Great Britain defeated Romania 5-2 this afternoon in Tallinn to record their third win from three World Championship Division 2 Group A games.
Returning to action after Tuesday’s rest day, GB U20 scored their first opening period goals of the tournament to take a lead into the first interval.
Operating on a powerplay Lewis Hook set up Sam Duggan and the found a gap between the post and the goalie’s blocker to open the scoring at 14.40.
Before the period ended, Ollie Betteridge let fly with a wrist shot from the right circle which found the far corner to double the lead at 18.22.
Romania’s reply was almost instant, with Istvan Gereb on hand to score with a rebound from Mircea Constantin’s initial shot.
After assisting on GB’s opener, Lewis Hook turned scorer of the third goal in the 28th minute, converting from Bobby Chamberlain and Josh Grieveson.
Around the half hour Great Britain were forced to kill two penalties in quick succession. They successfully played off the first, but were unable to survive the second as Szabolcs Hildebrand blueline shot was tipped in by Constantin, reducing the GB lead to 3-2 after forty minutes.
Britain controlled the play during the third period, holding Romania to just 7 shots on goal, while firing 15 of their own on Attilla Adorjan.
Jordan Cownie bagged his third goal of the tournament at 47.59 to reopen the two goal advantage – Hook and Chamberlain with the assists.
The teams exchanged penalties and time outs before the seal was put on the game with Cownie’s second of the game, a backhand finish into the roof of the net after Chamberlain’s shot was blocked.
Lewis Hook was named GB’s player of the game, scoring 1+2. Adam Goss made 27 saves from 29 shots in net for Britain.
After the game, assistant coach Greg Owen said: “We didn’t play our best hockey today, but we got through it, got the win.
“It was a bit too close at times, we played down to Romania’s level and struggled to find consistency.
“We’re right in the position we want to be in the standings but we need to have a good practice tomorrow and come out ready to play Korea on Friday.”
Thursday is another rest day although GB will be having a full practice to prepare for Friday’s game with Korea (1630 local, 1430 uk). Other results today mean a win on Friday will clinch the gold medal and promotion for Great Britain.