Both top seeds prevailed on day one though it was far from plain sailing as Estonia and Romania strived to upset the odds.

Hungary v Estonia (Game One)

This proved to be a very scrappy affair especially in the opening frame with neither team able to find much flow to their play.

The only goal of the first period was scored by Hungary and came via the backside of Janos Hari as a rebound hit him on the backside and found the net – which summed up the game to that point.

The teams exchanged power plays in the opening five minutes of the middle frame and it was Hungary who was more clinical. Hanos with a low finish to double his nation’s lead.

However, Estonia was given a lifeline by a terrific break by Kirll Lodeiken. His speed instigated an odd-man rush and having elected to shoot, the 19yo playing his first game for Estonia’s men’s team scored with a perfectly placed shot in the top corner.

It was a short-lived respite for the Estonian’s however, as a wonderful slapshot from Hari completed his hat-trick and restored Hungary’s two-goal advantage after forty minutes.

To Estonia’s credit, they kept plugging away and almost got themselves within a goal at the midway mark of the third period. Miklos Rajna pulled off a tremendous toe save and that rather spelt the end of any comeback ideas the Estonian’s held.

Karol Csanyi rounded off the scoring for Hungary with just under four minutes remaining to seal the victory which was far from plain sailing despite the emphatic look to the scoreline.

Post Game Notes:

Janos Hari on Hungary’s performance “Not particularly well. We could have been 6 or 7-1. We can be better but we know these games are tough. The main thing is the win in this tournament and we got it. They [Estonia] battled and battled out there and it’s tough.”

Final score: Hungary 4 – Estonia 1

Great Britain v Romania (Game Two)
Great Britain was far superior for large sections of their game against Romania but a combination of missed opportunities, very little puck luck and excellent goaltending led to a smaller margin of victory than the performance deserved.

First Period:

GB dominated the shot clock 14-3 through the opening frame but would only take a one-goal advantage into the intermission.
They drew a penalty less than ninety seconds in but created only a couple of half chances with the extra man.

Jonathan Phillips was robbed by Romanian goaltender Patrik Polc on the doorstep at the eight-minute mark and Scott Conway went close ninety seconds later on a wraparound attempt.

Brendan Connolly was the next to be frustrated by Polc whose style was highly erratic and spectacular, to say the least.
Romania then had themselves a power play but GB’s penalty kill performed well on its first outing and even generate a short-handed chance but Brett Perlini was denied by a flying poke-check as Polc continued to defy the odds.

Against the run of play, it was the visitors who opened the scoring, though a freeze-frame of the goal after the event showed that the goal could have been waived off due to offside.

Anton Butochnov showed great speed combined with stick handling through the neutral zone and dished the puck off to Vitali Kirichenko streaking down his left side.

In on goal, the Romanian forward beat the glove of Bowns with a well placed shot – just the second of the game for the underdogs.

To their credit, Great Britain was not fazed but this setback and responded fifty seconds later.

A tale of persistence for Dallas Ehrhardt who was his first shot from the point denied but the puck found it’s way back to him and a perfectly placed shot beat Polc via the post.
Bowns had to be sharp to deny Romania captain Roberto Gligo as they looked to respond after seeing their lead evaporate.

A much deserved go-ahead goal arrived courtesy of the Ehrhardt brothers as Travis dished off to Dallas at the point and the latter’s booming shot reduced a huge rebound that Robert Farmer was on hand to slam home into the yawning cage

Second Period:

GB spent the majority of the first nine minutes killing penalties after being called for three straight infractions.

Yevhen Yemelianenko struck the post on Romani’s first power play but otherwise, the host nation did a good job of shutting them down. Matthew Myers and Ollie Betteridge were denied on separate short-handed odd-man rushes as GB broke effectively while down a man but it was Romania who struck next to tie the game seconds before the midway mark of the game.

Daniel Tranca beat Bowns with a shot through a plethora of traffic in front that meant the Cardiff Devils netminder never saw the puck.

How would GB respond to yet another setback?

In the best possible way as they netted twice in 48 seconds.
A terrific give-and-go between Ben Davies and Matthew Myers saw the Cardiff forward in alone on goal and showed great composure to slide the puck through Polc’s five-hole.

The fourth goal was a result of hard work from Ben Lake down the right side, who faked to go around the net before teeing up debutant Brendan Connolly to score from the slot.
Great Britain deserved a greater advantage on the score-board after forty minutes but had to settle for a pair with twenty minutes remaining.

Third Period:

Farmer tried his best to give GB a greater cushion after dangling his way through the Romanian defense but his wicked shot rang loudly off the iron and didn’t hit the twine even though the goal judge indicated that was the case.

It was about game management now for the home team as they looked to secure three points with a regulation victory.

GB would kill yet another penalty with five minutes remaining but a tally by Alpar Sallo with 56:41 on the clock gave the game a different look and thoughts turned to whether the home crowd would be made to endure a nail-biting finish.
Pete Russell’s charges had different ideas however and saw out the game comfortably spending the majority of the time in the Romanian zone to see out the victory.

Final Score: Great Britain 4 Romania 3

Post Game Notes:

Dallas Erhardt on playing alongside his brother ” Yes it’s pretty cool. It’s 27 years now and the first time we get to play together so it was pretty special. We are three years apart so we would always miss each other playing and through the years it’s funny we’ve always talked about it and finally coming here [playing for GB] we get the chance.”

Ben Lake on Pete Russell’s message heading into the game ” Just to play our best. We know what’s made us successful in past tournaments and past games so just stick to that which is playing a simple game. Getting pucks deep and grinding teams out and that was the main message from him.”

Pete Russel “I don’t think the score reflected the performance, to be honest. I thought we played with good pace, our forecheck was fantastic, didn’t turn a lot of pucks over and the Romania goaltender must have made ten unbelievable saves in the game to keep it how it was. There was maybe a couple of slippy moments where we tried too much at times to try and get some more offense going.”

On the Erhardt brothers “Well Dallas can play on the right, it doesn’t bother him and Travis I had him in Glasgow and he’s better on the left so I thought they would probably suit each other. Dallas has got sneaky good hands and makes good plays defensively, while Travis is a different player, more mobile and gets up the ice so I thought I thought that combination would work and they looked good together.

Lines to begin the game:
10 Farmer – 21 Hammond – 63 Connolly
9 Perlini – 19 Ferrara – 46 Conway
20 J. Phillips – 74 Betteridge – 91 Lake
5 Davies – 8 Myers – 59 Venus
7 Lachowitz

13 D. Phillips – 28 O’Connor
17 Richardson – 41 Batch
2 D. Erhardt – 3 T. Ehrhardt
Bowns
Whistle