2021 IIHF World Championships
Game 04
Great Britain 4 Belarus 3
Great Britain has only once recorded a regulation win at the top tier of IIHF World Championship hockey.
That was a 7-5 victory against Finland on March 9, 1962.
Until now.
Head Coach Pete Russell would have been a proud man at home watching HIS team cause the biggest upset in British hockey history with a 4-3 victory against Belarus – a team full of KHL and NHL talent.
First Period
Britain rode their luck in the opening frame with some near misses by Belarus.
Shane Prince hit the post two minutes in and Sergei Drozd fired wide from the slot as Belarus failed to show a killer instinct in front of goal.
GB got themselves going after a power play with a beautiful triangle play involving Mike Hammond, Ben Lake and Brett Perlini. Unfortunately, the latter was unable to get the touch required on a bouncing puck.
A penalty drawn by Lewis Hook gave GB a power play and they went close again.
Efforts from Ben O’Connor and Perlini were both turned aside.
With 13:38 on the clock, Liam Kirk took over.
He picked up possession at the Belarus blue line on a broken play.
Kirk skated past Geoff Platt and then around Vladislav Yeryomenko before comprehensively beating Danny Taylor with a wicked wrist shot.
A wonderful individual goal from an extremely talented player.
Belarus wasn’t able to respond and GB led 1-0 after twenty minutes.
Second Period
The middle frame was one of momentum changes.
GB started well before Belarus took over and drew a penalty.
Just as the penalty expired, Vladislav Kodola scored on a rebound to tie the game up.
Far from disheartened, GB dusted themselves off and got back to work.
Ben Lake showed lightning speed down the left wing, pulled off a toe drag around the last defenseman and was only denied by a fine shoulder save.
Greta Britain should have been ahead with five minutes remaining.
Taylor did not have control of the puck following a save to deny Kirk but the quick whistle denied Ben O’Connor a legitimate goal on the follow-up.
Far from deflating the underdogs, it proved inspirational.
Matthew Myers stole the puck from the stick of Stepan Falkovsky from behind the Belarus net and feed Ben Davies out front for the centre to restore the lead.
A 2-1 lead was a dream and 3-1 just fantasy.
Kirk was left all alone between the hash marks and he made no mistake on a feed from O’Connor.
It could have been even better in the final minute as Paul Swindlehurt was robbed on a backdoor play by an excellent left-toe save by Taylor.
Third Period
Surely Belarus would fight back and put Great Britain in their place?
Not to begin with at least.
Two minutes into the final frame Perlini fired wide of the target during a 3-on-2 break for GB.
Both nations exchanged chances off the rush before a penalty gave Belarus a power play.
It was short-lived however as Ollie Betteridge and Matthew Myers did excellent work on the penalty kill, creating a scoring chance but more importantly drawing a penalty in the process.
Greta Britain would duly score with the action at four-on-four.
A loose outlet pass by Belarus presented Hammond with possession in the neutral zone.
The 31-year old skated directly toward goal, faked a pass during what was a 2-on-1 break before showing his prowess with another telling finish at this level.
4-1 GB. The dream was starting to look like reality.
Great Britain has a history of not making things easy for themselves and the final nine minutes were hell-raising for those watching after Belarus were gifted a goal.
A misplay by Dallas Ehrhardt on the boards behind the GB net resulted in a gift for Platt who doesn’t miss such chances.
Greta Britain earned a power play with 4:55 remaining but was far too negative and the easy penalty kill only served to give Belarus some momentum.
That led to a third goal, a strike by Shane Prince on a pass by Alexei Protas, cutting the lead to one with 2:45 remaining.
The tension was now palpable.
Taylor was pulled for the extra attacker as Bealurs went for broke.
Inside the final minute, Yegor Sharangovich circled around the GB defense and released a stinging shot. The puck looked in but the sound of iron was music to the ears of Ben Bowns and his teammates.
Stellar work from Ben Davies on the backboards killed off almost twenty seconds and Great Britain cluing on for dear life to create a piece of hockey history.
Their first regulation win at this level for 59 years and only the second in the history of the nation.
The four points Great Britain has now recorded is the most they have ever accumulated at this level and there are still three games left to play.
GB Player of the Game: Liam Kirk
Post Game Notes:
I am running out of superlatives for Liam Kirk.
Four goals in as many games and at the time of writing he’s tied for the tournament lead in goals.
GB’s most effective threat offensively and just another stellar performance from the young man.
Ben Bowns was lights out when his country needed him.
A 33 save performance of which eighteen stops were made in the final frame of regulation.
When GB needs him most, Bowns delivers. End of.
Mike Hammond now has goals in back-to-back games. His goal against Denmark earned a point and his strike today held up as the game-winner. Another big game player for Great Britain.
One thing I’d change: I said it in the last recap but it still stands. Liam Kirk has to be on the top power-play unit. That’s a no-brainer in my opinion.
Line-up
Kirk-Connolly-Dowd
Lake-Perlini-Hammond
Davies-Myers-J.Phillips
Hook-Lachowicz-Betteridge
Long
Tetlow-Richardson
O’Connor-D.Phillips
Ehrhardt-Clements
Swindlehurst
Bowns
Whistle
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