👀 Friday Preview: The Final step
Once more into the breach
It’s been an incredible week for Great Britain and now they stand one victory away from booking their flights to Switzerland for next year’s World Championships top division.
Pete Russell’s team remain unbeaten in the group and only have Poland to face if they are to rub shoulders with the top brass in world hockey in a year’s time.
It’s an exciting prospect and while the performances have been functional without being swashbuckling, it’s testament to the character in the group as they get ready for the last push to rejoin the top flight again.
Ukraine are level on points and if both teams match results in Sunday’s final showdown, GB would top the group by virtue of the overtime win earlier in the week while the Ukrainians would also make the climb, with two places up for grabs.
For the Poles, two defeats in the last two days have effectively ended their chances, but they can certainly cause GB problems when they meet in the last fixture on Saturday night.
By the time both sides come face to face at 5.30pm on Sunday, the other teams will have completed their fixtures and GB will know exactly what they need to do. As it stands, they just need to win. Maybe even an overtime or penalty shots win would be enough, irrespective of what Italy do against the hosts Romania.
Bottom line is, Russell and his men ideally don’t want to have to rely on favours from anyone else. Get over the line of their own volition and it’s off to Switzerland next year.
In an alternate world, it could have been a gold medal game between the Brits and the Poles after both teams began with 100% records, but two 4-1 losses to Italy and Ukraine for Poland mean they can only upset GB’s chances of promotion.
Not to get ahead of ourselves, but the head to head record is favourable for Britain, with 10 wins in their last 11 meetings - Poland last recording a victory back in 2017 in a warm-up game.
In relative terms, it means nothing going into this game. GB have to work to earn the victory and Poland certainly won’t make it easy for them.
The scene is set and now we’ll see if Great Britain can make the step up once more.
💪 KIRK’S ARRIVAL TAKES GB TO WARP SPEED
It’s hard not to notice the impact on the Great Britain team since Liam Kirk’s late arrival to the camp.
The forward missed the first two games of this campaign after helping Eisbaren Berlin to glory in the DEL play-off finals, winning the series in five and Kirk picking up four goals and four assists as they swept aside Köln.
He was on a high as he arrived in Sfantu Gheorghe on Tuesday, having celebrated all weekend with his team-mates in Germany.
But there’s certainly no sign of a hangover as the 25-year-old is already the second top points scorer (three goals and four assists) in Division 1A after only two games under his belt this week.
Despite the clash in dates between the play-offs in Germany and the World Championships, it was never going to be an issue for him to make his way to Romania for the tournament.
He said after his first game against Japan on Wednesday: “It was kind of a no-brainer for me…I love the opportunity to represent my country” then revealed GB were fine with him missing the first couple of games.
Kirk continues to impress for the national side and if they can achieve another promotion to the top level on Saturday - a level the lad from Maltby is more than comfortable in - his contribution will be key.
🤝 THOMPSON IS A DEVIL
Paul Thompson has returned to the UK to take on the head coach’s role at Cardiff Devils.
The former Coventry Blaze and Sheffield Steelers coach is back after successfully leading Odense Bulldogs to the Danish Metal Ligaen Championship last week.
The 57-year-old - a five-time Elite League winning coach - has also coached in Germany, Italy and Sweden in a long career laden with success and replaces Pete Russell, who left to return to Germany with Bad Nauheim.
After seeing Thompson as an opponent through the years, Devils’ Managing Director Todd Kelman is glad to have him on his side now.
“Paul Thompson is one of the most successful coaches in the history of this league and we are very pleased to have him in Cardiff,” Kelman said on the Cardiff Devils website.
“When I got to Cardiff, those first few years we were battling with the Steelers for every title. Believe me, I cursed his name a lot over the years, but I think rivalry is always wrapped in respect.
“What he has done in Denmark is impressive, taking a smaller budget team all the way to a championship, the first in the history of their club and I was impressed with the style they played – fast, relentless hockey that was hard to defend.
“The bottom line is, we’re on the same team now. We are happy to have him and looking forward to getting him to Cardiff.”
📊 DIVISION 1A TABLE
📺 HIGHLIGHTS
Wednesday - GB vs Japan
Thursday - Italy vs GB
🇬🇧 GB FIXTURES AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 📆
Sunday 27th April - Ukraine 3 Great Britain 4 (Penalty Shots)
Monday 28th April - Great Britain 2 Romania 1 (After Overtime)
Wednesday 30th April - Great Britain 5 Japan 4 (After Overtime)
Thursday 1st May - Italy 1 Great Britain 5
Saturday 3rd May - Great Britain vs Poland (5:30pm)
🕰️ All face offs at British Standard Time
📺 All games will be shown live on Premier Sports
🤝 ON THE MOVE
Time to take a look at who’s moving - or not as the case may be - with clubs announcing additions to their 2025/26 rosters.
We’ll update this in every edition over the summer
📝 We told you on Wednesday how Manchester Storm bid farewell to defenceman CJ Garcia. Garcia has moved to the NIHL National League and joined Sheffield Steeldogs - Sheffield Steeldogs website
✍️ Nottingham Panthers confirmed the return of defenceman Cooper Zech to their blue line for 2025-26 - Nottingham Panthers website
🏟️ AROUND THE RINKS
Let’s take a look at what else has been going on up and down the country as we go around the rinks
🔵🟡 The exhibition to commemorate Fife Flyers’ 40th anniversary of their British Championship has officially opened - Fife Flyers Historian on X
👕 Belfast coach Adam Keefe is celebrating his testimonial next month and jerseys for the occasion are now available to order - Belfast Giants on X
🧤 Speaking of said event, a couple of netminders will join in the occasion - Belfast Giants on X
🏆 Speaking of fancy jerseys, Nottingham Panthers have launched a special jersey to mark their play-off success over Cardiff Devils last month - Nottingham Panthers website
🗣️ Following the announcement of his return (see above), Cooper Zech spoke to Nottingham Panthers - Nottingham Panthers on X
🏒 Former Coventry Blaze hero James Pease, Tom Edgard and Jordan Stokes are returning to the Skydome to be part of David Clements’ big night on Saturday 17th May, but Mitch Cook has had to withdraw - David Clements Testimonial on X
🔴 In Cardiff, it was announced that Neil Francis would be part of Joey Martin’s Testimonial later this year as well - Joey Martin Testimonial on X
🇬🇧 To mark his 100th cap for Great Britain, captain Robert Dowd spoke about his achievement
ℹ️ INFORMATION
Now we are now definitely at the end of the season, Elite will switch to twice a week over the next few months as we enjoy the off-season and start to build up to what will be an exciting 2025/26.
We’ll also be launching something else next week too as part of our output, which we’ll tell you all about on Monday.
Thank you for your support so far as we head into the summer.
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Catch you on Monday!
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