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Great Britain surpasses historic milestone, but won’t appear at next year’s World Cup
Great Britain is one of the dwarfs in the hockey world, but at this year’s World Cup it showed that it is growing. They have beaten several favourites and at the end of Group A they scored their first ever win by beating Austria.
Great Britain is one of the dwarfs in the hockey world, but at this year’s World Cup it showed that it is growing. They have beaten several favourites and at the end of Group A they scored their first ever win by beating Austria.
Great Britain have troubled the favourites but have fallen every time
The British started the 2024 World Cup against the Canadian team. From a hockey perspective, it was supposed to be a David and Goliath battle, but the underdog showed that they are not afraid of the favourite.
The British asserted themselves at the very beginning of the game, however, a coach challenge cancelled out their goal. The second goal was already valid, and so the Great Britain hockey team led over Canada. In the end they lost 2: 4, but they showed the hockey world that they do not want to be outnumbered at the World Cup.
Against Finland and Switzerland they had no claim to a good result, but against Denmark they kept a promising score for a long time. After two periods, the game was tied 3:3, but in the final period the Danes made the decisive move. They lost to the Czech Republic 1:4.
The penultimate match in the group pitted Great Britain against Norway. The clash between the last and the penultimate team was to show who would stay in the elite group for the World Championship. Here, the Brits pulled the short end of the stick and fell in a final score of 2:5.
A farewell to the record and motivation for next year
Britain’s last performance against Austria was to be a farewell not only to the tournament but also to the elite group for the World Championships. Great Britain had no chance to hold on, while Austria needed a win to have a chance to advance to the quarter-finals.
However, the relegated Brits did not let the Austrians get away with anything and played them evenly in the first period. They even outshot their opponents in the second period and won 4:2 on aggregate.
It was the first time in the history of Great Britain that it won the World Cup by three points. So it was a nice farewell to the tournament and gave her motivation for next year. After all, the pumped-up hockey players are keen to fight their way back into the elite group for the World Cup.
Source: IIHF, Youtube
