Nine months after creating a storm by staying in the top tier of World Championship, Team GB look the take what they hope will be the first of two steps toward qualification for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

Nottingham will play host to Estonia, Hungary, Romania and GB with only the nation who tops the standings moving on to the final qualifying stage where the winners from that next stage will be Beijing bound.

Great Britain are the highest seeds (20th) and after recent events favourites to progress but in truth, this is a tournament that could easily throw up a surprise or two.

Romania

It came as a surprise to me so doubtless the same might apply to you the reader, to learn that Romania has Olympic pedigree in past years.

Twelve place finishes in 1964 and 1968 were followed by a remarkable 7th place finish in 1976 where Romania won the consolation group. Having last competed in 1980, it’s been forty years since.

Nicknamed Tricolori (three colours), Romania have struggled to make an impact in World Championship hockey the last ten years. However, their best campaign in a long while saw them finish 1st in Division I, Group B to take the gold medal and gain promotion.

The 27th seeds have risen two places in the rankings but are the outsides in this tournament.

Romania last faced GB in the 2016 IIHF World Championship Division I Group B where Britain took the honours with a 4-3 OT victory. Romania didn’t fare so well in the same tournament against Estonia, suffering a 3-0 defeat.

Player to Watch: Pavlo Borysenko is a very experienced defenseman who has played in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Romania. The 32 year old lead Romania in scoring during the last World Championship campaign with six points (2-4-6). Romania had to come through a pre-qualifying tournament to get to this stage and Borysenko put up nine points (4-5-9) in three games.

Team Head Coach: Julius Penzes
Team Assistant Coach: Marius Trandafir

Estonia

Estonia has flitted between being a Division 1 and 2 nation – a quintessential yo-yo team to steal a football term.

The Lions (nicknamed due to coat of arms featuring three lions) have never qualified for the Olympics but do regularly host world championship groups with mixed success.
Having hosted in Tallinn last year, Estonia could only manage a fourth-place finish in Division 1, Group B.

GB and Estonia last met in the 2017 World Championships hosted in Belfast and the former clinched a 5-1 victory over the Lions en route to claiming a gold medal and promotion from Division 1, Group B.

Jussi Tupamaki is Estonia’s head coach and takes charge of the 26th ranked nation whose ranking remains unchanged from last year.

Player to Watch: Eduard Slessarevski is a 20yo defenseman currently playing for Jokerit U20. He featured for all Estonian national teams last year and netted one goal in three games during the 2019 World Championships.

Team Head Coach: Jussi Tupamaki
Team Assistant Coach: Mart Eerme
Team Assistant Coach: Dmitri Rodin

Hungary

Hungary enters this tournament doubtless looking to take some kind of revenge against GB who deprived them of a medal and possible promotion thanks to a very late goal during the 2018 Division I, Group A tournament hosted in Budapest.
GB went on to win 3-2 in the shootout despite only needing the single point to gain promotion (the rest is history).

Hungary does have some Olympic pedigree although it harks even farther back in time than Romania! Their last appearance in 1964 followed on from appearances in 1928 and 1936.
Having been placed 5th in Division I, Group A, Hungary is down one place in the rankings to 21 but remain GB’s biggest threat on paper.

Player to Watch: Janos Hari has 54 points in 74 international games. The 27-year-old has played in the top tier of Swedish hockey and has split this season between Liiga and EBEL. He can play either LW or C.

Team Head Coach: Jarmo Tolvanen
Team Assistant Coach: Tamas Farkas
Team Assistant Coach: Szabolc Fodor
Team Assistant Coach: Gergely Majoross

Great Britain Roster

Netminders
Ben Bowns – Cardiff Devils
Jackson Whistle – Nottingham Panthers

Defencemen
Josh Batch – Cardiff Devils
Dallas Ehrhardt – Manchester Storm
Travis Ehrhardt – Glasgow Clan
Robert Lachowicz – Nottingham Panthers (late replacement)
Ben O’Connor – Sheffield Steelers
David Phillips – Sheffield Steelers
Mark Richardson – Cardiff Devils
Paul Swindlehurst – Belfast Giants

Forwards
Ollie Betteridge – Nottingham Panthers
Brendan Connolly – Sheffield Steelers
Scott Conway – Atlanta Gladiators (ECHL)
Ben Davies – Guildford Flames
Robert Farmer – Lausitzer Fusche (DEL2)
Luke Ferrara – Coventry Blaze
Mike Hammond – Lausitzer Fusche (DEL2)
Ben Lake – Belfast Giants
Matthew Myers – Cardiff Devils
Brett Perlini – Nottingham Panthers
Jonathan Phillips – Sheffield Steelers
Ross Venus – Coventry Blaze

Team Head Coach: Peter Russell
Team Assistant Coach: Adam Keefe

Thursday 6th February 2020
15:30 – Hungary v Estonia
19:30 – Great Britain v Romania

Saturday 8th February 2020
14:00 – Hungary v Romania
18:00 – Estonia v Great Britain

Sunday 9th February
14:00 – Romania v Estonia
18:00 – Great Britain v Hungary