Russell Will Leave No Stone Unturned

Great Britain head coach Pete Russell will leave no stone unturned as he considers his options ahead of April’s World Championship tournament in Eindhoven.

GB will compete in Division 1B from 13th to 19th April 2015 and will come up against hosts Netherlands, as well as Croatia, Korea, Estonia and Lithuania.

They will also play two international matches against Poland as part of their preparations.

The two sides will meet at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham on Thursday 9th April and then again in Coventry’s Skydome a day later.

Russell said: ‎”The first step in the process is to identify all possible players for selection.

“We will first create a depth chart of players aged 30 plus, 25 to 30 year olds, 20 to 25 year olds and those who are 18 to 20 and are our top young prospects.

“This will give us a clear view of our player pool and our age ranges. We must build for future and have a clear vision.

“Our selection process will be in depth and extensive – and we will assess every option.

“It’s very important that we take stock of exactly what we have at our disposal, for not only this season but the future.

“The Great Britain player I am looking for must have the following qualities; high levels of work ethic, good technique and technical ability, will compete every night, have good character and have good mentality.

“Our potential players for squad selection are playing in very different styles of leagues.

“For example, more individual skill can be used in the EPL with more time and space, while the Elite League is more systematic and a higher level of physicality.

“Then we also have players applying their trade outside the UK, where the hockey is faster and in some places harder.

“If we can get a good mixture of all then we can do very well and do our country proud.”