Robert Farmer was in the right place at the right time to tip in a rebound over Estonia goaltender Roman Shumikhin with less than six minutes left to play to give Great Britain a 2-1 victory on Tuesday afternoon. The goal saved the team’s blushes as Estonia proved a tougher opponent than initially many expected.
“A good team always find a way to win. Whether it’s with 5-1 or 2-1, that doesn’t matter, a win is a win,” said defenceman Ben O’Connor.
Coming off a morale boosting overtime victory over Croatia yesterday, Great Britain had a difficult afternoon against Estonia. The Baltic side had already shown its prowess against Korea and did not seem impressed by the British team.
After both teams had squandered some early chances, the best chance of the opening period fell to Estonia. Robert Rooba outskated Colin Shields on a short handed breakaway and the Great Britain forward could only stop the forward via a hook. The resulting penalty shot was not converted by Rooba, who plays his club hockey for Espoo Blues in Finland. Rooba managed to round Bowns but was unable to lift the puck into the empty net.
At 15:36, David Philips gave Great Britain the lead when his slapshot from just inside the faceoff circle flew over the stickhand of goaltender Roman Shumikhin who had a clear view on the puck but was surprised by the speed and power of the shot.
Like in large parts of yesterday’s game, Estonia did not look out of place playing against a higher ranked opponent. Their efforts were rewarded with a strong second period in which they outshot Great Britain 14-9.
Initially Ben Bowns was able to show his quick glove hand on an Andrei Markov shot, but a few minutes later he stood no chance when Robert Rooba was the beneficiary of a poor defensive clearance by Ben O’Connor.
The game, which flowed with very few stoppages or penalties, was still tied midway the third period leaving the Barmy Army in the arena anxious. After yesterday’s climax against Croatia there weren’t many nails left to bite on so they did their utmost to spur their team forward by providing lots of vocal support, aided by the travelling drums.
Roman Shumukhin did prove a worthy replacement of Villem-Henrik Koitmaa who tended the net against Korea yesterday, however with six minutes left, he had no chance when Robert Farmer reacted quickest on a reboud in front of net to restore the British lead again.
After the game Ben O’Connor said “Estonia played very well and stronger than we expected. I don’t think we underestimated them but it shows the lower seeded teams are getting better every year.”
Great Britain held on in the final minutes to remain unbeaten. Estonia will be pleased with their performance this tournament but are still pointless after two games.
“The goal was a big relief for our whole team and especially for me after my earlier mistake,” O’Connor admitted.
“Now we can use the non playing day to get ready for our next game on Thursday in which we will try to stay unbeaten en route to our goal.”