Jonathan’s Great Britain Ready For French Test In Kosice

Great Britain 1, Slovakia 7

Great Britain are preparing for a big last stand at the World Ice Hockey Championships in Slovakia.

Captain Jonathan Phillips and his GB team are bottom of their group after six successive defeats, but victory against France could yet keep them in the top flight.

That is Britain’s last fixture in the 2019 top tier, while France take on Finland this evening and then GB on Monday.

If France lose against Finland GB know victory on Monday would save them.

Great Britain netminder Tom Murdy won his debut cap in last night’s defeat by Slovakia at the World Championship in Kosice.https://t.co/AwQyblZIUJ pic.twitter.com/nYQZD4qxeo

— Team GB Ice Hockey (@TeamGBicehockey) May 19, 2019

“There is great belief in our room and we know we have been close in some games to picking up a positive result,” said goaltender Jackson Whistle.

“We know it will probably come down to Monday against France and we will be focused and ready to go.” 

Whistle played over 44 minutes against hosts Slovakia after replacing Ben Bowns at the Steel Arena in Kosice.

“It was good to get some ice time,” said Whistle. “We came up against another top quality team, but credit to the boys. They kept on going.

Top 3 Saves: @JWhis35 with a couple more beauties for @TeamGBicehockey on Day 9 at #IIHFWorlds @steelershockey

More top plays >https://t.co/2rKsQd3wX2 pic.twitter.com/dP21ZlkKlz

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 19, 2019

“I felt we got better as the game went on and we finished strong.”

Mike Hammond was on target for GB late in the first period against the Slovaks as he scored his third goal of the tournament.

There was also a debut cap for Cardiff Devils goalie Tom Murdy. He took to the bench in the first period after Whistle replaced Ben Bowns.

He was withdrawn after taking a minor knock.

Slovakia scored twice in 21 seconds as Andrej Sekera’s shot from the blueline took a deflection to deceive Bowns (2-04), while Tomas Tatar was first to a loose puck to force it over the line (2-25).

Martin Marincin’s powerplay blast from the blueline made it three at 9-02 before GB made a change in net as Whistle replaced Bowns.

https://twitter.com/TeamGBicehockey/status/1129851407434166281

GB pulled a goal back when Hammond jumped onto a loose puck and went five-hole after Mark Richardson’s shot was saved (17-44).

Whistle made a great save after only six seconds of the second session to frustrate Libor Hudacek who broke away from the face-off.

Michal Cajkovsky’s floated shot from the blueline made it 4-1 (24-33).

Marian Studenic fired low for Slovakia’s fifth (29-09) and Matus Sukel scored short-handed on a two-on-one break after Whistle had made the initial save (35-11).

Whistle denied Ladislav Nagy with a great pad save from close range as Slovakia continued to pile on the pressure, before David Bondra completed the scoring (58-00).

Action: Slovakika v Great Britain. Pic: Dean Woolley

Schedule for GB at the 2019 World Championship in Slovakia (face-off times local time).

Saturday, May 11: Germany 3 Great Britain 1

Sunday, May 12: Great Britain 0, Canada 8

Tuesday, May 14: Great Britain 0, Denmark 9

Wednesday, May 15: USA 6, Great Britain 3

Friday, May 17: Finland 5. Great Britain 0

Saturday, May 18: Great Britain 1, Slovakia 7

Monday, May 20: France v Great Britain 4.15pm

STANDINGS

GROUP A AND GROUP B AND GROUP B

RNK		TEAM	GP	W	OTW	GF:GA	PTS
1		FIN	5	4	0	17:7	13
2		CAN	5	4	0	28:11	12
3		GER	5	4	0	13:13	12
4		USA	5	3	1	24:11	11
5		SVK	6	3	0	26:18	9
6		DEN	5	1	1	17:16	5
7		FRA	5	0	0	11:27	1
8		GBR	6	0	0	5:38	0

RNK		TEAM	GP	W	OTW	GF:GA	PTS
1		RUS	5	5	0	26:3	15
2		SWE	5	4	0	32:10	12
3		SUI	5	4	0	23:6	12
4		CZE	5	4	0	26:10	12
5		LAT	5	2	0	13:14	6
6		NOR	6	2	0	18:29	6
7		AUT	5	0	0	6:28	0

GB 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