2022 IIHF U18 World Championship Division II, Group A Preview
The fallacy that there is no young emerging talent in British hockey should be swept away by this current U18 men’s roster.
You can find more about the roster including a breakdown of all players here: https://wp.me/p2gDti-1kr
There has been only one hitch to the preparations. Liam Steele was unable to fly out with the rest of the squad after contracting Covid. The expectation is that he will join up with the team in time for game one of the tournament.
Great Britain was afforded the rare luxury of two warm-up games in preparation for the tournament.
The first opponents were Grankulla IFK, who GB defeated 9-3 in Helsinki
Carter Hamill scored a hat-trick, Archie Hazeldine netted twice and netminder Ben Norton made 24 saves.
Also in Helsinki, K-Espoo Blues were the second warm-up opponents. Great Britain lost this outing 4-3 despite a valiant third-period comeback effort.
Jack Hopkins scored twice and Cameron Hamill netted the other goal.
Jack Hopkins, arguably the most exciting forward prospect on the roster, has been named captain with Oliver Endicott and Mack Stewart appointed alternate captains.
Head Coach, Sean Easton, said: “It was a tough selection process as there are a lot of candidates to wear a letter on this team.
“Hoppo (Jack Hopkins) and Oli (Oliver Endicott) have the experience from the under-20s and have been and will continue to pass that on through the team.”
“Mack (Stewart) is a great character for the room and has the experience of training and playing with the [Belfast] Giants.”
Schedule (all times listed are BST)
Sunday 3rd April: Estonia U18s v Great Britain U18s – 14:00
Tuesday 5th April: Great Britain U18s v Romania U18s – 10:30
Wednesday 6th April: Great Britain U18s v Korea U18s – 10:30
Friday 8th April: Serbia U18s v Great Britain U18s – 14:00
Saturday 9th April: Great Britain U18s v Lithuania U18s – 10:30
There are no easy games in this tournament.
It begins with a tough game against the hosts, Estonia.
Romania can always pull off a shock result against better nations, Korea fields a team that skates fantastically well, while Serbia and Lithuania are traditionally strong nations at this level in the junior sections.
Greta Britain has rarely been above the level of Division II Group A in their history and was relegated from Division I, Group B the last time they competed in 2019.
This group of players has the opportunity to hoist the nation back up for 2023.
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