Great Britain Roster

2000

Asst Coach

World Championships, Pool B – 2000 in Poland.

Venues – Katowice

Great Britain’s’ attempt at leaving Pool B in Katowice Poland for Pool A once again proved to be a just-out-of reach Holy Grail. And as in previous years, it was a final day defeat that condemned GB to at least one further year in the second stream of international hockey, although as you will read had early game results been better, so might the eventual outcome.

There can however, be little criticism of the effort put in by the players – after all, seven international games in the space of ten days is a tall order by any stretch of the imagination. And given the perennial lack of pre-departure training and preparation time, it becomes even more apparent that time and money need to be channelled specifically towards the National Team programme.

GB coach Peter Woods went into the tourney missing some key players – netminder Stevie Lyle was injured, as was Darren ‘Doc’ Durdle on the blue line while some others decided against joining the squad mostly for personal reasons. Thirty-three year old Glenn Mulvenna from Newcastle Riverkings debuted in the national jersey and proved to be a capable addition to the defence. All in all 10 of the 22-man roster were British, as against dual nationals, which became 11 when Jonathon Weaver joined the team from the Mississippi Sea Wolves in the East Coast Hockey League.

GB’s account opened with a 6-5 loss to Estonia, Merv Priest opening the scoring but, from that 2^nd minute point, GB were always behind on the scoreboard and chasing the game. Netminder Jimmy Hibbert aggravated a back injury midway through the game and subsequently returned home. This left veteran Wayne Cowley and the untested at international level, Joe Watkins of Basingstoke to shoulder the goaltending duties and with the benefit of hindsight, had Watkins been given the chance earlier than he was (Game 3 vs Netherlands), who is to say what might have been.

With Hibbert sidelined, Cowley took over between the pipes for Game Two against Slovenia and after again taking the lead through the first of a brace from Scott Young, it was left to captain Stevie Moria to save GB’s blushes as he bagged a 55^th minute game-tying goal as the two sides fought out a 3-3 draw. Both the opening games had seen GB comfortably outshoot their opponents but fail to make the most of their chances – again with the benefit of hindsight, the loss of three points in the opening two games was to prove extremely costly.

Game Three saw GB take to ice against a Netherlands side including Superleague players Dave Livingston (Manchester) and Mark Bultje (London). The Dutch, newly promoted from Pool C, were not expected to overly test the GB boys and so it proved, as the game was very much one-way traffic. Rick Brebant bagged a hat-trick in a nine-nil romp but, the real star of the show was debutante Joe Watkins who recorded a 29-shot shut-out – coincidentally, the first clean sheet for GB in seven years.

Game Four saw GB take on the host nation Poland, fresh from their victory over much-fancied Germany. Scott Young again helped himself to a brace of goals as GB put on a sterling show to beats the Poles 6-4. Tony Hand with a goal and three assists played another excellent game but the seemingly nerveless Watkins was voted Man of the Match. Making 37 saves from the 41 shots he faced, the Durham-born goalie was simply outstanding and the confidence he inspired in the team sent them into Game Five against Denmark in great heart.

The Danes though got off to a flyer going 3-0 up with just over seven minutes played. Peter Woods sensibly used his Timeout to remind his team of their defensive duties – it worked as just 11 seconds later Steve Moria scored the first of an impressive treble. Probably the most entertaining game GB had played for a few years ebbed and flowed before Paul Adey smote his second of the game, the game-winner, to put the squad in with a great chance of promotion. It wasn’t all good news though as Scott Young had played his last game of the tournament, succumbing to a recurrent back injury. The loss of the flame-haired veteran left GB with only four recognised defencemen with tough games against Kazakhstan and Germany still to play.

The game against the Kazakhs was a dour affair, not that the nature of the game mattered as much as the result. Goals from Ashley Tait, David Longstaff and Merv Priest put GB three up late in the game with Watkins again looking for a shut-out. The youngster was denied his second clean sheet in four appearances as late as 58.52 as Filatov netted the Kazakhs consolation strike.

Game Seven though proved to be the game too far for the tiring GB squad. Having recovered from the disappointing start to the tourney, GB went up against a fitter, stronger, faster, younger and better incentivised German team, and this time not even the heroics of Watkins could save them from defeat. After a scoreless opening session, the youngster later acclaimed as Netminder of the Tournament was beaten five times in the last forty minutes, although at least two of the German goals came courtesy of rather fortuitous bounces.

A tournament that began disappointingly ended in heroic failure as GB finished third, but the emergence of Joe Watkins proved that given the opportunity true British talent can live with the best that at least Europe can offer. Joe ‘Cool’ as he was christened finished with impressive statistics from his first sortie onto the international stage…

Notable quotes from the GB squad.

“When guys don’t really want to go, they’ll find a reason.”

Peter Woods on the ‘personal reasons’ cited by players who didn’t go to Poland.

“I’ve got friends who said, ‘why bother playing, there’s no money’. Other teams players were on huge incentives to win just one game – they laugh at us, look at us and ask, ‘why do you bother?”

GB Captain Steve Moria on the £15 a day payment for representing the country. 

“As long as we win the rest of our games, we can still take the gold.”

Peter Woods after the opening game loss to Estonia.

“We won four very important games and I honestly thought, overall it was a big success.”

Steve Moria on the seven game schedule.

“I felt I could play at this level, but it was still the most nerve-wracking time I’ve ever had.”

GB netminder Joe Watkins following his debut against the Netherlands.

“David Clarke will be a fixture in this programme in a couple of years. He’s a skilled player, works hard, a good skater – this type of hockey is suited to him.”

Peter Woods on the 18-year old Peterborough starlet.

“I don’t think we had any player that let us down, regardless of country of origin. But, we got some great mileage out of Ashley Tait, while David Longstaff played well.”Peter Woods on the overall performance of the squad.