Great Britain narrowly avoided a shock defeat to Ukraine in a dramatic IIHF Division 1A World Championship curtain raiser, forcing overtime and winning in the shootout to overcome the tournament’s lowest-ranked side.
Josh Waller and Brett Perlini scored on each side of first intermission to fire Team GB to a two-goal advantage in Romania, only for Ukraine to respond with three consecutive goals of their own to leave Pete Russell’s side facing an embarrassing loss with ten minutes left to play.
Team GB’s woes deepened when Ben Lake saw his 51st-minute correctly disallowed after an IIHF-initiated video review, but Ben Lake saved the top seed’s blushes a minute later, scoring from the left wing to force overtime.
Ben Bowns added to his 27-save performance in the shootout, stopping Ukraine’s four attempts to clinch two vital points for the world’s 17th ranked squad.
Analysis:
Eventually, it had to happen.
After almost a decade of delivering feelgood performance after feelgood performance, Team GB dropped an absolute stinker against Ukraine.
There were bright spots – Joe Hazeldine was the best of the debutants – but it was an otherwise uncharacteristically disjoined and low-energy performance from a team that entered the game as heavy favourites.
Ben O’Connor, Team Great Britain (Image: Dean Woolley)
Before we spiral, there are a couple of important caveats.
Firstly, Liam Kirk wasn’t available.
Secondly, as Pete Russell noted after the final buzzer sounded, Team GB didn’t play any pre-tournament exhibition fixtures.
Thirdly, they won anyway.
With that said, Team GB were outshot and outplayed by Ukraine – who are back in the second tier after a five-season stint in Group 1B.
“They have to realise that they need to become the next phase,” Russell said of his current roster. “We’ve had a lot of players leave the programme and the leaders are doing a great job, but some of the middle-age guys need to take a step as well.
“We’ll take the win, but you could see that we hadn’t played [before the tournament].”
Elsewhere, Italy and Poland both won in regulation-time, leaving Russell’s squad with little-to-no margin for error the rest of the way.
The Brits avoided disaster against Ukraine – but the point they dropped could prove costly when it’s all said and done.
Already, there is no margin for error for Russel’s squad.
Three Stars:
First Star: If not for a standout performance from Ben Bowns, Ukraine would have ended Team GB’s promotion hopes on day-one of the tournament. The Cardiff Devils netminder was at his very best, continuing his fine form from the Elite League Playoffs, and made a handful of key saves to deny the Ukrainians a stunning win. Bowns’ most important stop came in overtime when he thwarted Danil Trakht’s breakaway opportunity with a smart pad save.
Second Star: Andrei Deniskin was everywhere for Ukraine, recording two assists and playing in all situations for Ukraine. The Kyiv-born forward posted 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists) in 26 appearances for KH Torun in the Polish Hockey League this term.
Third Star: It was a decidedly mixed night for Ben O’Connor – he suffered defensively, but recovered by scoring the equaliser and finding twine in the shootout.
Great Britain | Division 1A IIHF World Championship schedule
Sunday, 27 April: Ukraine 3-4 Great Britain (after overtime)
Monday, 28 April: Great Britain vs Romania (17:30 BST)
Wednesday, 30 April: Great Britain vs Japan (10:30 BST)
Thursday, 1 May: Italy vs Great Britain (10:30 BST)
Saturday, 3 May: Great Britain vs Poland (17:30 BST)
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