The dream vanishes again at the last gasp

A year after the hoax of Eindhoven, Great Britain sees again the promotion to Division Ia escaping in the last game and again against an Eastern European team, from Lithuania to Ukraine. British team arrives at decisive game with two points more than Ukraine and the option of a victory in the regular time or even a defeat at overtime. But once again coach Roussell squad shows a lack of character and cold blood when it’s necessary. On the other side this hard-earned could not be enough for Ukraine, surprisingly defeated for the first ever time by Lithuania yesterday, that now have to cheers for Croatia tonight to gain promotion

Before the game some voices from both teams motivate the players . “We will do whatever it takes to win the gold medal,” said forward Robert Farmer to stress the importance of this game for Great Britain “We want to take all the good things we have done this week into the game.”

“We didn’t use our qualities in the game against Lithuania and they deserved to win. Now the hunt for gold medal is more complicated but we have another chance and I’m sure we won’t waste it” commented Ukraine coach Aleksandr Savitsky before this decisive clash

Rosters are completed with Ben Bowns and Eduard Zakharchenko in the net. The first chance is for Britain, when the shot of Jonathan Phillips passes Zakharchenko to be swept from the goal line by Toltushko: Ukraine raise up the pressure with the first superiority threatening Bowns with shots from the distance, all controlled by the goalie. Britain is more dangerous in its first power play  giving extra work for Zakharchenko, with Boxill – missing the net from a favourable spot – and Mosey – shot deflected with the mask even if generally the game is very tactical with both teams careful not to leave too much space to the opponent. The equilibrium stands until minute 21:54 when a missile by Jonathan Phillips passes through skates and sticks in front of the cage to plane in the net after hitting the post. A penalty called to Oleg Shafarenko limits the immediate reaction of Ukraine, however able to produce a great chance at minute 29 when Bondariev misses the net in a 2 vs 1 situation, opening the doors to a five minutes of intense but fruitless pressure around Bowns cage. In the third period, Britain seems to control the game when suddenly Ukraine ties the score at 44:25 with a deflection of Dimitri Chernychenko surprising Bowns maybe with the visual not clear.

Ukraine celebrating the first goal

At 53 Cowley has a great chance but shoots on Zakharchenko after a good recover by Clarke, while at 56 Bowns jumps on the puck to anticipate Shafarenko after a rebound. The turning point came at 56:04 with a nice wrap-around of Shafarenko: the Yunost Minsk forward serves the puck in the front of the cage, no-one is ready for the deflection but on the opposite side Aleksandr Pobodenostev takes the wondering puck beating in the angle Bowns for the explosion of few Ukrainian fans in the stands and the desperation of 400 British fans. Earning a decisive power play in the last two minutes, Ukraine has two more chances with Blagoy and Toltushko, both missing the last deflection. Roussell desperately pull the goalie for the final assault but Ukrainian fort resists earning a deserved victory, giving incredibly a golden chance to Lithuania for the gold medal, if the Baltic will win against Croatia. Britain see once again the promotion escaping in the last game

Game is over!

MVP: Eduard Zakharchenko - Steven Lee

Ukraine Best Player of the Tournament: Artem Gnidenko

Great Britain Best Player of the Tournament: Jonathan Phillips