They don’t have to worry about the future! The Brits sent a team of young guns out of the elite division. Who will replace the Islanders?

Most of Norway’s goals at the current World Cup were scored by young players, so they don’t have to worry about their future in northern Europe. But the Brits have paid the price, as they are now a tier down after a year. Who will replace them?

Great Britain is once again falling out of the elite hockey division after a year. The island team, together with the next relegated Poland, will replace the Hungarian and Slovenian teams at the next championship in Sweden and Denmark. This was decided by a 5:2 loss to the Norwegians.

“We went into this game thinking we could get some points, but we didn’t have a good first period. That buried us. But we didn’t hang our heads, we tried to get back into the game,” British captain Robert Dowd told the IIHF website.

The fight for salvation really didn’t start well for Scottish coach Peter Russell ‘s charges. In the thirteenth minute they were already down by three goals and the dream of their participation in another elite World Championship started to fade away.

Relief came from the young scorers

“We are a dynamic team. We just needed to find some faith in ourselves and put some shots on goal. We created a lot of chances, we skated a lot. But we didn’t finish the goals from the first period,” said Cardiff forward Ben Davies.

The Norwegians, who will play among the elite for the nineteenth consecutive year, can celebrate. Nevertheless, it is a disappointment for the young and promising Nordic team, because before the championship there was talk of an attack of the top eight.

“It’s a big relief. We came to Prague with a dream of the quarter-finals, but in the end we played a relegation match. But we knew what was at stake. We wanted to put pressure on the British right from the start and find a way to beat them,” said Patrick Thoresen.

The Norwegians have to be happy about the little things. According to IIHF statistics, 12 of their 15 goals at the championship were scored by players under 25. So they shouldn’t have to worry about their hockey future in Norway.

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