International Ice Hockey Federation

GB going for gold

GB going for gold

Topples Romania 6-1 for final day decider

Published 22.04.2016 17:30 GMT+2 | Author Henrik Manninen
GB going for gold
Croatia,Zagreb, 22.04.2016.WM Div IB IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Great Britain-Romania Photo:Igor Soban
Great Britain surged ahead to beat Romania in their penultimate game to set them up for a gold medal game tomorrow.

Great Britain dominated the game from the outset as they downed Romania 6-1.

58-11 in shots and two goals in each period paved the way for Peter Russell's men to continue their undefeated run at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group B in Zagreb, Croatia.

"We did well out there. It wasn't pretty but we did what we had to do," was the post-match assessment of Great Britain head coach Peter Russell. "It sets up a massive gold-medal match tomorrow and it is a game we have been building towards all week."

Romania got their sole marker of the game with 4:43 left of the game by Ervin Moldovan Horvath.

Winless after four matches Romania now need Croatia to beat Estonia during the last game of Day 4 to have a fighting chance to stay in the division. Romania play their final match tomorrow against Estonia.

"We played more defensively today than against Croatia, but Great Britain is a good team so we are now focused for tomorrow," said Romania head coach Istvan Gereb.

Great Britain needed 3:15 to get their noses in front. Robert Lachowicz fed Jonathan Phillips in the slot who saw his shot sneak just over the line past Otto Onodi in Romania's net.

At 10:52, careless stickhandling by Onodi saw Phillips turn into provider as he picked out Jonathan Boxill who reacted quicker than Romania's defensive pairing Szabolcs Papp and Istvan Nagy to double Great Britain's lead.

Stepping up a gear in the second frame, Great Britain had 23 shots on Romania's goal and found the back of the net twice while on the powerplay. Robert Farmer hit a drive in the top corner from the left circle after 23:00 and when Papp was serving a minor for crosschecking, Colin Shields tipped home a Ben O'Connor shot to stretch the lead to 4-0 with 6:41 left of the period.

The intensivity dropped considerably during a third frame and Romania also gave plenty of ice time to their fourth line which so far been sparsely used throughout the tournament.

Matthew Myers scored Great Britain's fifth unanswered goal at 48:51 before Jonathan Weaver after 54:13 boomed home a drive for 6-0. Soon after Moldovan Horath scored Romania's only goal of the game with a low shot on a breakaway to settle the score at 6-1.

 

 

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