Great Britain blows two leads on route to a shootout loss.
This young British roster will be cursing their third-period performance after controlling the majority of play through forty minutes.
Great Brain twice held a two-goal lead but defensive errors and a lack of intensity in the final frame ultimately led to defeat.
First Period
GB earned the first power play of the game and created two chances to open the scoring.
Garam Jang turned aside both Logan Neilson and Zaine McKenzie to keep the game scoreless.
Instead, it was Korea who netted first with the man advantage.
A shot from the point led to an intense battle in front of the blue paint. The puck squirted out to the slot and Youngseo Park had the simple task of guiding a shot past an unsighted Lucas Brine.
GB needed a response and quickly. They received it just 100 seconds courtesy of their fourth line.
A strong fore-check from Owen Dell and Cain Russell led to a turnover by Korea. On hand was Jack Goodchild and he finished emphatically from the slot.
Buoyed by the tying goal, Great Britain would strike twice before the intermission buzzer to lead 3-1 after twenty minutes.
Enter stage left, Jack Hopkins. After showing strength and speed to keep hold of the puck through the neutral zone he dished the puck off to Logan Nielson, who promptly sent the puck to Finley Howells.
Meanwhile, Hopkins charged down the middle of the ice and picked up a delightful pass from Howells in stride before sending a perfectly placed shot into the top corner of the net.
A horrific hit on Liam Stenton by Sungbin Park earned the Korean player a Game Misconduct penalty. The IIHF should consider a lengthy ban for what was an incredibly reckless boarding infraction that could have resulted in serious injury. Great Britain’s captain was thankfully okay and his nation made Korea pay with the extra man.
With plenty of time to pick his spot, from just above the hash marks Alex Graham rifled a shot past Jang.
Second Period
Great Britain continued on the man advantage with the best part of four minutes remaining on the major penalty.
Dissapointly Jang wasn’t tested as Korea killed the penalty without much alarm.
The kill gave Korea some impetus and they would cut the deficit to one at the six-minute mark.
There were a few video coaching moments to take from this game for GB and this second goal against would be high on the list.
A stretch pass from Seungjae Lee found Hyeonsu Kown barrelling down the left-wing.
It shouldn’t have been an issue except that both Bradley Bowering and Calum McGill allowed the Korean forward to cut underneath them both and then round Brine to score.
A learning moment for the defensive pair.
The officiating was questionable throughout this encounter and would certainly play a part in the final result.
Great Britain had the puck in the net during a power play – Bowering thinking he had gone some way to redeeming his earlier error. Except for the fact, the officials whistled down the play having lost sight of the puck which was in a melee of skates and nowhere near the netminder.
A second power-play goal would arrive for GB with six minutes remaining in the middle frame.
Alex Graham’s motto might well be “shoot, shoot and shoot some more.” He certainly did that during this man advantage and seconds after ringing one effort off the crossbar he made no mistake on the rebound after Jang had denied Howells and Bayley Harewood.
Liam Steele had scoring chances of note in the middle frame but none better than the opportunity to make it a 5-2 game. After pinching into the play and receiving a cross-ice feed, the defenseman wired his effort just wide, frustratingly only needing to find the target to score a first international goal.
Third Period
GB killed a penalty carried over from the previous period but was unable to capitalise on an early power play of their own.
Despite appearing to ease off on the back of a two-goal lead, GB had a fantastic chance to score a fifth.
A giveaway by Korea created a 4-on-1 break for GB.
A combination of fine goaltending, desperate back-checking and little in the way of puck luck kept Great Britain off the board.
Remember the poor officiating crew? Unfortunately, they directly played a part in Korea’s third goal.
Bayley Harewood produced a huge shoulder check at the GB blue line which somehow was assessed as roughing.
It took just thirteen seconds for Heegon Jang to score during a scrambled play as Korea made the most of their good fortune.
The debatable calls continued to arrive like London buses.
Graham was tabbed for checking and Stenton for boarding.
Korea now had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:38 and a tying marker seemed an inevitability.
Enter the trio of Nathan Ripley, Steele and Bowering, all of whom, performed heroics in front of Brine. Not only did they kill the majority of the two-man disadvantage but also drew a penalty in the process.
A positive coaching moment to look back on with pleasure when the dust settles.
Having survived the penalty drama it was a shame when an individual error gifted Korea their fourth goal.
Liam Steele sent a pass down the middle of the GB zone with little to no pressure being applied on him.
It was comfortably picked off by Hyungyeom Cho who teed up Hyeonsu Kwon to score easily past Brine.
With seven minutes remaining in regulation, Korea was now in the ascendancy with Great Britain firmly on their heels.
Martin Grubb was eventually able to get a late response from his team but they were unable to find a game-winner despite a flurry of chances.
Overtime
The extra point was crucial for both teams.
Korea held the upper hand and looked more comfortable in possession with the extra room to manoeuvre.
Luca Brine made an excellent wraparound save to send the game to a shootout.
Shootout
The skills competition was easily won by Korea, who scored on all three of three attempts. GB failed to record a shot on target to round off a disappointing second half to this encounter.
A learning curve for this inexperienced group who will need to pick themselves up heading into a Friday night tilt against Romania.
Post Games Notes
Great Britain was out-shot 42-28 by Korea.
Lucas Brine turned aside 37 shots.
Jack Goodchild was named Player Of The Game for Great Britain.
Alex Graham 2-0-2
Jack Hopkins 1-1-2
Jack Goodchild 1-0-1
Finley Howells 0-2-2
Logan Neilson 0-2-2
Bayley Harewood 0-1-1
Quotes courtesy of IHUK:
Head coach, Martin Grubb: “Today was a tough loss for us and the most disappointing part is we just didn’t manage the game after throwing away a two-goal lead twice.
“We got ourselves in a good position after both the first and second periods and we just didn’t come out with any sort of intensity in the third.
“We looked really leggy and in the end, we knew the Koreans wouldn’t stop. We got punished by a hungrier team. We really need to get over this quickly and keep focused on the fact we need two regulation wins to give us the best possible chance of success.
“We cannot feel sorry for ourselves. We need to dust ourselves down, learn a harsh lesson and make sure we do our job against Romania.”
1) Jack Goodchild ES
2) Jack Hopkins from Finley Howells and Logan Nielson ES
3) Alex Graham from Jack Hopkins and Logan Nielson PP
4) Alex Graham from Finley Howells and Bayley Harewood PP
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