2006 Gold Medal for GB
Great Britain 6-5 Hungary
16th July, Division One Final, 2006 IIHF In-Line World Championships, Hungary
Great Britain were crowned champions of Division One of the International Ice Hockey Federation’s In-Line World Championships for the second time in three years after a magnificent comeback against tournament host’s Hungary.
A John Dolan hat-trick and goals from Andrew Skelding, Player coach Andrew Sillitoe and Simon Hehir helped GB to a 6-5 win after at one stage trailing 3-0 after just three minutes of play.
As they have done throughout the tournament, GB battled adversity with player determination and passion shining through amongst a young team. In this game, the prospect of playing in front of a large crowd live on national television seemed to have got the better of the team and a nervous start and several unforced errors contributed to Hungary taking a three goal lead in under three minutes. Tamas Lencses, Csaba Deak and Andras Kordisz all broke through against a shellshocked James Tanner in the GB net. However as has been traditional in this tournament GB were unwavering. Tanner recovered to make several impact saves and after five minutes Scotland’s John Dolan scored on the powerplay to bring the British back into contention.
In the second period a Skelding breakaway made it 2-3 as the British began to dominate in their attempts to get back in the game. At 13:38 it was 3-3 with Dolan scoring once more from a point slapshot on the powerplay before Norbert Buzas’ goal gave the Hungarians the lead once more. GB rallied and at 31:58 after a dreadful giveaway, John Dolan broke in on goal alone to score his third goal of the game, his thirteenth of the tournament and tie the game again.
In the fourth period the British asserted more pressure and the shot count rattled up with the Brits outshooting the hosts by a ratio of two to one however all the good work of the Lions looked to have gone to waste as against the run of play Szappanos scored to give the Hungarians the lead with just two and a half minutes to play.
At this point up stepped Sillitoe in his first tournament as GB player coach to break on the wing and beat the Hungarian goalie fivehole to tie the game for an unbelievable third time at 46:13. With the British rejoicing the Hungarians were visibly shocked and when another giveaway in their own zone let in Dolan who won the puck and fed team captain Simon Hehir, he hit a slapshot that beat the goalie from the point with just 46 seconds to play.
As time counted down Hungary pulled their goalie but with Chris Colegate exceptional in the face-off circle in the dying minute the Hungarians failed to create a decent chance. The buzzer sounded to herald the championship win, the second Division One title for GB in three years having won gold in 2004 and bronze in 2005.
“This team faces adversity and never gives up,” said a euphoric Sillitoe after the game. “I’m proud of every player because they showed the kind of spirit you expect from our nation. I don’t think our heads ever went down and that’s what you get from this group of players.”
Sillitoe paid tribute to former coach Mark Cavallin who left the team at the turn of the year to take a job as a coach with a professional ice hockey team in Italy. “We have some fantastic players in this setup and this team has grown thanks to some tremendous work behind the scenes, and especially due to the influence of Cavvy…. He taught us the systems and we have grown from there. He gave us belief in our ability and we want to thank him for everything he has done”
GB Manager Dave Hawkins paid tribute to Cavallin’s replacement Sillitoe, the thirty year old star of the British inline scene.
“Andrew is an exceptional player and he is already showing he is an exceptional coach,” said Hawkins. “We have a fantastic group of people working for this team and a massive amount of credit goes to Andrew’s Assistant Coach Jon (Maw) and guys like Equipment Manager John Crawley. With Andrew playing, Jon (Maw) has assumed responsibility for coaching in the games and demonstrated that this is a programme with even greater potential…We’re proud of all of our players and they deserve everything they have achieved this year.”
Twenty-five year old Scottish born forward John Dolan was named Division One’s Most Valuable Player for the second time in his career. Dolan won the award for best forward in 2004 and in 2006, his thirteen goals and twenty-one points in seven games left him clear at the top of the scoring charts. GB’s all time record scorer Dolan now has forty-one goals and seventy-seven points in twenty-six games, some twenty four points ahead of his nearest active rival.
GB Player of the Game: #16 John Dolan
Tournament MVP: John Dolan (Great Britain)
Statistics and images available on www.inline2006.hu
[Back]
|
