Great Britain’s Men’s Under 18 coach Martin Grubb insists his team will take the positives from their opening World Championship game, losing 3-2 to Slovenia.
It was a performance that had much to be happy about, but it was a game that ended in a disappointing outcome as they look to bounce back against Japan on Monday.
But Grubb preferred to accentuate the plus points from the game, where they outshot the top seeds by almost two-to-one.
“We’re obviously disappointed to lose the game and it shows that you get punished for making little mistakes at this level so we need to make sure we learn from that,” he said.
“We proved we can compete in this division and we will regroup and take the positives from the game – and be ready to bring the same level of performance against Japan.
WATCH: Full game action as GB take on Slovenia in their opening World Championship game
“I thought we played really well against the top-seeded team who had just came down from 1A and I felt we dominated for long spells.”
Miha Krmelj put Slovenia in front just past the midway point of the first period on the powerplay, but GB couldn’t find a way past Val Usnik despite putting 14 shots on him.
Britain got the equaliser they deserved when Alex Graham scored his first goal for his country on his debut (to ensure the game was tied at the second break.
Krmelj nabbed his second on 48 minutes before GB hit back again through defenceman Ed Bradley just over a minute into a powerplay five minutes later.
But there was a late twist as Slovenia won the game with a little over two minutes remaining with Luka Vodlan netting to clinch the points, consigning Grubb’s team to an opening defeat.
