Great Britain beat Netherlands 4-1 to set-up a chance of a medal at the Under-20 World Championship Division II Group A in Zagreb.
Alfie Jefferis retained his position in between the pipes with the line-up unchanged from their victory over China the previous day.
GB were immediately on the attack as the puck was dropped with Jack Clarke winning possession near the right face-off circle, allowing Billy Thorpe to take an early shot from just inside the blueline but his effort was met by the chest of Thijs Kivits.
The intensity from Great Britain didn’t relent as Connor Lee took the puck around the net, setting-up Thorpe who was denied once more, before Finn Bradon wheeled the puck down the left-hand side, beating his man and trying a shot from a tight angle, but Kivits blocked the shot with his pads.
Jefferis made a huge save with four minutes in the period to play, followed by Sam Lyne going close at the other end, but both netminders stood tall and the period ended goalless.
It was much of the same as the game restarted for the second period with good pressure from GB, but still no goals, despite a powerplay opportunity.
Bradon tried to set Lyne up for a backdoor tap-in whilst GB had the player advantage and the captain then tried himself with a shot from distance that almost rebounded into the path of Lyne again, but to no avail.
The Netherlands killed-off the penalty and then went on an attack of their own and broke the deadlock with a shot from Bryan Wendijk going in off the post (29:40).
Grubb’s side responded quickly as they went on the powerplay and Jacob White-Sey utilised the man advantage and scored the equaliser (31:52). Brodie Kay passed to his partner in defence to record his fourth assist of the tournament and White-Sey made no mistake with a shot across the netminder and into the roof of the net.
The momentum increased as Britain looked for another goal with Joe Lynch firing a powerful shot from out in front before Bradon tried to beat Kivits on his left, and GB were eventually rewarded for their efforts with two quick goals.
Just seven seconds into the powerplay, Brynley Capps’ shot squeezed through the tightest of gaps, beating the netminder short-side off the post to give GB the lead (35:26).
Clarke gave GB a two-goal lead when he tapped home the rebound from Kyle Carruth’s shot just 37 seconds later (36:03).
The intensity continued from GB in the third session as they looked to add further goals to their tally,
GB captain Finn Bradon scored his first goal of the tournament to make it 4-1 and seal the victory. The forward cut in-front of the net and fired a powerful shot rippling into the back of the net (51:22).
After a rest day tomorrow, Great Britain will play their final game of the tournament on Sunday against Romania.
Great Britain schedule and results
Monday 6th January: Great Britain 1-3 Croatia
Tuesday 7th January: Lithuania 6-1 Great Britain
Thursday 9th January: Great Britain 4-3 China
Friday 10th January: Netherlands 1 -4 Great Britain
Sunday 12th January: Great Britain v Romania 12:30 (11:30 GMT) – watch on a webcast
