Day two kicked off with the most entertaining game so far of this Olympic qualifying tournament.

Hungary v Romania (Game Three)

First Period

It took just 35 seconds for fans at the Motorpoint Arena to believe something special might happen as Romania rattled the cage of Hungary by netting a power-play goal.
Daniel Tranca beat Gergely Arany with a shot through traffic to put Hungary on the back foot.

The higher seeds responded inside two minutes however with the highly experienced Andrew Sarauer striking the tying marker.

The teams exchanged a power play a piece and Romania went close through Anton Butochnov and Csanad Fodor but no further scoring took place as the teams were locked at 1-1 through twenty minutes.

Second Period

Hungary missed some gilt-edge opportunities in the middle frame including Islvan Terbocs firing wide of an open goal.

The hero was Patrik Polc between the pipes for Romania as he turned aside all eighteen shots he faced including a fine double stop to rob Csanad Erdely.

Third Period

So was an upset on the cards?

It appeared unlikely when 18yo Kristof Papp scored his first-ever goal at this level to put Hungary ahead four minutes into the final frame of regulation.

As Great Britain can attest, this Romanian team do not go away or stop trying and they were rewarded for sheer dogged persistence with an unlikely tying marker inside the final five minutes.

Pavlo Borysenko teed up Butochnov to be the hero and it was now game on as the panic was visible amongst the Hungarians. There would be no winner through sixty minutes and now the lottery that is overtime presented itself.

Overtime

Cometh the hour and cometh the man as Hungary’s best forward secured victory for his nation. Janos Hari scored a hat-trick against Estonia in game one and his goal 15 seconds in made sure that Great Britain still had to remain perfect themselves in the second game of the day.

Final Score: Hungary 3 – Romania 2 OT

Post Game Notes:
Hungary Man of the Match Kristof Papp “It’s a great opportunity to play here with these older guys, I grew up watching them. It’s an unbelievable experience being here.” Regarding Sunday’s game – “We are expecting that they [GB] will bring a hard game, fast-paced hockey. We have to stick to the game plan and get after it. You just got to treat every game the same. Got to keep a level head, trust each other and go out there and do your thing.”

Great Britain v Estonia (Game Four)

First Period

The opening frame was a tale of two halves.

Great Britain dominated possession and chances in the first ten minutes but failed to make their superiority count.

Ben Lake somehow failed to bury a great chance following a takeaway by Ben Davies and Villem-Henrik Koitmaa made excellent stops to deny Luke Ferrara and Brendan Connolly.

Estonia grew into the game and made Ben Bowns work harder than I imagine he thought he would have to as the lower seeds out-shot GB 12-9 through twenty minutes.
Bowns produced top drawer saves to deny Christopher Usov and Alexei Sibirtsev to ensure the game remained deadlocked through twenty minutes.

Second Period

Harsh words were used during the first intermission in the home dressing room and the response was what you would expect.

It took just two minutes for GB to break the deadlock with Brett Perlini applying the perfect tip in front to a shot by David Phillips.

Ollie Betteridge, Travis Ehrhardt, Ben Davies and David Phillips all went close before GB doubled their lead at the eight-minute mark.

Connolly teed up Betteridge who let fly with a booming shot that gave Koitmaa no chance.

The home nation followed that up by striking twice in 39 seconds to give themselves a 4-0 advantage.

Scott Conway found himself alone at the side of the net and showed a great deal of patience and composure to slot home a low finish.
His cousin then decided not to be outdone as Perlini recorded his second of the game with a blistering one-time slap shot.

Estonia would rob Bowns of a potential shutout with just 64 seconds left in the period after a series of missed plays by GB. Aleksei Sibirtsev produced the deft finish to score with his back to goal but the visitors still trailed 4-1 with twenty minutes left.

Third Period

It appeared that Ben Lake wasn’t able to buy a goal in this game but he finally got the monkey off his back with a power-play goal at the eight-minute mark of the third period.

It was no more than #91 deserved and was followed by a blistering shot by Johnathan Phillips just 24 seconds as GB surged into a 6-1 lead.

The young Estonian team looked jaded and any scoreline was now possible but the hosts would net just once more and it was a fitting goal to finish with.

The effervescent Conway finding the net with a fantastic wrist shot from the high slot that sent the water bottle flying.

Final Score: Great Britain 7 Estonia 1

Post Game Notes:

Ben Bowns “It should be good now, we were a bit ropey against Romania at times but as a whole we had a good game. Today we started pretty badly in that first period. Whether it was a bit of nerves or caution I’m not too sure but we’ve been together long enough and have the experience in this group and I thought we were awesome in second period.”
Message in first intermission – “Just not good enough, we need to wake up, get going and get into the game. Obviously a few more choice words than that, not something I can repeat but it did it’s job.”

Scott Conway ” Obviously nice, no matter where your first goal is, it’s always a nice feeling to get that first goal and it was something special for my cousin to be on the ice too.” “We came out very flatfooted, everyone, and after that first period we turned it around and executed the game plan and everyone had success which is great to see.”

Adam Keefe “Pete [Russell] expressed that it wasn’t good enough in the first period. They [Estonia] had the better chances in the first period so it’s not the way we want to play. We spoke about coming out and taking control of the game and just playing harder for the badge and the nation and the guys did that from the start of the second period.”

Lines:
63 Connolly-74 Betteridge- 91Lake
10 Farmer-20 Phillips-21Hammond
9 Perlini-19 Ferrara- 46 Conway
5 Davies- 8 Myers- 59 Venus
7 Lachowicz

13 Phillips- 28 O’Connor
2 D.Ehrhardt-3 T.Ehrhardt
17 Richardson-41 Batch
23 Swindlehurst

33 Bowns
1 Whistle