Great Britain Wins Gold
19th July 2004Great Britain won its first-ever IIHF In-Line Hockey World Championship gold medal after beating Brazil, 5-4, in overtime in today's final. Team captain Simon Hehir scored the game winner 2:38 into the overtime period, the first time the British had taken the lead in the game.
Brazil, last year's silver medallist, got the first goal of the game when Rogerio Polido scored just 7:14 into the game. Great Britain tied things at one, but before the first quarter was over, Brazil had again reclaimed the lead when Enio Hayashida put in a slick backhander. The goal was double bad luck for Great Britain as goaltender Nathan Gasco was hurt on the play and had to be replaced by back-up Mark Law.
Great Britain evened things at two in the second quarter and the deadlock lasted until the last two minutes of the half when Diego Araujo gave Brazil a one-goal lead yet again. GB then had two goals disallowed before hitting a post. Joe Wightman eventually evened the score but Gomes once again gave the Brazilians the lead. Jay Paxman made it 4-4 late in the fourth period setting up overtime and Hehir's heroics.
The golden feat was a tremendous achievement for the British team who finished fifth in the competition last year and have steadily improved over the last three years under the guidance of head coach Mark Cavallin and assistant coaches Rob Coulstock and Nick Crawley. After topping their qualifying group with wins over Japan, Hungary and Belgium, GB dispatched Argentina in the quarterfinals and beat tournament favourites Japan once again in the semi finals. The win over Brazil was sweet revenge for the team having lost to the Brazilians last year in the group stage.
The British In-Line Hockey team has succeeded despite limited funding and turned in a series of thoroughly professional displays throughout the week long World Championships. To add to GB's achievements, Scottish born forward John Dolan was named the top forward in the tournament, leading the competition in scoring, while 20 year old Mark Thomas was named the best defenseman.