“Unbelievable” Great Britain promoted to ice hockey’s top tier

Great Britain have been promoted to the top division of the ice hockey World Championship after a stunning shootout victory over Hungary.

Team GB, who were only promoted to Division 1A last year, needed to take the game to overtime to claim the gold medal and secure promotion.

With 11 minutes remaining, Great Britain were two goals down before Robert Dowd reduced the deficit.

Ben Bowns needed to save a Janos Hari penalty shot to keep GB in the game and Robert Farmer bundled the puck in the net with just 15.8 seconds remaining to secure promotion.

After a goalless overtime period, Farmer and Ben O’Connor scored in the shootout to secure the extra point.

“We dared to dream and we did it. I just cannot believe it. This team is very special and what we have pulled off is absolutely unbelievable,” GB head coach Peter Russell told reporters.

“We did not give up and showed true British spirit to pull that one out of the bag. Our team work-rate was immense every single night and they dug deep to provide GB with one of our greatest-ever moments.

“I am so proud of every single one of them and we will now play the best teams in the world next year.”

GB had previously beaten Slovenia, Poland and Italy to finish two points clear at the top of the table.

Cover Photo: British flag (Union Jack) in Bangor by Iker Merodio used under license by CC BY-ND 2.0.