Great Britain started their Olympic Pre-Qualification Tournament, in Cortina Italy, with a hard fought 6-5 victory over the Nederlands in a game which saw the lead change hands several times.
Great Britain took to the ice in front of over 150 GB fans who gave the rink an electric atmosphere with their drums and chanting throughout the game.
Even when the Nederlands took the lead at 2:57 the crowd kept singing. The dutch goal came courtesy of a powerply goal Ronald Wurm who fired home the rebounand it was all level on 34.01 d after Ben Bowns had saved the initial shot from Mitch Brujjsten.
The Dutch lead lasted under 40 seconds as from the Face Off GB won the possessions and attached up the ice. Russ Cowley turned Martijn Oosterwijk inside out with some nice dekes to fire the puck low into the back of the net and make it a 1-1 game at 3.35.
With the period clock running down David Phillips picked up the puck on the Blue Line and his shot through traffic left Oosterwijk rooted to the spot as the puck looped over his shoulder and into the net to give GB a 2-1 lead at the first break.
The second period started with the Dutch looking the stronger of the two sides. Despite being relegated from GB’s World Championship group last year, you sensed that they believed they could win against their higher ranked opposition. On 28.23 GB extended their lead through Matt Myers. Oosterwijk believed he had stopped Myers breakaway shot, but could only look in fear as the puck tricked from between his pads and over the goalline.
If Great Britiain thought that Myers goal would make it an easier game, they were brought back down to earth with a bump, as the Dutch struck twice in under a minite. On 33.06 Kevin Bruijsten fired top shelf from the narrowest of angles to make it 3-2 a tight angle (33:06). It was all square on 34.01 when a scramble in front of Bowns goal saw Maarten Brekelmans get the final touch on the puck to tap it into the back of the GB net to make it 3-3.
Two minutes after leveling the game, the Dutch went 4-3 behind. Ashley Tait set Russ Cowley away on the breakaway, and despite being hooked back by the defender Cowley shot low into the Nederlands net to make it 4-3 to GB at the second break.Against the run of play, at the start of the final stanza, Nederlands once again drew the game level when Maarten Bruijsten fired home from the slot at 43:22.
GB’s fifth goal of the night was a special goal for scorer Colin Shields. His shot from the blueline was his 33rd International goal and moved him to joint 2nd spot in the GB all time scoring table.
With just over 8 minutes of the game remaining the fans were on the edge of their seats as it became a 5-5 game as Diederick Hagemeijer found himself unmarked and in space to fire past Bowns.
The eventual game-winner came from defenceman Mark Richardson. Jonathan Phillips picked out Richardson in space and after his initial shot was blocked the puck fell back to him to fire home the winner on 55.48.
Two late penalties for the Dutch ensured a period of 5-on-3 hockey where GB just controlled the puck possession and despite the Dutch pulling their netminder for a 6-on-5 for the final 24 seconds GB held on to record the win.
Coach, Pete Russell, said: “I am not going to be disappointed with the outcome as the result was the important thing.
“Yes, there are things we can work on and do better at, but getting that win is vital for us.
“We dug deep and we scored a lot of goals.
“I hear people say that GB struggle to score goals, but here we proved we can score and score at important times.
“We can now recharge of our batteries and get ready for our second game.”