GB Player by IPC Ice Sledge Hockey Logo
The GB Sledge Hockey team played very well against a very strong Japanese Host National team in their opening game of the 2013 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships (Pool B), being narrowly beaten by the current Paralympic silver medallists.
The team travelled to Japan with the intention of finishing in the top three in order to secure entry to the final qualification tournament for the 2014 Winter Paralympics games.
It was a fast-paced match, with Great Britain finding their stride rapidly holding the Host Nation team for the first period. The second period saw two well matched teams battling it out with Japan finding the back of the net on two occasions. A frantic third period saw both teams hungry to change the score line with both GB and Japan scoring one goal apiece.
Strong, dependable defensive players enabled GB to build momentum throughout the game, giving the attacking players a solid foundation going forward. This meant that Japan were restricted to 18 shots on goal with GB taking 17 shots on the Japanese keeper.
Andy Linton, Head Coach for GB Sledge Hockey, said:
“The team played really well today in the face of some really aggressive play from the Japanese national team. This is the first game of the group stage and realistically a win in the group stage should enable us to progress to the medal round”.
Team Captain Ian Warner, said:
“We are under no illusion that we face a big challenge to qualify for Sochi, and today was the first step and was as much about gaining experience against top quality competition as it was about securing a win. Given the quality in that team we faced out there, I thought we did really well and we can be positive about our next match.”
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