World Championship Division I Group A
Great Britain 7-0 Romania
For the first half of this game, Great Britain lacked intensity in their play and struggled to generate offensive chances of note.
A Liam Kirk inspired three-goal burst turned the game on its head, eventually allowing GB to coast to a comfortable victory.
First Period
Speaking of Liam Kirk, he had the best chance of the entire first period.
A nicely worked breakout resulted in a wicked wrist shot from Kirk, which crept under the goaltender’s defence. The puck lay prone in the blue pain before being cleared.
The hosts failed to capitalise upon three power play opportunities and were a little fortunate to come out of the period unscathed.
Romania threatened on their lone-man advantage and with better passing at 5v5 may have taken advantage of some good looks.
Second Period
A coast-to-coast rush by Kirk changed the direction of this game at the midway point.
With not many options available to him, Kirk threw the puck toward the net on his backhand. A couple of fortuitous bounces later enabled Robert Dowd to tee up Brett Perlini for a tap-in.
Great Britain doubled the lead on the power play. An excellent play by Nathanael Halbert to keep the puck in the offensive zone proved key. Kirk did the rest, firing home a wrist shot from the high slot.
The host nation scored a third goal in four minutes thanks to their captain.
Jonathan Phillips applied a delicious redirect on a Josh Tetlow point shot and the mood inside the Nottingham arena was totally changed.
Romania attempted to respond late in the frame and Ben Bowns had to make an excellent save to deny Matyas Kovacs. Some shot blocking and diligent work by GB’s penalty kill ensured their 3-0 lead remained intact heading into the second intermission.
Third Period
Great Britain completely dominated the final frame with the security blanket of the three points ensured.
Kirk and Ollie Betteridge were both denied before we witnessed another GB first.
Johnny Curran netted a first international goal with a deft redirect on a shot from Evan Mosey that was destined to go wide.
Mosey almost scored himself after great work from Josh Waller as GB looked likely to score on every shift.
A fifth goal arrived on the power play. Another first GB goal as defenceman Sam Ruopp scored on a nicely worked move.
Romania created one chance of note thanks to a turnover. Bowns is quite enjoying posting shutouts and produced a smart stop to rob Eduard Casaneanu during an odd-man rush.
Evan Mosey deserved a goal and finally got himself on the scoreboard.
Waller wrapped up proceedings by scoring on a backdoor feed after a swift passing move featuring Ruopp and Cade Neilson.
Post Game Notes
It was just the thirteen saves on this occasion but Ben Bowns was once again solid when his team needed him most to record a clean sheet. He becomes the first Great Britain netminder to secure three shutouts at a World Championship since Jimmy Foster in 1938.
Dave Phillips recorded his 100th cap and was given the honour of Captaincy for the day by Jonathan Phillips.
Fifteen players recorded at least a point.
Liam Kirk is tied for the tournament lead in scoring with eight points (3G/5A)
Player of the Game: Davey Phillips
Scoring
Brett Perlini 1-1-2
Liam Kirk 1-1-2
Sam Ruopp 1-1-2
Evan Mosey 1-1-2
Ben O’Connor 0-2-2
Johnny Curran 1-0-1
Josh Waller 1-0-1
Jonathan Phillips 1-0-1
Cade Nielson 0-1-1
Robert Dowd 0-1-1
Nathanael Halbert 0-1-1
Davey Phillips 0-1-1
Josh Tetlow 0-1-1
Sam Jones 0-1-1
Robert Lachowicz 0-1-1
Extended highlights
Line-Up
Standings
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