The opening day of the tournament witnessed three emphatic scorelines that did not tell the whole story of those games.

The hosts were certainly happy with their opening result, a more comfortable victory than it appeared on paper.

Great Britain 4-1 Netherlands

FIRST PERIOD

Great Britain could not have gotten off to a better start.
Not only scoring twice early but making hay on the power play, often their nemesis at World Championships.

Shoot and you will score. Kell Beattie took that message to heart and let fly from the blue line and with Lucas Price providing an excellent screen in front, the puck found its way into the twine.

GB made it two-for-two on the power play shortly afterwards. Jack Hopkins buried the puck home following a scramble in front caused by a strong drive by Keiran Chung.

Two goals up inside four minutes was indeed the dream scenario.

However, errors allowed the Netherlands a foothold back into the game at the midway mark.
Mack Stewart deliberately and somewhat lazily went offside to give the Netherlands an O-zone draw, which they won back to the point.
GB did not do a good enough job of reacting quickly and Maxime Reentmeester opened his account.

To GB’s credit, they responded within two minutes.
Milique Martelly pounced on a loose puck at the far left point and showed a deal of awareness to send a slap pass into the heart of the slot. A scramble ensued, with Joshua Shaw involved before Mack Stewart stuffed the puck across the goal line.

Great Britain’s power play failed to fire at the third time of asking but more worrying was the action leading up to the penalty.
A horrific boarding offence sent the defenceman crashing head-first into the wall and prone for a few minutes. Thankfully he skated off on his own power and returned for the middle frame.

SECOND PERIOD

Three penalties and some sloppy play disrupted the flow of the game in the middle frame.

Neither nation could make hay with the extra skater and scoring chances were at a premium until the final three minutes of the period.

Oliver Endicott rang a fine effort of the crossbar, whilst Mack Stewart took advantage of a stumbling defenceman to create a partial breakaway, only to be denied by a fine save.

THIRD PERIOD

Great Britain gave up very little defensively in this game as a whole, and that was certainly true through the final twenty minutes.

The play was physical with some heavy hitting but little in the way of high-quality scoring chances, as the hosts looked very comfortable with their 3-1 lead.

Great Britain was sparked into life at the midway point and made the points safe with nine minutes remaining.
Lucas Price scooped home a rebound to record a goal on his international debut. A nice moment to remember for the young man.

Goaltender Ben Norton was a mere interested onlooker for the majority of this encounter but saved his best save till late in the day. GB gave up their first odd-man rush as Ryan Kolgen escaped on a breakaway, but Norton delivered a fine pad save to deny the Netherlands a late consolation goal.

Post Game Notes

The top line for Great Britain was excellent, Jack Hopkins was his effervescent self, Mack Stewart was a thorn in the side of the Netherlands with his brand of hockey and Joshua Shaw looked assured.

The two standouts for me were Archie Hazeldine and Keiran Chung. Hazeldine seemingly never left the ice on the top pairing with GB’s captain. From calm defensive reads to breakout plays and leading the rush, Hazeldine was exceptional and a constant menace to Netherlands who barely had an answer for him.

Hazeldine had this to say following the opening-day win. “I think it was an all-round performance. We definitely have things to work on but a lot of positives to take moving on through the week.”

“Defensively we were quite solid, just need some finishing touches here and there.” Speaking about his performance offensively: “I like to jump in offensively, it’s nice to do that here and I really enjoyed it.”

He also confirmed the team’s winning song is “Wonderwall” for no good reason. There are worse choices!

Head Coach Martin Grubb: “We let them [Netherlands] back in the game with what I thought was a soft goal, we should have blocked that from the faceoff. After scoring quickly to lead 3-1 after the first, I thought we were always in control without dominating the game.”

Regarding faceoffs: “It’s one of the key areas for tomorrow, we need to be better in the circle and on the powerplay.”

I asked about the play of Keiran Chung. “I really thought Keiran Chung was really close to getting the man of the match for me. He was excellent, he skates well, good on the walls and exits – I really like him and I thought he played really well today.”
On the next opponent Lithuania: “They are big, they are heavy, quick and they are going to come super hard at us because they need to win, and we need to win by hook or by crook, so we don’t find ourselves in a three-way tie.”

Korea 4-1 Lithuania

FIRST PERIOD

Arguably the best two teams outside of Great Britain did battle in the first game of the tournament.
In fast and physical start from both teams, it was Lithuania who made the brighter beginning.
Linas Dididas and Paulius Grybauskas both had early chances but were denied by some alert goaltending.
Vitalij Fediukin had an effort blocked from the slot and then when in tight on the next play, couldn’t put upstairs on the goaltender at the second attempt.

Neither team could convert on one power play each and the best chance of note for Korea arrived with four minutes remaining.
Seungwoo Hong fired wide from the heart of the slot in a disappointing miss.

On a late power play, Korea finally began to click.
KIM Sihwan Kim struck the crossbar with a rasping drive and followed it up by striking the outside of the post with the goal at his mercy.

SECOND PERIOD

There were a plethora of Grade-A scoring chances early in the middle frame but neither nation was able to capitalise.

Mooyoung Lee escaped on a short-handed breakaway but again the post came to Lithuania’s rescue
After the penalty had expired, Lithuania’s best skater almost scored a highlight reel goal.

Ilja Michalevic dangled his way past three Korean players and eased off the attentions of a fourth before having his shot turned aside.

It proved a turning point in the game as Korea struck two goals in sixty-two seconds shortly afterwards.
A face-off win by Jaehyun Lee presented possession to
Mooyoung Lee at the top of the right circle. A blistering one-time shot beat the goaltender all ends up.

The second goal was simplistic in its conception. Korrea caught Lithuania napping with a set breakout play and Daon Kim escaped down the left side. A pinpoint top-shelf, short-side finish gave Korea a 2-0 lead.

Lithuania had a goal correctly waived off with a point shot finding the far post via at least one deflection.
There was more frustration in the final minute when Dovydas Jukna missed an open net from the low slot.

THIRD PERIOD

The game was brought back to life early in the third period.
A fantastic passing move after hard work cycling the puck resulted in Marijus Dumcius halving the deficit.

Lithuania wasted a man advantage to tie the game but went close again back at 5v5. Didinas was denied on a wraparound attempt following good work by Dumcius.

Korea broke the hearts of their opponents with a third goal on a broken play. Soo Namgung was the beneficiary of the loose puck and delivered a beautiful lofted finish.

Lithuania continued to try but they just weren’t clinical enough with the final pass and shot, especially against a goaltender who was giving up a large amount of second opportunities.

Beomsok Kim’s empty net goal sealed the victory for Korea, which in the end flattered the pre-tournament favourites.

China 5-1 Spain

FIRST PERIOD

In a game that might turn out to be crucial in the relegation battle, China stormed their way to a huge advantage through twenty minutes.

It took them a mere 24 seconds to open the scoring.

A shot from the blue line went up and over the shoulder of the Spanish netminder and sparked an exuberant celebration from those in red jerseys. Zhihao Li led those wild celebrations after scoring the goal.

Spain rarely threatened in the first period but did have the chance to tie the game up.
A rebound opportunity for Josep Tufet was brilliantly smothered by the Chinese goaltender.

Yubo Geng made it 2-0 China with another shot from the blue line with almost eight minutes on the clock.
The dominance continued with a power play goal at the midway point of the period. Zhichen Li found the net through minimal traffic with yet another shot from the point.

Spain was unable to capitalise on a power play of their own and conceded a fourth goal before the buzzer sounded. A beautiful passing play by China resulted in a shot which appeared to deflect off a defenceman or the goaltender but was credited to Jiaho Hu.

SECOND PERIOD

The middle frame was notable only for seven penalties being called as the game began chippy and a little more undisciplined.

Spain hit the post on one power play in the final second of play and at 5v5, Inigo Toural somehow failed to score on a rebound after driving the net.

Pablo Mata also fired wide on a short-handed breakaway as Spain struggled to make use of their limited scoring chances.

China’s best chance fell to Rong Luan, who seized upon a turnover, beat two opponents and were only denied by a fine save by the otherwise errant Spanish netminder.

THIRD PERIOD

Comeback?

Well, Spain had thoughts about that when scoring a power play goal four minutes into the final frame.
Ivan Garkusha’s bar-down shot from the point was a spectacular goal, followed by an equally audacious ‘bow’ and ‘you’re welcome’ celebration.

China responded swiftly and with a degree of authority. After a rebound chance for Spain was snuffed out, China transitioned with speed and Zhihao Li scored on a gorgeous backdoor feed from Kailin Chen of the St. Mike’s Buzzers.

Spain never stopped trying despite facing an uphill climb but rarely caused any issues for the Chinese goaltender.

China almost put the icing on the cake with another goal inside the last five minutes but Chen’s shot rattled off the crossbar.

Day Two Schedule

Korea v Spain
Netherlands v China
Great Britain v Lithuania

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