Great Britain shine on Nagano ice

Great Britain defeated Poland 8-0 and Estonia beat Slovakia 2-0 on the final day of group play at the IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships B-Pool. 13 Mar 2013

Gary Farmer of Great Britain

ⒸMoto Yoshimura

By IPC

The gold and bronze-medal games will then be played on Saturday (16 March). The top three finishers from the Championships will keep their hopes alive for Sochi 2014 by advancing to the Paralympic Qualification Tournament.

Great Britain put on a dominating performance on Wednesday (13 March) at the 2013 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships B-Pool in Nagano, Japan, with an 8-0 victory over Poland to guarantee themselves a spot in the semi-finals.

Matthew Clarkson led the British squad to their first win at the Championships with three goals to his name, while Gary Farmer found the net twice. Karl Nicholson, Ian Warner and Tyler Christopher also recorded goals for Great Britain.

British goalie Robin Gaze saved all three pucks that came his way in the net, while Poland’s Andrzej Mlynarczyk saved 33 of 41 shots.

In the day’s first game, Estonia defeated Slovakia 2-0, as both Kaido Kalm and Ivar Liiv found the net for the winning side in the second period. Kalm scored at the 1:04 mark off an assist from Tarmo Eerma and Rasmus Penno, and Liiv hit one in nearly six minutes later off a pass from Eerma.

Estonia outshot Slovakia 24-6 en route to their first victory at the Championships, as Urmo Voogla saved all six shots that came his way. Slovakia’s Miroslav Pastucha recorded 22 saves in the net for Slovakia.

The teams will have Thursday (14 March) off before resuming play on Friday (15 March) for the semi-finals and fifth-place game.

Poland will challenge Slovakia for fifth place at 10:30 local time. Then, Great Britain will face Germany at 14:00 in the first semi-final, followed by Japan against Estonia in the second semi-final at 17:30.

The gold and bronze-medal games will then be played on Saturday (16 March). The top three finishers from the Championships will keep their hopes alive for Sochi 2014 by advancing to the Paralympic Qualification Tournament.

To stay up to date on the Championships throughout the week, please visit www.icesledgehockeyworldspoolb.org. You can also follow the action on Twitter at @IPCISH and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/IceSledgeHockey.