Great Britain began their IIHF Women’s European Cup of Nations campaign with a 5-2 defeat against Poland in Sosnowiec.

Four players – Megan Burton and Ameilia Williams on defence along with forwards Nora Egri and Milly Thulbourne – made their GB debuts.

Nicole Jackson started between the pipes with Emma Nichols as back-up.

Adams on target in even first period
Jackson made good early saves to deny Wiktoria Sikorska and Anna Kot.

GB took the lead when Egri set-up Louise Adams in the left-circle who fired near-side past Nadia Ratajczyk (12:53).

Karolina Późniewska equalised for the hosts as she stepped out from behind the net and fired across Jackson into the right-hand corner (16:24).

Poland score three in second session
Jackson made an outstanding pad save to turn away Małgorzata Zakrzewska’s effort from close-range in the opening stages of the second period.

Kot’s shot from the left-circle was deflected past Jackson by Ida Talanda as Poland took the lead for the first time (23:58).

Poland scored a third only 77 seconds later when Sikorska burst clear of the GB defence after picking up the puck in the neutral zone (25:15).

The home side netted a fourth through Małgorzata Zakrzewska’s shot from the left-circle on the powerplay (30:33).

Endrizzi-Faulkes scores first GB goal
Patrycja Sfora’s shot from the right-circle deflected past Jackson as Poland scored their fifth (44:00).

GB finished strong as Katherine Gale went coast-to-coast and went close to scoring GB’s second.

Jodie Alderson-Smith’s pass from behind the net deflected into the path of Jamie Endrizzi-Faulkes to score from the slot for her first GB goal (51:01).

Spain next for Great Britain
GB are back in action tomorrow (Friday 16th October) with a game against Spain.

All GB matches from the tournament are being broadcast live at gbicehockey.tv

GB schedule and results
Thursday 15th October: Poland 5-2 Great Britain
Friday 16th October: Great Britain v Spain 15:00 face-off (14:00 BST)
Saturday 17th October: Slovenia v Great Britain 13:00 face-off (12:00 BST)