LONDON,U.K- Great Britain’s Ice Hockey team begins its quest to make the 2010 Winter Olympics this week. Team GB (as they are known) will play against Poland, Japan, and Romania at a pre-qualification tournament for the right to qualify in February 2009 for the real deal in Vancouver.
Team GB has not been represented at an Olympic ice hockey tournament since 1948. In the past, its teams have often been made up of mostly Canadians in possession of British passports.
However, this year’s team is made up of almost entirely British born and trained players. That’s partly why GB Head Coach Paul Thompson described Olympic qualification success as “the biggest thing ever for British ice hockey” when I spoke to him before making the trip to Poland for the upcoming tournament.
“Our aim is to qualify for the Olympics” explained Thompson. “We’re under no illusions and realise it’s going to be a tough ask, we have to progress from this tournament first by winning it, but someone’s got to qualify so it might as well be us. Poland, Japan, and Romania are ranked above us, but we’ve had good results against them recently,” Thompson said.
Team GB is on paper the underdog. However, it hammered Romania 6-1 and beat Japan 4-3 in 2007. It also forced a highly-rated Polish team to beat them on penalty shots earlier this year. There has been a clear progression under Paul Thompson, who has a real belief in the quality within his squad.
“I think this is the best group of forwards I’ve had to work with during my time as GB coach, we have great speed up front and high energy throughout our team and there is no doubt in my mind we can skate with these teams in Poland,” Thompson said
“We have to play a smart transition game to exploit our speed and we’ve shown we can score on the powerplay at this level, the key for us will be to play as much 5 on 5 and powerplay hockey as possible. It’s zero tolerance refereeing and at the last world championships we had to kill a lot of penalties,” Thompson said “We can’t afford those to creep into our game this time.”
The return of Steve Thornton (one of only two players brought up outside of the UK) and Colin Shields (who missed the last world championships through injury) has not only been a major boost to the squad, but also ensures Team GB has a genuine scoring depth, which is so important at international level.
Thompson is clearly delighted to be able to call on their experience and firepower; “They’re difference-makers and also a calming influence, we’re thrilled to have Thornton back. It’s long overdue and we welcome him back with open arms. Shields has performed consistently well throughout his career,” Thompson said
“We’ve also got a lot of young talent, these guys will take us forward in years to come and it’s important we keep improving, because they have a bright future ahead of them.”
Achieving that continued progression to allow the best possible opportunities for that talent to flourish will be the hard part. Team GB are the only squad to go without an international break and Thompson will have to make do with an hour and a half with his team on the ice before its first match. It’s far from ideal, but it’s something Thompson remains pragmatic about.
“We have the only league that hasn’t broken up for the qualifiers, of course I’d like us to have a break, but we don’t have the money to allow it in the UK. You just have to accept it and get on with it. Ice Hockey UK (IHUK) has taken a lot of criticism, but they have given us tremendous support, a lot of which goes unnoticed,” Thompson said
“They’ve set up a programme for the National team and entrusted me to carry it out. They’ve let me get on with the job and deserve a big pat on the back and I have tremendous support from the staff. None of us are paid and we do it because we’re passionate about and believe in the potential of British hockey and these players.”
While still regarded as a minority sport in the UK, ice hockey can lay claim to being the country’s best supported indoor sport. While 10 years ago it was achieving bigger crowds, there is an air of sustainability about the GB national programme and to an extent the Elite League.
There are far more British born and trained players competing at the UK’s highest level, which can only be good for the future of the national team, and it is the success of Team GB which will ultimately deliver prosperity for the sport in the UK. The success of the British cycling programme is a terrific example of that.
Qualification for the 2010 Winter Olympics would raise the profile of hockey in the UK significantly. It would strengthen the case for funding and would no doubt lead to increased media coverage and sponsorship, which the game needs if it is to continue to develop and expand.
Hockey fans in the UK should not and will not get carried away with reaching the Olympics this time around, but it does feel as though the foundations are being put in place for GB hockey to enjoy a new era of relative prosperity at some point in the not so distant future. And, who knows? If Team GB was to progress to the final qualifying round the UK’s hockey community might just allow itself to dream of what might be.
I’m sure the players have had the occasional thought of what it would be like to step out onto the ice against Team Canada at General Motors Place in front of 20,000 people. So, why shouldn’t the fans? After all, they share a common dream to see this great game where it belongs in the makeup of British sport.
Contact the author at Aled.lloyd@prohockeynews.com
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