GB U20 Win Gold

Jordan Cownie netted two from two in the penalty shootout, including the sudden-death winner, as Great Britain’s U20 clinched the gold medal in Division 2A on Friday.

A dramatic afternoon at Tondiraba Icehall saw the game with Korea finish 4-4 after regulation time, and an additional five minutes of overtime could not produce a winner.

GB knew a win of any sort would be enough to secure gold, but Korea were in the mix for medals despite being sixth seed as the newly promoted team from last year’s Division 2B.

The speed of the Korean counter attack caused early problems for GB, and Korea took the lead just after three minutes as Hwang fired past Adam Goss. The sides traded penalties and GB tested goalie Kim but couldn’t find the net and the period ended with Korea a goal to the good.

As they had done before at the tournament, GB opened the middle session with a bang, netting the equaliser inside the first minute. Craig Moore’s pass out of defence put Lewis Hook into the Korea zone and he fed Bobby Chamberlain for the forward to rip the shot past Kim for the tying goal at 20.42.

Kim Dohyung restored the Korea lead less than four minutes later, left alone in the high slot and he made no mistake with his shot.

GB’s Chamberlain turned provider on 27.41 as he set up Lewis Hook for the second equaliser, Jordan Cownie with the secondary assist on the play.

After the sides again traded powerplay chances, GB took their first lead at 35.18 as Chamberlain bagged his second of the game and fourth of the week – Hook and Cownie again with the assists.

The last play of the second period saw captain Craig Moore binned for delaying the game after the net was dislodged in a scramble play. This was compounded as Alex Forbes was forced to sit for slashing early in the final frame, giving Korea a five on three powerplay.

Korea’s special teams made no mistake and tied the game for a third time at 41.35, Hwang netting his second of the night.

Back came Britain with a powerplay of their own and after patient buildup, Cownie’s shot was saved allowing Chamberlain the space to fire home and complete a memorable hat-trick, and GB were 4-3 ahead with eight minutes to play.

The Korean team continued to press and their perseverance was rewarded as Kim Sangwon won the puck behind GB net and was able to skate in front and squeeze the puck in on the shortside at 53.12.

Great Britain pressed for a late winner in regulation but time expired with the scores level. An additional period of five minutes sudden death overtime also could not provide a winner.

So the dramatic moved to the theatrical – a penalty shoot out. Jordan Cownie skated first for GB and scored low through the goalie’s five hole. Adam Goss denied the first Korean shooter, while Toms Rutkis was also denied with the first shot of round two.

Hwang Doo Hyun had scored twice in regulation, and he fired into the top corner to level the shootout after two rounds.

Sam Duggan fired over with GB’s third shot, before Goss again came up big to stop Kyoung Jun Seo and send the shootout to sudden death.

With the order reversed, Korea went first in the sudden death round, scorer Hwang skating for Korea. This time Adam Goss shut the door on the forward and setting the stage for Jordan Cownie’s daring, skilfull, dramatic finale.

Peter Russell spoke after the game, saying: “It’s a great achievement, this is a good bunch of people and it was the people power that got us through.

“It was probably our worst performance of the week but we found a way to win.

“It may have been nerves, they knew what was up for grabs, but two people came through and made something happen for us in the shootout.

“Adam Goss and Jordan Cownie are two of the oldest and our big game players and they came up big when it mattered.

“But it’s a team effort – everyone has played their part. The coaching, management and support staff have all played their part.

“We challenged the players to climb their Everest and they’ve done it. I couldn’t be any happier for them.”

Great Britain round off the tournament with a game against host nation Estonia on Saturday at 8pm local (6pm UK) after which they will be presented with their gold medals.