2021 IIHF World Championships
Game 02
Great Britain 1 Slovakia 2
The schedule has not been kind to Great Britain and playing their second game in less than 24 hours against a fresh Slovakia team did not look promising on paper.
After a rocky beginning, GB dug deep and ran the ninth seeds close until the final seconds.
First Period
Great Britain could not have gotten off to a worse start.
On the back foot from the opening face-off, Ben Lake turned the puck over to Robert Lantosi who teed up Marek Hrivik to score on the first shot of the game.
It was the kind of hammer blow that would flaw a few teams and perhaps previous incarnations of GB, but not this group.
They grew into the period and even created a couple of scoring chances.
David Clements was denied on a backhand chance after excellent work by Liam Kirk and Brett Perlini.
Luke Ferrara was left wondering what if at the midway mark. He split two defenseman on a partial breakaway but took too long in getting a shot off and was duly closed down.
The discipline was better from GB who failed to commit a single infraction and 40% success on face-off draws allowed them not to be permanently hemmed in the defensive zone.
Ben Bowns turned aside fifteen shots after the opening goal and was starting to find his groove.
Second Period
There was a change in goal between periods for Slovakia as Branislav Konrad, despite making just two saves in the first period, suffered an injury and was replaced between the pipes by Julius Hudacek.
The middle frame began with four-on-four action and somewhat surprisingly the extra room on the ice did not hinder Great Britain.
Three seconds after Kristian Pospisil and Brendan Connolly exited the box, GB tied the game.
Who else but Kirk who began the initial play down low on the right-wing with a pass back up to the blue line.
Mark Richardson wasting no time in slapping a hard pass to Perlini, who spun and shot in one movement.
Hudacek made a pad stop but Kirk slotted home the rebound having driven to the net.
Frustratingly GB handed the initiative back to Slovakia two minutes later.
Four players were caught in a battle for a puck at the GB bench and Robert Lantosi was left to lead a 3-on-1 break. There was little Bowns could do to prevent a perfectly placed shot.
Great Britain twice went close to tying the game up for a second time.
On the end of a nice passing movement, Ben Davies was denied, as was Perlini on the first power-play of the game.
Meanwhile, Bowns continued to stand on his head, making another fifteen saves in the period to ensure the deficit was just one heading into the final frame.
Third Period
Instead of wilting in the third period which would have been understandable in the circumstances, Great Britain was inspired by the play of Bowns and gave Slovakia plenty to think about.
As a consequence, they were only out-shot 9-6 and again created some good scoring chances.
Kirk led the way again as his line afforded a chance for Connolly which he whiffed on. Undeterred, Kirk won back possession, curled back toward the blue line before darting between two opponents.
His shot was saved but the rebound lay between a Slovak defenseman and Connoly but sadly the GB forward was unable to convert.
GB killed a penalty with ten minutes remaining and almost scored seconds after it had expired.
Robert Dowd and Mike Hammond were millimetres away from connecting on a tying tally.
With a little under two minutes remaining, Bowns was pulled for the extra attacker and Ben O’Connor went close with a rasping shot from the point.
A timeout called with 62 seconds left allowed GB to reset for one last push which ultimately failed to materialise.
Regardless, this was a fantastic performance to push the ninth seeds all the way.
GB Player of the Game: Ben Bowns
Post Game Notes:
This performance and result were beyond all realistic expectations.
GB kept their penalty count down to one, albeit in a strangely officiated game that left most watchers wondering which rules were being enforced.
Paul Swindlehurst replaced Mark Garside and Sam Duggan replaced Lewis Hook in the line-up.
I especially liked the performance of Duggan despite playing just six minutes. His skating ability was noteworthy and he laid a booming hit which enabled puck recovery.
Ben Bowns was back to his very best. Was there ever any doubt? A 41 save performance from Great Britain’s most outstanding performer in the last few campaigns.
He did it again. Liam Kirk scored, could have scored a second and created three other scoring opportunities. That’s a goal against the second and ninth seeds in this tournament.
One thing I’d change: Brendan Connolly still looks out of sorts and I wonder if the coaching staff are flexible enough to change things up in that regard.
Line-up
Kirk – Perlini – Connolly
Lake – Hammond – Dowd
Duggan – Lachowicz – Betteridge
Davies – Myers – J.Phillips
O’Connor – D.Phillips
Ehrhardt – Clements
Tetlow – Richardson
Swindlehurst
Bowns
Whistle
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