Two goals in the first three minutes of the final period gave Norway a 2-1 win over Great Britain at Nottingham’s National Ice Centre on Tuesday night.

Norway had the better of the early exchanges, but it was GB who took the lead in the 11th minute through Robert Farmer (above).

The middle session was GB’s best of the night – matching Norway with 11 shots apiece and arguably edging the scoring chances.

Great Britain’s best chance came just over three minutes into the period. Liam Kirk was hooked while driving towards the net, and when referee Martin De Wilde blew the play down he awarded Britain a penalty shot.

Kirk took the chance himself and went forehand-backhand, but Norway goalie Lars Volden got across the crease to cover the shot and keep the score at 1-0.

Norway had three powerplays including nearly a minute of five-on-three, but Bowns and the penalty-killing unit kept the visitors at bay and the second period ended with Britain still 1-0 ahead.

Norway finally broke GB’s resistance early in the final session, with Sondre Olden and Markus Soberg making to 2-1 by the 43 minute mark.

GB had chances to tie the game, but Volden stood firm to secure the win for the visitors.

Head Coach Pete Russell said: “It was a fast game, played in good spirit and we played really well.

“We’ve had the younger players coming in – I thought Kirk and Duggan were fantastic. The older players were great with them, it’s a positive environment around the team.

“We made a couple of small mistakes at the start of period three and they’re a good team and took advantage.

“I think we rebounded from that and pressured looking for an equaliser.

“The core of the team have been with us since we took over a year and a half ago and we’ve developed good habits and our style of play and passion is there.

“It was a really good performance and I enjoyed it.”

The two teams meet again on Wednesday at Ice Arena Wales in Cardiff.

(Image permission: Karl Denham)