Five Cardiff Devils And Their GB Team-Mates Head To Kosice, Slovakia For Major World Championship Test

Great Britain are on their way to Slovakia for the World Championship in Kosice, the largest city in eastern Slovakia and the 2013 European Capital of Culture.

Head coach Peter Russell and his team play all their fixtures in Kosice, while their first base at Michalovce on the shores of Lake Sirava for a training camp.

GB play their final warm-up game against Slovakia in Poprad on Saturday (3pm UK time).

As well as on-ice practices, GB players will visit a local primary school, practice with local juniors and they have an official engagement with the Mayor of Michalovce and Andy Garth, the UK ambassador for Slovakia.

Andy Buxton, GB team general manager, said: “We go to Slovakia after four fantastic warm-up games in the UK and I would like to thank the thousands of supporters who gave us a great send-off over the past two weekends.

“We are about to embark on the biggest and most high-profile trip for GB in a generation.

https://twitter.com/MurphOnIce/status/1123503102852833280

“The squad will, of course, spend a lot of time fine-tuning ahead of the World Championship, but they will also make links with the local community which I think is important.”

GB will play in their first top-flight World Championship games since 1994 when they face Germany, Canada, Denmark, USA, Finland, Slovakia and France from May 11 to May 20 in Group A.

Cardiff Devils have five players in the 25-man squad.

Ben Bowns, Thomas Murdy, Mark Richardson, Evan Mosey and Matthew Myers have all been selected.

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.

GB World Championship squad

Netminders

Ben Bowns – Cardiff Devils

Thomas Murdy – Cardiff Devils

Jackson Whistle – Sheffield Steelers

Defencemen

Tim Billingsley – Nottingham Panthers

Dallas Ehrhardt – Manchester Storm

Steve Lee – Nottingham Panthers

Evan Mosey – Cardiff Devils

Ben O’Connor – Sheffield Steelers

David Phillips – Sheffield Steelers

Mark Richardson – Cardiff Devils

Paul Swindlehurst – Belfast Giants

Forwards

Ollie Betteridge – Nottingham Panthers

Ben Davies – Guildford Flames

Robert Dowd – Sheffield Steelers

Robert Farmer – Nottingham Panthers

Luke Ferrara – Coventry Blaze

Mike Hammond – Manchester Storm

Liam Kirk – Peterborough Petes

Robert Lachowicz – Nottingham Panthers

Ben Lake – Coventry Blaze

Joey Lewis – ESV Kaufbeuren

Matthew Myers – Cardiff Devils

Brett Perlini – Nottingham Panthers

Jonathan Phillips – Sheffield Steelers

Colin Shields – Belfast Giants