Great Britain Under-18s have been relegated from Division I Group B of the World Championship as Hungary Under-18s beat Japan Under-18s 5-3 in the tournament’s final game.
GB lost 3-1 to Italy Under-18s at lunchtime and such was the closeness of the group, victory would’ve meant a bronze medal for Martin Grubb’s side.
Despite picking up four points from their five matches, it means GB are relegated to Division II Group A of the World Championship structure.
Hungary’s victory sees them secure bronze, while Japan go up with the gold medal and Austria U18s take home the silver.
Bradley Bowering was named as GB’s player of the tournament, while Kieran Brown took home the Great Britain Supporters’ Club award.
Grubb said: “It is gutting to get four points from the tournament but still be relegated.
“We had some great moments in this tournament and obviously some down times, but one thing I will say is that everyone gave it their all.
“I think it would have been easier to take if we had been beaten heavily every game, but we proved we can play at this level and it was all about small margins and finding a way to win.
“In other years, four points would normally be enough but we have to move on from this and start to plan for next year.
“We have some talented players in the programme and there is no reason why we can’t bounce back next season.”
Earlier in the day, Brown hit the pipes for GB on the first shift before Italy went down the other end and scored through Giorgio Panciera after only 44 seconds.
Brown’s one-timer on a five-on-three powerplay saw GB draw level (15:12) at the first intermission.
Gio Rosa’s deflected shot was the only goal of the second period (36:29) and Moritz Selva scored on the powerplay in the final session (54:01) to win the game for Italy.