Pete Russell hails “massive moment” after Great Britain secures place in World Championship top tier

By The Newsroom
Published 20th May 2019, 22:43 BST
Updated 20th May 2019, 23:43 BST
Great Britain's team and staff after retaining place in the top tier of the IIHF World Championships with a 4-3 overtime win against France. Picture: Dean Woolley.Great Britain's team and staff after retaining place in the top tier of the IIHF World Championships with a 4-3 overtime win against France. Picture: Dean Woolley.
Great Britain's team and staff after retaining place in the top tier of the IIHF World Championships with a 4-3 overtime win against France. Picture: Dean Woolley.
PETE RUSSELL hailed a “massive moment” in UK ice hockey after his Great Britain team defied the odds to retain their place in the top tier of the World Championships.

An overtime winner from Ben Davies sealed a remarkable comeback for Russell’s team, overturning a 3-0 deficit to send opponents France back to the second tier for the first time since 2007.

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Davies’s skilful, back-handed goal, timed at 62.03, marked another landmark moment for Russell’s team, eclipsing last year’s achievement in Hungary when they won gold to become the first British line-up to be promoted to the top tier since 1994.

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“This is a massive moment for the team and a massive moment in British ice hockey,” said head coach Russell. “At 3-0 we did not panic. I looked at the guys in the timeout and I knew which team was winning this game. They knew they could still do it.

“What they have just achieved is the biggest thing in their career. They drew strength from what they did in Hungary a year ago.