If Disney created a sports movie along the lines of Team GB’s journey from obscurity, you would likely dismiss it as fanciful nonsense.

The United Kingdom isn’t noted for its prowess in winter sports and is undoubtedly a hockey backwater.

That’s not to say the sport isn’t adored by its passionate fans, and those working for teams in either professional or volunteer roles pour their heart and soul into their respective clubs.

Simply put, hockey is a minority sport in the UK and shall always remain so.

Through the Winter Olympic games of 1924, 1928, 1936 and 1948, Team GB won Gold, Silver and achieved fourth and fifth-place finishes.
In World Championships contested in 1935, 1937 and 1938, GB attained two silver medals and a bronze.

However, those teams were mostly comprised of Canadian ex-pats and since then Great Britain has struggled to make any kind of concerted impact in the hockey world, at national or club level.

GB reached the top tier of World Championship hockey in 1962 but promptly relegated following a 1-6 record.
A lone 7-5 victory against Finland was the highlight as GB suffered huge defeats, none larger than the 17-0 reverse Sweden inflicted upon them.

In 1989 GB fell to their lowest ebb, finishing in 27th place, 3rd in the “D” pool, which was the fourth tier of World Championship hockey at that point.

Three promotions in the next four campaigns enabled GB to reach the top tier of the World Championships for the first time since 1962.

The 1994 tournament was hosted in Italy and GB found themselves outclassed by every team in the competition including the hosts. Outscored 44-7 in five games, it was yet another relegation and for the next eighteen years, GB bounced between the second and third tiers of world hockey.

After a long period of underachievement, it often requires some forward-thinking and taking of risks to alter fortunes.
Andy French and Jim Anderson instigated the turnaround in GB’s fortunes by hiring Peter Russell as head coach.

A large portion of the hockey community in the UK were bemused by the appointment and not best pleased at this apparent nobody being given the job ahead of Elite League coaches who were better candidates in their eyes.

Certainly, Russell’s playing career wasn’t much to write home but here was a driven man who had already achieved much in the coaching capacity with the nations junior teams.
Between 2003 and 2015, he led GB’s junior sides to seven medals at World Championship tournaments, including four gold medals.

The former goaltender proved himself no mug with the X’s and O’s in the EPL either and a five-year plan was put in place to return GB to the top flight of world hockey.

A lofty aim? Undoubtedly, but for too long Great Britain’s national team lacked ambition, desire and cohesion.

To do what people say can’t be done, you have to break the mould, think a little differently and ultimately be ambitious. What was it Wayne Gretzky said about taking shots?

Team GB headed to the Netherlands for the 2015 Division 1B World championships, with Peter Russell at the helm for the first time.

Things began swimmingly for GB as they started the tournament with an OT victory against Croatia.

That was followed by three straight regulation wins, all by a single goal margin against Estonia, South Korea and the Netherlands.
GB required just a single point against Lithuania in the final game to clinch promotion.

There would be no fairytale beginning for Peter Russell’s tenure however as GB lost 3-2 despite heavily out-shooting their opponents.

A combination of Mantas Armalis standing on his head in-between the pipes and Lithuania comprehensively winning the special teams battle proved the difference between the two teams as GB were left to consider what might have been as they clutched their silver medals.

Undeterred by their near miss, GB once again made a flying start to their next World Championship campaign.
Croatia played hosts in 2016 and GB promptly despatched them 4-1 on day one.
Russell’s charges required overtime to see off Estonia but then thrashed Lithuania 8-0 and Romania 6-1 to put themselves on the brink of a gold medal and promotion.

Any type of victory against top seeds Ukraine in the final game would have been enough and despite being second best for large chunks of the game, GB led after forty minutes by a solitary goal from Jonathan Phillips.

It was a lead that vanished early in the third period thanks to a defensive zone turnover and relentless pressure from Ukraine led to a late game-winner.

For the second straight year, Great Britain had fallen at the final hurdle with one hand on a gold medal.

There was no panic from players, coaches or those in a managerial capacity.

Stay the course, remain on track.

Focus on the five-year plan.

All the stars aligned in 2017 when Great Britain played hosts in Belfast.
There would be no final game failure this time around as GB pumped Japan 4-0 to record a fifth straight regulation victory.

A perfect record included out-scoring opponents 32-5 and set in motion a chain of events nobody could have predicted.

The 2018 IIHF World Championship Division I, Group A tournament was held in Budapest, Hungary.

Great Britain would set the group alight with an unexpected 3-1 victory against top seeds Slovenia in game one.
Kazakhstan has constantly been a thorn in the side of GB and inflicted a heavy defeat in the game two.

The question was how would GB respond?

Positively.
Consecutive wins against Poland and Italy now put GB fully in charge of the group and only requiring a single point from the final game to attain promotion back into the top tier of world hockey.

The problem was that they would face hosts Hungary who had also exceeded expectations, requiring a win to gain promotion, and was roared on by a raucous and fervent home crowd.

GB found themselves trailing 2-0 with ten minutes remaining but a goal from Robert Dowds halved the deficit.

That tally swung the momentum but a tying marker would simply not arrive and GB appeared doomed when giving up a penalty shot on their power play with a couple of minutes remaining.

Upon such moments are a team’s destiny’s determined and Ben Bowns turned aside Janos Hari’s penalty shot to keep hopes alive.
The clock wound down to a mere 15 seconds left to play when a speculative shot by Robert Farmer somehow snuck through Adam Vay and nestled into the twine.

The garbage goal of all garbage goals but priceless for Great Britain. Some might say golden.
One final stop from Ben Bowns ensured Great Britain earned the single point to confirm promotion and a spot back in the top flight of world championship hockey.

2019 IIHF World Championship:
Group A (Košice)
Canada (1)
United States (4)
Finland (5)
Germany (8)
Slovakia (10)
Denmark (12)
France (13)
Great Britain (22)

The nation ranked 22nd in the world looked to be heavily outgunned making their first appearance at this level since 1994. At least that’s what many pundits and fans thought and in some quarters GB were considered a laughing stock who didn’t deserve to be competing in this tournament and would be promptly put back in their place.

Great Britain has no superstars amongst their ranks. Their best-known player competes in Canadian junior hockey and very few of the roster compete outside of the UK.

Cue the underdogs bucking the trend and making friends along the way.

Up first was Germany.
The first period passed without incident. Germany was not pulverising Great Britain and had to wait until the final seconds of the middle frame to open their account.

Surely now GB would fold, but no. Not this group. Not now.
Mike Hammond sent GB’s travelling fans into rapture with a tying goal 3:36 into the third period.

Now the hockey world was sat up and taking note and though Germany would eventually break GB’s resistance in the final ten minutes to record a 3-1 success, a statement had been made.

A heavy reverse against Denmark would prove disappointing for Great Britain, who to a man admitted they weren’t up to scratch in any department but they would not allow that game to define them.

Great Britain battled bravely against Canada despite the scoreline and gave the USA plenty to think about in a 6-3 loss during a game which was tied 1-1 at the midway mark.

Defeats to Finland and Slovakia ensured that a final day showdown with France would ultimately determine their fate.

Great Britain’s fans had enamoured themselves to the home nation and the hockey world with their passionate and unrelenting support, fancy dress outfits and showcasing a fantastic sense of humour throughout.

Great Britain’s players gained respect through their commitment to hard work, commitment to the cause and scoring some fine goals, perhaps none better than the Ben Davies snipe against the USA. Also, they embraced the tournament, the fans and the media, and in return, they gained extra backing as everyone’s favourite underdog story.

Surely though, the France game would prove a step too far.

What everyone outside of the camp hadn’t realised though, was that Pete Russell and company had this game targeted from the outside. GB held the belief that they could bring down the 13th seeds and pull off the shock nobody expected.

The opening frame was utterly manic and somehow the deadlock wasn’t broken despite some fantastic scoring chances at both ends of the ice.

Then, like a dagger to the heart, France netted three goals in four minutes, two of those in six seconds.

The bubble had been burst.

Or had it?

A timeout was called by Peter Russell. Calm was restored and GB set about pulling off a comeback that bookmakers would have offered you crazy odds on occurring.

Ben O’Connor was the architect of the first goal with a dangerous pinch which ultimately led to Robert Dow getting GB on the board.

Okay, that’s one.

France appeared a little rattled and were feeling the heat even more just three minutes later.
Mike Hammond banged home a rebound from O’Connor’s shot from the point and it was a one-goal game.

Hammond immediately turned to the crowd, raising his arms to the fans and motioning for them to give even more vocal support to his team.

Trailing 3-2 with twenty minutes left in regulation, GB surely would not be able to pull off another miraculous comeback………or could they?

Robert Farmer. He loves a huge goal and it was a fine individual effort from him that tied the game at three, five minutes into the final frame.

The hockey cliché ‘it’s a brand new game’ never seemed more apt at this point.

The remainder of regulation play would solve nothing and now either overtime or a shootout would determine which nation would stave off relegation.

It should have been France who prevailed. They threw the kitchen sink at Great Britain during 3-on-3 action but Ben Bowns would simply not be beaten.

A snow-angel glove stop, followed by a desperation pad stack kept the French at bay.
Bowns has never made more important saves than the five he pulled off in succession under intense pressure during overtime.

What followed will forever live in the minds of everyone associated with Great British hockey.

The understated Ben Davies won a defensive zone face-off but instead of deflecting the puck backwards, he sent a forward pass for Jonathan Phillips to chase down with Florian Chakiachvili in pursuit.
The French defenseman attempted to knock Phillips out of the way with a booming hit but it failed to have the desired effect.

GB’s captain somehow kept his balance and control of the puck, showing poise and composure to get his head up and find Davies screaming toward the goal.

The Guildford forward received the pass and now just had Hardy to beat.

In his own words, it was pure instinct and had no idea why he went on his backhand, but the Welsh native roofed his shot past Hardy to complete the most remarkable of comebacks in British hockey history and secure top tier World Championship hockey for 2020.

May 20th 2020, is the first anniversary of that miracle comeback and historic achievement but it’s more than that.
It’s been a journey from the hockey wilderness that few could have predicted.

From the players, coach, backroom staff, media crew and everyone else involved, in either a small or large capacity, it’s been a long road to putting GB back on the hockey map once more.

If Disney created a sports movie using this story as a framework, you would dismiss it as fanciful nonsense.

Belarus and Latvia await in 2021 for the next chapter in this remarkable story.