Two goals within 16 seconds saw Mark Richardson come out as the hero for Great Britain as they stunned Croatia on Monday with a 3-2 overtime win. Great Britain had been 2-0 down at one stage before staging the comeback.
With just five seconds left to play Richardson, tipped in a loose puck after a scrimmage to tie the game at two each and force overtime but the best was yet to come. Eleven seconds into overtime, Richardson unleashed a slapshot that gave Croatia netminder Mark Dekanich no chance.
“We sure left it late today,” said assistant captain Rob Dowd after the game. “I felt we dominated the game but we couldn’t find a way behind their goaltender who played great.”
British head coach Peter Russell promised to ice a team that will play their hearts out and it showed right from the first faceoff. Helped by an early power play, Great Britain fired six unanswered shots at Dekanich but failed to find the back of the net.
Croatia were forced back but threatened their quick counter attacks themselves. On one of them, Mike Glumac went in alone on goaltender Ben Bowns but the goaltender stood strong. The golden opportunity should have been a warning for Great Britain but at 16:57, Glumac escaped again and this time rounded the goaltender to open the scoring with his team short handed.
The game started to be more gritty in the second period but even despite a two man advantage, Croatia were able to limit Great Britain to no shots. Instead they were already celebrating their second goal but referee Shane Warschaw called it off after video replay which showed the goalpost had moved off its mourings before the puck crossed the goal line.
Croatia’s lead was finally doubled at 46:52 when Nathan Perkovich fired home from the point on a power play. The goal silenced the large number of Great Britain fans in the stands. However it wasnt long before they were quickly back to life after Ben O’Connor unleashed a howitzer from the blue line that found its way through traffic and Mark Dekanich to cut the deficit in half again.
The goal set the game up for a frantic final few minutes with Great Britain pushing for the equalizer and forcing Croatia back into their own zone. With just five seconds left to play in the game and goaltender Bowns pulled, Mark Richardson tipped in a loose puck in a scrimmage in front of net to lift the game into overtime.
The suspense was short lived in over time with Richardson immediately pouncing again before finding himself underneath a pile of blue and white jerseys.
“Starting off the tournament with a victory is so important,” said Dowd, a veterean of many championships himself.
“It means the difference between being in a flow and in the hunt for a gold medal or having to play catch up hockey.”
Great Britain take two points from this game into their next game tomorrow against Estonia, while Croatia will get a chance to make up for today’s loss against Lithuania in the afternoon game.
Man of the match for Great Britain went to netminder Ben Bowns.