IIHF World Championships 2019 - Team GB are there

[BallochSonsFan]

First time GB will be playing in the top level of IIHF world championships for 25 years. Freesports are showing all 7 of GB's group games.

Looking forward to this. I've taken the week off work for GB's group games. Frustratingly I'm back at work for the France game on the monday - probably the best chance of a GB win.

Looking at the GB squad, it's probably as strong as we could have selected, with the odd exception. Injuries have kept Long and Peacock out and that's frustrating as both have had really good seasons. Peacock has some good game intelligence that could have helped in tough situations and Long was the highest scoring Brit in the EIHL this past season.Big difference between now and 25 years ago is the number of dual national players. In the 90s we were basically playing dual national Canadians and a couple of British born players. This year we've got a majority British born squad with a few dual nationals.

In goals we've got Ben Bowns, Jackson Whistle and Tom Murdy.

Ben Bowns is a game winner at EIHL level for Cardiff Devils. He's a decent size and has good reactions. He's going to be the busiest goaltender in the tournament as we'll be heavily outshot in most games. He has the mentality to stick in there. He'll need to as neither Whistle nor Murdy are good enough to take any of the pressure off him. Whistle had promise when he first signed for Belfast as back-up to Stephen Murphy. He moved to Sheffield as a potential starter but it didnt really work out for him. Sheffield have been a bit of a basket case all season but successive Steelers coaches lost confidence in Whistle as a starter. Murdy is an EIHL back-up. Like Whistle he probably could move and look for more games somewhere but he doesnt look like he's going to. I'd actually have been tempted to take Murphy as back up in place of either Murdy or Whistle. Stephen Murphy is no longer a starter in Belfast and doesnt have many more games in him. What he has is experience of GB squads over the past decade and for that reason alone he'd have been a good guy to have in the side going into our biggest tournament in 25 years.

Defence: Dallas Erhardt, Tim Billingsley, Evan Mosey, Stevie Lee, Ben O'Connor, Davie Phillips, Mark Richardson and Paul Swindlehurst.

We've got 3 dual nationals amongst the 8 players on our roster who play D. Erhardt is a big, physical presence at the back who has played well for a Manchester side that has disappointed last season. Billingsley is a smart blueliner who played for Nottingham last season but who may be on the move this summer. Mosey is the smallest of the 3 dual nationals but can play forward or defence and would be expected to be the defenceman who is most capable of breaking out on the counter attack.

Of the British-born players, O'Connor and Richardson are the pick, Mark Richardson is a smart defensive D man. O'Connor can be lethal from the blue line with a really great long shot. Swindlehurst was good enough to be invited to a north american training camp run by the Black Hawks a couple of years ago and whilst he didnt make the cut for an AHL or ECHL roster spot, he's a decent player. I like Stevie Lee too. Big, honest grafter. Davie Phillips was a really talented player back in the day but a poor season at Sheffield hasn't done him any favours. Of the 8 players he's the one I'd maybe have replaced but we don't have a lot of options at the back . Josh Batch is the obvious option but I'm not sure if he's injured or if he just missed the cut? Josh Tetlow is a player for the future but we're a tournament or two early for the young Panthers player.

Forwards: Brett Perlini, Ben Lake, Mike Hammond,Ollie Betteridge, Ben Davies, Robert Dowd, Robert Farmer, Luke Ferrara , Liam Kirk, Robert Lachowicz, Joey Lewis, Matthew Myers, Jonathan Phillips, Colin Shields.

We've got 3 dual national forwards. Mike Hammond was actually born in the UK but left at such a young age that he didnt play any junior hockey here so wasn't developed in the UK hockey system. He's done well recovering from a bad injury a couple of seasons ago and carries a genuine goal threat in the EIHL. Remains to be seen if he can even lay a glove on the opponents we'll be facing this year but he deserve his roster slot. As does Ben Lake. Lake is a big body who has nice hands and positions himself well. He isnt really a power forward in that he won't be going into the dirty areas of the ice or winning battles in the corners but he has had a good season for Coventry and is another who carries a scoring threat. Brett Perlini was a massive part of our success at the previous IIHF tournament and was named that year's MVP. He hasnt had such a good season for Nottingham but will be relied on as a top player for GB this summer.

Britain has some decent grafters but the biggest home grown goal threats are Rob Dowd and Rob Farmer. Dowd is another who has had injury troubles in a poor season for Sheffield but his pedigree is there. He was good enough to play a season in the Swedish 2nd division - the Allsvenskan - and is a smart player. Farmer is an out and out agitator. He'll annoy opponents, try to draw penalties and generally make an absolute pest of himself. Early in his career EIHL fans were fond of the odd game of "Farmer Bingo" to see which opposition players Farmer would end up scrapping with on any given game night. He's grown up a lot since then and generally picks his moments well to try to be a pest.

We're getting to the end of the line for Myers, Phillips and Shields. Colin Shields is retiring after this tournament. The 2nd British trained player to be drafted by an NHL side when Philly took him in the 2000 draft, he's still a highly intelligent option on the power play. At 39 he'll be a wee bit exposed by the pace of the games and the speed of the opponents he's going to come up against. He'll still carry a threat on special teams - if we get any opportunities on the man advantage - and he deserves to be there for his swansong. Myers is a gritty forward who makes it tough for opponents. Phillips is similar. We'll be relying on both of them to try to help protect their D and to transition to a quick counter attack with more offensively focused line mates. Sadly we aren't blessed with many. Joey Lewis has spent much of his career overseas and currently plays in DEL 2. Ferrara and Betteridge are decent 2-way forwards who will contribute at either end of the ice but who don't carry a significant goal threat. I wouldn't have Ben Davies in the squad and if it hadn't been for injuries to Long and Peacock then he'd probably have missed out. I'd have been tempted by Jordan Cownie instead after a solid season for Dundee.

The x-factor for GB comes in the form of Liam Kirk. Kirk was the 3rd British (and first English) trained player to be drafted by an NHL side when the Coyotes took him in last summer's draft. He's spent the season in Peterboro with the Petes and OHL hockey has certainly agreed with him. 47 points in 63 regular season games isnt a bad contribution at all for his first season outside of the UK. He'll be on the 2nd or 3rd line and gives us a player who should be more accustomed to the pace of games at this level. The OHL is the best of the 3 Canadian major junior leagues and Kirk has spent the season playing against guys who are on their way to the show. It's too early to put the weight of GB's survival at this level on his shoulders but he's going to be a major factor in GB hockey going forward and he has to be seen as a guy who can help grow the sport in the UK, particularly if he makes it to the NHL in a couple of years time.

Overall: Lets be honest here, GB will be lucky to keep the score to single figures against Canada and USA. Finland, Germany and Slovakia too. Our best chances of the tournament will be against Denmark and France. If we can get a result against the French then we might just stay up for another year. 

Of our opponents I really like the look of the Germans, although I've got to declare an interest in that I regularly watch Adler Mannheim online and try to get to a couple of DEL games every year. Their Olympic silver medal was no fluke and they have some really good players on their roster, including Leon Draisaitl who had an absolutely outstanding season with the Oilers and Dominik Kahun from Chicago. There's scope for them to change their goaltenders with Thomas Greiss of the Islanders the obvious option. I'd be surprised if Moritz Seider makes the final cut but he's a star D man in the making and I wouldn't be surprised to see him drafted at some point in this year's draft. I'm disappointed that David Wolf didnt make the squad after a very good year for my title-winning Mannheim side, but we're represented by Mattias Plachta and Markus Eisenschmidt. Eisenschmidt has had a really great first season at the SAP for Die Adler and will cement his status as one of the best Germans playing in the DEL with a good showing at this year's finals.

Canada and USA will be fighting it out for top of our group. It'll be between Finland and Germany for 3rd and 4th in a very interesting battle. Slovakia will finish 5th. It's then between us, Denmark and France for the final 3 spots.

Don't be surprised if we get a rematch of the Russia v Germany gold medal game from the most recent winter Olympics in the quarter finals.

[Torpar]

I'd like to optimistic and think Great Britain can nick a win  against Denmark or France but I don't see it happening. France beat Switzerland in a pre tournament game last month and Denmark have added Lars Eller to their team, shame for them that Elhers is injured but a relief for GB I'm sure. 

Interesting that IIHF seemed to have caved after the constant moaning from Canadians about gold medal games ending in shootouts and decided tied games will go to 20 minute periods of overtime. Though their moaning usually comes after the U20s tournament since interest in the men's world championship is fairly low here compared to World Juniors

[Miguel Sanchez]

Based on Canada's performance against Finland so far it's an easy two points there. 

[BallochSonsFan]

3 hours ago, Torpar said:

I'd like to optimistic and think Great Britain can nick a win  against Denmark or France but I don't see it happening. France beat Switzerland in a pre tournament game last month and Denmark have added Lars Eller to their team, shame for them that Elhers is injured but a relief for GB I'm sure. 

Interesting that IIHF seemed to have caved after the constant moaning from Canadians about gold medal games ending in shootouts and decided tied games will go to 20 minute periods of overtime. Though their moaning usually comes after the U20s tournament since interest in the men's world championship is fairly low here compared to World Juniors

Tavares pulling out was a blow for the tournament. There's already no McDavid, Matthews, Crosby or Ovechkin.

The Germans have a goal scoring star from last season's NHL regular season so there's clearly talent there. Plenty of strong players in both the Canadian and American rosters. Russians are also stacked with talent. Unfortunately the NHL and its teams will always put pressure on players to rest over the summer rather than playing IIHF tournaments. There's also always the clash between Stanley Cup play-offs and IIHF worlds.

[BallochSonsFan]

So many positives for GB.

Bowns was great. He did really well all game and couldn't have done any more. We were also really disciplined for the most part, although Swindlehurst's penalty hurt us. If I had to point to a negative then it would be the missed chances earlier in the game. Great set up and just a final pass/finish away from really scaring the Germans. I'd also want to see a bit more from Farmer as I think he's going to have to be big for us against Denmark and France. Shields really is past it and had little impact on the game.

Germany turned things up when we scared them by tying the game at 1-1. Deserved winners in the end, and Seider's opener was a fantastic shot, but for about 40 minutes in that game they showed us little respect and weren't out of first gear. We nearly punished them for that. Their attitude in the first 2 periods was poor and our equaliser came from a garbage clearance attempt that no professional would even think about trying in a game they were fully focused and determined in.

We've shown what we can do when teams don't take us seriously. That's probably a wake up call for Slovakia, Denmark and France.

[Torpar]

Oh well, just have to beat France now....