Assistant Coach Chuck Weber says Great Britain can build on their performance against Switzerland in their final four games of this year’s World Championship in Prague.
After defeats by Canada (4-2) and Finland (8-0), GB were beaten 3-0 last night by the world’s number seven seeds Switzerland at the O2 Arena.
GB were outshot 14-2 in the first period as they went to the first intermission two goals down, but they created good chances for the rest of the game although they were unable to beat Swiss netminder Akira Schmid.
“Switzerland pushed hard in the first period but I loved our response,” said Weber. “There are a lot of great things to build on.
“I love this group’s resiliency, love their ability to take coaching and execute coaching. We made some subtle adjustments, especially in the second half of the game and I am proud of the way they handled those adjustments.
“I think the biggest thing is we are getting chances, but we are just not finishing our chances. We still have opportunities to do some great things, but we know we have things to work on.”
GB have no action today before facing Denmark on Friday and completing the group stage with matches against Czechia, Norway and Austria.
Weber continued: “We talked about this tournament being a building process with this group and I think you can see the positive steps we took, especially in the second and third period.
“This is a long tournament and we still have a lot of hockey ahead of us. I think we have better games ahead of us.”
Weber was first part of the GB coaching staff at the Division I Group B tournament in Zagreb in 2016 and returned for last year’s gold-medal success in Division I Group A in Nottingham.
“It’s been fantastic,” he added. “This is something that has been a goal of mine for a long time, ever since Pete gave me the first call to help the team in Croatia.
“The biggest thing for me is doing whatever I can to help this group, support Pete, Corey and Euan and help give these guys the best opportunity we can to stay up.”
Great Britain World Championship schedule and results
Saturday 11th May – Great Britain 2-4 Canada – Goals: Liam Kirk, Ben O’Connor
Sunday 12th May – Finland 8-0 Great Britain
Wednesday 15th May – Switzerland 3-0 Great Britain
Friday 17th May – Great Britain v Denmark – 16:20 (15:20 UK)
Saturday 18th May – Czechia v Great Britain – 20:20 (19:20 UK)
Monday 20th May – Great Britain v Norway – 16:20 (15:20 UK)
Tuesday 21st May – Austria v Great Britain – 12:20 (11:20 UK)
