Great Britain surprises Ukraine
17 Apr 2011 | Henrik Lundqvist
Great Britain managed to beat the host Ukraine 5-3 in Kyiv on the first day of the World Championship Div. I. Kazakhstan beat Estonia 5-1 and Poland beat Lithuania, also by 5-1.
17
Apr 2011, 13:30 | Regular season | Palace
of Sports Kyiv |
Estonia |
1:5 |
Kazakhstan |
Periods: Shots: |
0:2 (4:17) |
1:1 (9:9) |
0:2 (5:11) | |
Referees: Ruud van Baast
(NED) | Spectators: 1602 |
The championship started with an easy win for Kazakhstan against Estonia. 5-1 was the final score after goals by Polischuk, Krasnoslobodtsev, Dudarev, Zhailauov and Starchenko. Makrov scored the Estonian goal.
17
Apr 2011, 17:00 | Regular season | Palace
of Sports Kyiv |
Lithuania |
1:5 |
Poland |
Periods: Shots: |
1:2 (4:11) |
0:2 (8:11) |
0:1 (8:9) | |
Referees: Jan Hribik
(CZE) | Spectators: 2813 |
Poland also won the opening game 5-1 against Lithuania. The Polish team scored 3 goals in 7 power-play opportunities.
17
Apr 2011, 20:30 | Regular season | Palace
of Sports Kyiv |
Great Britain |
5:3 |
Ukraine |
Periods: Shots: |
0:1 (6:10) |
3:2 (7:13) |
2:0 (8:4) | |
Referees: Richard Schuetz
(GER) | Spectators: 5892 |
The big surprise of the day was Great Britain's 5-3 win against the host Ukraine in front of 5892 fans. Colin Shields scored 4-3 for the Britons 3 minutes into the last period and Jonathon Phillips added another goal ten minutes later. the Ukrainian team only managed to fire 4 shots on goal in the third period.
"We had a lot of respect for Ukraine," said the 2-goal scorer David Clarke to iihf.com. "That helped us as the game went along. It's a high standard here. Once we found our feet, I thought we made a good account of ourselves."