Great Britain bid to rejoin ice hockey's global elite

I wasn't aware of it at the time, I only had eyes for the Romford Raiders in Heineken League Division Two.

But the first copy of the Ice Hockey Annual that I ever bought at the end of that season included a short note.

'Britain's entry in the World Championships next year will be our first since 1981 in Peking when we finished last in Pool C. The 1989 games will be held in Belgium where the opposition in the D Pool will come from Romania, Spain, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the host country. Little is know about Taiwan, but New Zealand has eight clubs and 250 registered players. There is just one ice rink on Hong Kong island, but it is reported to have 14,000 seats.'

Rediscovering that snippet before heading to this year's Division 1A tournament in Nottingham, having seen Raiders edged out in the National League play-off final in Coventry a fortnight eariler, I was curious to find out what had happened in 1981 to lead to GB missing the next seven years of competition.

It turns out they lost to Hungary (8-0), France (11-2), China (12-2), Denmark (13-2), Bulgaria (4-2), North Korea (5-1) and Austria (7-2) to prop up the table with an 0-7 record. No wonder.

The return from the wilderness did not include Hong Kong or Taiwan as it turns out, but GB did begin with a 26-0 win over New Zealand.

However, that result and Romania's opening 8-3 victory over Belgium were subsequently marked down as 0-0 draws after positive drug tests!

GB then drew 6-6 with Romania, but lost by the odd goal in 11 to the Belgians, before beating Spain (8-4) in their final game. But that meant another year in Pool D.

Prior to the event, coach Terry Matthews had said: "The level of the game has improved so quickly here [in Britain] that we should be too strong for Group D and I have to make sure there are no blunders."

But after their draw with the Romanian favourites, there were reports of the British players partying too much, in the absence of a team curfew.

They were two goals down in five minutes against Belgium, while star player Tony Hand missed the start due to skate problems and then played the rest of the first period in borrowed boots. Still, Hand was eventually named best forward, with David Graham best goalie.

There would be no slip-ups a year later in a three-team Pool D in Cardiff, as GB eased past Australia (14-0, 13-3) and Spain (13-1, 17-3), with Hand again the best forward and Stephen Cooper the best defenceman.

And they made home advantage count again in 1992 as they topped Pool C in Hull following wins over Australia (10-2), South Korea (15-0), Belgiuim (7-3), North Korea (16-2) and Hungary (14-3), with Kevin Conway claiming 23 points (13g, 10a) as Hand took best forward honours and Chris Kelland was named best defenceman.

Remarkably, 12 months later they won Pool B gold in Eindhoven, reeling off seven successive wins over Poland (4-3), Denmark (4-0), Japan (5-4), Bulgaria (10-0), hosts Netherlands (3-2), Romania (10-4) and China (14-0) to earn promotion to the top flight.

Conway topped the charts again with 19 points (8g, 11a) as Stephen Cooper added another best defenceman award to his collection and I can remember the excitement at seeing GB join ice hockey super powers Canada, Russia et al.

Long-serving Nottingham Panthers defenceman Terry Kurtenbach was named in coach Alex Dampier's 23-man squad which included 15 British-Canadians and eight home-grown players, having just finished his first and only season in the gold and blue jersey of my beloved Raiders.

And he netted GB's first goal of the week in Bolzano against the Russians, then later picked up an assist on a Patrick Scott effort in a chastening 12-3 defeat.

Further losses followed against Germany (4-0), Italy (10-2), Canada (8-2) and Austria (10-0), which meant a relegation play-off against Norway.
And that match remained deadlocked at 2-2 - Ian Cooper and Rick Fera hauling the Brits level - until the final eight minutes, when Norway scored two shorthanded goals in a 33-second span, before sealing a 5-2 win to send GB back to Pool B.

They took silver behind hosts Denmark in 1999, after a closing 5-5 draw, and another in Slovenia two years later, after a 3-3 draw with the 2001 hosts in Ljubljana.

And that later medal came after Chris McSorley's side - with fewer naturalized players than usual - had beaten Kazakhstan 11-2 on the last day, only for Slovenia to thump Estonia 16-0 to go up on goal difference.

The next few years - which saw home-grown Raiders star Danny Marshall capped in warm-up games by McSorley - brought only a handful of wins, but plenty of close contests, as GB maintained their position with a string of fourth and fifth-place finishes in Hungary, Croatia, Norway, France, Slovenia and Austria.

They picked up Division 1B bronze in Poland in 2009 - while also taking the Fair Play award - and silver behind Kazakhstan in Kyiv two years later, where Jon Weaver (1g, 7a) was their top scorer and Stephen Murphy was named best goalie for a second successive year.

But they lasted only two years in Division 1A - with one win in 10 games - before two silver-medal near-misses behind Korea and Ukraine in Eindhoven and Zagreb respectively.

Belfast's Odyssey Arena staged the 2017 Championships - a quarter of a century after GB's last time as hosts - and wins over Croatia (4-0), Estonia (5-1), Lithuania (5-2) and the Netherlands (14-0) set up a gold-medal decider with Japan.

NHL draft pick and Giants star Colin Shields, 37, had broken Hand's international goal record of 40 during the week and, after powerplay markers from Robert Dowd and Brendan Brooks, saw Matt Myers deflect his wristshot home for a 3-0 lead at the midway mark.

Myers struck again before the end of the second period as Ben Bowns - who I first saw play for Sheffield Under-12s against Romford in the National Junior Championship finals in Nottingham in 2003, before also travelling with the England Under-13s to Quebec the next year! - posted the shutout for a GB side including only three players under the age of 26.

Coach Pete Russell said: "It's fantastic. It took a long time to come. We've proven a lot of people wrong, that's the best part. We deserve it.

"Looks like we've found an identity. We played differently than Great Britain did in the past. We were aggressive, we didn't wait and back down. Our identity now is that of a proactive team."

Fast forward another 12 months and GB - with goalie Jackson Whistle, son of former Raiders import Dave now in the squad - were celebrating another gold medal and back-to-back promotions after a dramatic conclusion in Budapest.

Having beaten Slovenia (3-1), Poland (5-3) and Italy (4-3) - while losing to Kazakhstan (6-1) - Russell's men met hosts Hungary on the last day, with five teams still in the hunt for top spot.

Italy beat Slovenia with two seconds left, meaning Hungary would join them in the top flight with a regulation time win over GB - who only needed a point - at the expense of Kazakhstan.

And the majority in a crowd of 7,870 were delighted to see the home side go 2-0 up early in the final period, before Dowd's goal nine minutes from time raised British hopes.

Then after Hungary miss a penalty shot and with Bowns back on the bench for an extra skater, Robert Farmer - who I also saw in Quebec in 2004 - scored from a tight angle with only 15 seconds left on the clock to secure a return to the elite group some 25 years on from Bolzano.

“We suffered at the start, but then we played as we should. We defended well, we tried to play as physical as possible and create chaos in front of the goal," said Russell. 

"Luck was with us. There are 15 seconds left and Farmer slips it between his legs. Sometimes dreams come true. I am so happy for the players and the country. Some have been there for 15 years in this team. 

"We only had seven days of preparation camp and two games against Lithuania. I don't think that will change because some players play up to 90 EIHL games in the season and arrive at camp just after the final. We'll see what happens next year."

And what happened in Kosice in 2019?

The GB squad - the majority of whom were home-grown, with only five dual nationals in their 22 - preserved their status with another dramatic victory, this time over France.

They lost to Germany (3-1), with Leon Draisaitl netting the third, Canada (8-0), as Kyle Turris and Anthony Mantha scored two apiece, and Denmark (9-0) in a tough start to their week, but remained on level terms with the USA until just before the midway mark before eventually succumbing 6-3.

Bowns stole the headlines with a 59-save display against the Americans, robbing NHL star Jack Hughes with a stunning stop, but further defeats against Finland (5-0) and Slovakia (7-1) left the Brits facing a relegation play-off with the French.

And, after a scoreless first period, they looked set for a swift return to Division 1A after conceding three times in four minutes - including twice in six seconds - in the middle period.

But Dowd and Mike Hammond cut the gap to one with 20 minutes remaining and Farmer came up with another key equaliser to force overtime.

Then came arguably one of the most famous goals in British ice hockey history as the veteran Jonathan Phillips chased a clearing puck up the left wing, held off a covering French rival and picked out Ben Davies - another Quebec 2004 graduate - to lift a backhand shot into the roof of the net. Cue pandemonium among the Brits.

The following year's event was cancelled - with most of the planet on lockdown due to the Covid pandemic - and Britain survived again in Latvia in 2021, after losing their first two games to Russia (7-1) and Slovakia (2-1), before taking a point from a 3-2 overtime loss against Denmark.

Arizona Coyotes draft pick Liam Kirk netted two of his seven goals in the tournament against Belarus, with others from Davies and Mike Hammond putting them 4-1 up and they held on for victory despite conceding twice more.

Spirited efforts in losses to Sweden (4-1), Czech Republic (6-1) and Switzerland (6-3) followed, but GB had kept their place in the higher echelons on merit - with relegation off the menu anyway.

However, they could not avoid the drop in Helsinki last year, with Kirk out injured, after losing to the Czech Republic (5-1), Norway (4-3 after penalty shots), Sweden (6-0), USA (3-0), Olympic champions Finland (6-0), Latvia (4-3) and Austria (5-3).

Goals from Myers, Dowd and rookie Cade Neilson had them 3-1 up in their final match, with less than 14 minutes to play, before the Austrians rallied to send Russell's men down.

But they have a great chance to haul themselves back into the top 16 in at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, a far cry from the old rink I used to frequent to watch the Panthers while studying for my journalism degree in the city.

Competition for places in the 23-man squad has been as fierce as ever, with the likes of Davies, David Clements, Sam Duggan, Ross Venus and Josh Batch (see Quebec 2004!) all missing out after playing at previous tournaments.

With only seven of their number born beyond UK shores - Whistle and Brett Perlini played some of their junior careers here - GB were able to play four warm-up matches ahead of the main action, which begins against Korea and includes meetings with Poland (April 30), Lithuania (May 2), Romania (May 3) and Italy (May 5).

And they are the top seeds on home ice, so here's hoping they enjoy another golden finale as hosts and get themselves back alongside Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland and the like for next year's championships in Prague and Ostrava.

World Championships, Division 1A

GREAT BRITAIN

Goalies: Ben Bowns (32, Rotherham); Jackson Whistle (27, Kelowna, Canada); Jordan Hedley (26, Walsall)

Defence: Evan Mosey (34, Illinois, USA); Mark Richardson (36, Swindon); Sam Jones (25, Walsall); David Phillips (35, Hull); Nathanael Halbert (27, Nottingham); Josh Tetlow (25, Frimley); Ben O'Connor (34, Durham); Sam Ruopp (26, Regina, Canada).

Forwards: Cade Neilson (21, Lafayette, USA); Jonathan Phillips (40, Cardiff); Matt Myers (38, Cardiff); Mike Hammond (33, Brighton); Johnny Curran (28, Niagara Falls); Brett Perlini (32, Ontario); Rob Lachowicz (33, Nottingham); Josh Waller (23, Reading); Ben Lake (32, Calgary); Robert Dowd (34, Billingham); Liam Kirk (23, Maltby); Ollie Betterdidge (27, Nottingham).