GB Downed by Canada to take Silver Medal
28th June 2008Great Britain return from the IIHF In-Line World Championships with the Division One Silver medal after a tense final here in Bratislava, Slovakia. GB showed great spirit as they twice fought back from two goals behind however were beaten by the stronger finishing Canadians who are now promoted to the Elite group of eight nations for next year’s World Championships due to take place in Ingolstadt, Germany commencing June 6th.
It was hard luck on Great Britain who battled throughout and the 48-45 shot count demonstrating the closeness of the game. After falling behind to an early goal from Hammond GB fell behind by two in the second period before coming back to 2-2 courtesy of goals from Stuart Brian and Chris Colegate. Canada however extended the lead to two once more (4-2) before Joe Wightman and John Dolan tied the game at 4-4 at the end of the third of four periods.
In the final period Canada took advantage of a dubious penalty call on Karl Niamatali to take the lead on the powerplay, before scoring twice more as GB chased the game.
“I’m proud of my players tonight, and so should the inline hockey community.” Said GB Head Coach Nick Crawley. “We gave the Canadians a real game here and if one or two more bounces had gone our way then the result may have been different. We have achieved a lot this tournament and gives us more to build on next year.”
GB will rank as second seeds in Division One next year with Austria number one seed having been relegated from the Elite Pool.
Sweden play Slovakia tonight for the Elite gold medal.
Final Score (Period Scores)
GB 4-7 Canada (0-1, 1-1, 3-2, 0-3)