Great Britain forward Sam Duggan says the team’s character and desire will be huge during their World Championship Group A campaign in Latvia.
After Saturday’s 7-1 defeat by Russia – who are ranked second in the world – GB narrowly lost 2-1 to ninth seed Slovakia on Sunday afternoon at the Olympic Sports Centre.
Liam Kirk scored GB’s goal – his second in succession after also netting against Russia.
Duggan started his first game of the tournament against Slovakia and in the process won his sixth cap for his country.
“We put in a great effort,” said Duggan. “From start to finish we were there with our details.
“We were strong on sticks in the d-zone, trying to move the puck up the ice as fast as we could to try and create some chances in their end – and I think we did that.
“They have a lot of speed and had a lot of puck possession, but I thought we did a good job of keeping them to the outside and Bownsy (Ben Bowns) stood on his head.”
GB are not in action tomorrow but face Denmark on Tuesday (14:15 UK face-off).
“We will just build on each performance now and that was a great step in the right direction,” added Duggan.
“A very important thing is our character and willingness to block shots.
“We just battle out there as much as we can and give everything we can in each situation.”
Photo credit: Dean Woolley.