasn`t the greatest debut for the shot stopper as he found out the difference in gulf between Club v International level very quickly.

As 30 seconds were on the board when Kazakhstan opened the scoring through Roman Starchenko as he took control of the puck from a pass on the blue line and quickly cut back and ripped one past Bowns for 1-0. The score very quickly became 2-0 for the Kazakhstan side as fast quick passing by the forwards passed in the slot to Konstantin Romanov who wristed one over the shoulder of Bowns for a early double at 2:30.

GB managed to gather their thoughts as they went into break 2-0 and had come out back in the 2nd to force a way back in it. Things though got off to a terrible start as Jonathon Philips & Rod Sarich was sat for ROUGHING & SLASHING respectively. It took all of 11 full seconds before Talgat Zhailaov scored on the 5 on 3 powerplay at 24:58.

At 28:22 It became 4-0 as Alexei Litvinenko scored to extend lead as a mistake by Rod Sarich pass was put the Kazakhstan forward who skated freely towards the puck and fired home

at 29:32. It soon became 5-0 as IIya Solarev got onto the end of a fast break down the left wing of GB and his effort was put passed Bown who had no chance.

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GB fans then celebrated a long awaited penalty called against their opponents rather than them for the first time in the game. Those cheers were quickly died out as a pass up middle ice found  Viktor Alexandrov who slotted past Bowns for 6-0 and Great Britain were getting a true Hockey lesson from the side the face again in a couple of months in the World Championships in Hungary in April, And judging on this showing The Kazakhstan side will be extremely dangerous come that time.

3rd period Team Gb defense held firm and stopped any more goals being scored, Yet couldn`t muster one goal themselves. The 2 sides had a few heated exchanges as tempers flared but nothing going overboard.

So GB failed to win a game but the effort against team a step up should be applauded as they did well, without the prepareration of all the other sides in the build up. So next action for GB now is in April in Hungary for the World Championships.