Team GB take Japan in historic hockey win

GB’s talented National Ice Hockey team topped their group en route for a hopeful place in the 2014 Winter Olympics Games in Sochi after a thrilling 2-1 victory over host nation Japan in the first pre-qualifying round.

It is possibly the biggest result in the GB squad’s history since their famous victory in the 1936 Olympic Games gold medal result in Germany. The team is a talent-led, well-knitted unit and certainly received a ‘Giant’ helping hand from Belfast.

In the final ‘winner-takes-all’ matchup in this round against the host nation, GB jumped into a two-goal lead first from Belfast’s top scorer Craig Peacock then another Giants scouted player Ben O’Connar.

During the third period Japan pulled a goal back through Shuhei Kuji in a thrilling comeback attempt however Stephen Murphy slammed the goalmouth gate closed tight and the team stood firm to take the famous win. This allowed the GB outfit one further throw of the dice towards the Winter Olympics final qualifying stage in February 2013.

In the opening game they collected a point from a 5-4-overtime loss against Korea where Craig Peacock, and former Belfast player Colin Shields scored in a losing cause. Good teams always learn from their mistakes and GB made no exception to that saying by coming back strong against Romania.

All three of GB’s goal scorers had Giants history with Leigh Jamieson leading the charge netting the opening and winning goal followed by Ben O’Connar followed with Robert Dowd completing the scoring. Stephen Murphy gained his 50th International Cap together with a 17 shot hat trick along the way.

The former Belfast Coach, Tony Hand had this to say after the final game.

“This is a huge moment in the history of British ice hockey. I am so, so, proud of every one of these guys. We have proved we can compete at this level and now we want to prove we can compete at a higher level.

Every single player played their heart out and we did this with talent and determination. No one should under-estimate how much this means to British ice hockey. It is massive. We are one step away from Sochi 2014 and now get to test ourselves against some of the world’s best hockey nations.”

A veteran in the GB squad, David Longstaff, celebrated his 100th GB cap. Stephen Murphy, Matthew Myers and Jonathan Phillips all won their 50th cap on a memorable afternoon in Japan.

Head Coach, Tony Hand commented further, “All the guys played their hearts out with man-of-the-match performances all over the ice. We are all so pleased for David Longstaff. It was fantastic to get a win to mark his 100th cap.” Longstaff was presented with a special GB shirt and glass plaque before the game.

Doug Christiansen had this to say. “ I thought Stephen Murphy was outstanding. The Romanian team was very familiar to me and the other Giants on Team GB with 18 of their 25 players coming from our Continental Cup opponents, HSC Csikszereda. We were worth our win as we played hard and we earned the three points.

Mark Garside and Craig Peacock have been outstanding for us so far along with Stephen Murphy. David Phillips is a massive part of our penalty kill and has been strong against the other teams top lines,” finished Christiansen.

The team ran like clockwork as Jason Ellery, the Giants equipment manager looked after the squads needs in that department. Team GB won the group and move on to final qualifying at Riga, Latvia, on February 7th to 10th 2013, with the opposition being Latvia, France and Kazakhstan.

(Main image: Sei Uchigasaki)

• Belfast Giants resume play on the weekend of Saturday the 24th of November when they host the Edinburgh Capitals in the Odyssey Arena Saturday night.