Great Britain and Austria go head-to-head in Tampere this evening with top-level World Championship survival at stake.
GB need a regulation-time victory at the Nokia Arena to ensure safety, while Austria know any other result will mean they will stay up.
Pete Russell’s side go into the game on the back of a 4-3 defeat by Latvia. Brett Perlini scored his second goal of the tournament, while there were first GB goals for Cade Neilson and Lewis Hook.
Austria were beaten 3-0 by hosts Finland in their last outing on Saturday.
Team news
Mark Richardson, who missed yesterday’s defeat by Latvia through injury, is set to return and become the fifth player in GB history to reach 100 caps after Jonathan Phillips, Ashley Tait, Matthew Myers and David Longstaff.
Phillips sets his own record today too as he becomes the most-capped GB player of all-time, reaching 111 caps.
It’s also a special day for Sports Rehabilitator Nicola Sherlock, with this being the 75th game she has worked with the GB team.
The majority of Austria’s roster plays domestically in the ICEHL, while four players are based in Switzerland.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Marco Kasper plays in the top Swedish league.
Recent meeting
Great Britain and Austria last met in 2012 at the World Championship Division 1 Group A tournament in Slovenia.
Six of the current GB roster – Robert Dowd, Robert Lachowicz, Matthew Myers, David Phillips, Jonathan Phillips and Mark Richardson – played in the fixture in Ljubljana.
Assistant coach Corey Neilson was also in the line-up and he was one of the goalscorers, along with a double from Colin Shields, but GB went down to a 7-3 defeat.
GB record v Austria
P16 W5 D1 L10
1926 European Championship – Lost 1-3
1931 World Championship – Lost 0-1
1934 World Championship – Lost 1-2
1935 World Championship – Won 4-1
1948 Olympic Games – Won 5-4
1952 World Championship – Won 2-1
1953 World Championship – Won 3-0
1961 World Championship – Won 10-2
1965 World Championship – Lost 4-5
1966 World Championship – Lost 1-2
1976 World Championship – Lost 2-21
1981 World Championship – Lost 2-7
1994 World Championship – Lost 0-10
1997 World Championship – Drew 2-2
2008 World Championship – Lost 5-10
2012 World Championship – Lost 3-7
How to follow the game
There’s live coverage on FreeSports. Commentary will come from six-time Olympic broadcaster Aaron Murphy and former GB forward Paul Adey who won 55 caps between 1995 and 2001, scoring 28 goals and contributing 24 assists for 52 points.
FreeSports is available free on Sky Channel 422, Virgin Media Channel 553, on Channel 64 on Freeview and BT and via the FreeSports Player.