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Ashley Tait (left) and
Colin Shields celebrate Tait's winning goal against Poland.
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Coach Paul Thompson gees up his men in the opening
game against the Ukraine.
Photos :
Diane
Davey. |
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20th April 2009
Oh dear, I've seen
all this before, I thought, as I glumly watched the closing minutes
of Britain's last, vital World Championship game against Poland,
thanks to the wonders of internet TV. A win over the home nation
would give Britain third place in the six-nation tournament and the
medal which Paul Thompson and his men craved so dearly.
David Longstaff had startled 3,000 horn-blowing, whistling fans in
Torun when he deservedly put GB one up halfway through the game.
The Brits looked the best side for much of the first two periods.
But when Lopuski equalised four minutes into the final session, it
was no more than the Poles deserved as they battled their way back
into the game.
Thinking of the last three matches (all defeats, two in shootouts)
against these opponents, who were technically ranked eight places
ahead of us in the world standings, and knowing how Britain - with
the longest domestic schedule in Europe - often tire in the later
stages of world contests, I couldn't help believing that the next
goal would be the Polish winner.
But Britain held on and forced overtime and I was almost as excited
as the team when Ashley Tait snared Colin Shields' pass in front of
the Polish net and stuffed it past Zborowski.
GB celebrated like
they had won the gold medal.
My worry about
Britain being able to hold their game together for the full 60
minutes had also been coloured by their performance against
Ukraine in their first game. This was a real choker, as Danny
Meyers made it 2-2 against the second favourites with less than
12 minutes left. Then Britain conceded two quick goals in the
last four minutes.
But apart from
this bad spell and a letdown against a young Dutch side who GB
edged only 3-2, this was a strong display by our lads.
Disciplined, too, as they won the Fair Play Trophy for picking
up the fewest penalties of any team in Torun and, famously,
conceded only one power-play goal (the one by Poland) in 20
shorthanded situations. Full statistics
here.
This result will
have lifted GB up the world rankings by, I would estimate, three
or four places to around 23rd or 24th. Although on this year's
standings they're 21st or 22nd (Division I is divided into two
groups), the IIHF use four years' championships to calculate the
rankings. More
here.
So is this a marvellous result for British ice hockey as some
would like us to believe? That depends on how you look at it. If you work on
the basis that Britain is a major European country with around
8,000 registered players and some 40 ice rinks, then you could
argue that we're seriously under-achieving compared with many
smaller nations like Denmark or Switzerland.
But if you look at the dysfunctional nature of the sport's admin
here, from the feeble junior development to our foreigner-dominated
top league, then Torun 2009 is Britain's Miracle on Ice.
As for the future, Meyers spoke for the team when he said: "This GB
squad has been getting better and better over the years and this
medal proves we are going in the right direction. Our aim now is to
be challenging for the gold medal and promotion to the elite
division."
This will depend partly on the calibre of the opposition, of course,
but mostly on how much assistance the national team receives here in
the next 12 months.
The players and the management have done their part in raising GB up
the rankings. Now it's down to the game's authorities to do their
bit. If the Elite League is going to shrink (more on this in a
minute) then perhaps a couple of weekends could be found to give
Britain some decent foreign competition.
If the time is used instead to stage an international club
tournament, then we'll know that the game's bosses think more of
their big clubs than their national team.
After all this
excitement, it's back to the drudgery of domestic league
hockey. Is there any good news? Well, Basingstoke Bison, the
newest members of the English Premier League, are quickly
sorting themselves out, signing three former Slough Jets in
player-coach Steve Moria, forward Nicky Chinn, the Jets'
captain, and defender Tony Redmond. All three have played for
the Bison before. [link]
The Great Senior
One has been handed quite a bit of power by Planet Ice, the rink
operators who have taken control of the Bison. Mo has a
multi-year contract which makes him the club's Director of
Hockey Operations, taking over from Harry Robinson.
John Neville of
Planet Ice has confidence in his new DHO who was Bison's
player-coach for two seasons, 2002-04. "Steve was the man I
wanted for the job having worked with him in Blackburn [in the
early 1990s]. He is a true professional and will bring the
stability that this club needs…"
The player moves should add a little spice to the games between
the Jets and the Bison next season. Slough's player-owner Zoran Kozic was less than amused when he discovered that the
trio were not going to stay with his club. From what I've heard
it seems the deal was struck before the end of the season.
Zoran's farewell to 'Mo' was less than fulsome [link].
But all is not well with the EPL's new Grand Slam winners,
Peterborough Phantoms, who stand to lose their Canadian
coach, Colin Patterson, possibly to an Elite League side, as
well as the EPL's top scorer, Nathan Rempel. [link]
Meanwhile,
Bracknell Bees seem confident of finding new owners to keep
them in the league [link]
It's been a bit quiet in the Elite League in the last few
days. No news is good news? I don't think so. Manchester
Phoenix owner Neil Morris has been giving his views to his
local paper. [link]
He
echoes the comment by Edinburgh's Scott Neil that
the only way that the big and small clubs can work together
is by sticking to the rules, especially on the wage cap. He
wants
the £7,000 a week cap to be policed properly and strictly
punished if broken. He says the changes talked about over
the Playoff weekend must be put into action before he
confirms his membership of the league.
He went further in
this article, which
can be read as a strong hint that if the Elite's rules are
not tightened up, then it's the EPL for the Phoenix. Mr
Morris is no one's fool. His three-year deal with Tony Hand
is one of the league's smartest signings since, well, since
Mr M first snapped up Tony in 2006. MBE is a box-office
attraction whichever league he plays in as well as being one
of our better coaches.
Newcastle Vipers have also failed to give a firm commitment
regarding their future. They're going to put it to their
fans first at the end of this week [link].
As I mentioned last time, the Vipers will have to play half
of their games at Whitley Bay. The season ticket holders
have complained bitterly about this, due to the travelling
and the poor state of the rink. Not many made the journey
in 2008-09. The club had around 500 season ticket holders
last year and ideally, would like 500 to sign up again.
Will they? Watch this space.
They do
things differently over the water, so I'll leave you with a
couple of items to entertain you over the long summer
months. For those
who like their hockey raw, read this article about the
Stanley Cup playoffs being the most intense time of the
season [link].
If
you prefer the game's more artistic side, watch these shots
of Washington Capitals' amazing Russian,
Alex Ovechkin.
Until next
time.
To comment on this blog, please email me on
stewice@aol.com and I'll post them on our website.
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