Jonathan Weaver believes the current Great Britain roster is in its best shape for a number of years.

GB are in Zagreb for the upcoming World Championship (Division 1B) tournament, which begins for Pete Russell’s side on Sunday with a game against hosts Croatia.

Britain then face Estonia, Lithuania and Romania before rounding off the six-team group with a game against Ukraine, who were relegated from Division 1A last year.

The Telford Tigers defenseman said: “We basically have a fully-fit squad apart from the withdrawal of Stephen Murphy.

“There is a lot of competitiveness in the squad these days and that was shown by the quality players who sadly had to miss out.

“It is a very positive mood in the camp and we are looking forward to getting on the ice here now.

“We had an excellent training camp in Coventry, with two great games against Poland, but now we want to get the tournament started.”

Belfast Giants’ forward Jonathan Boxill says he is ready to put his body on the line in order to help GB to promotion.

“We’ve all come together as a squad in the last year. What Pete (Russell) has done in the past 12 months should be applauded.

“We are a very, very deep team as I’ve said before. We are coming here as a group with one goal in mind and that is to win the gold medal.

“You have to make personal sacrifices and put your body on the line – and we’re all willing to do that.”

Robert Dowd hopes the final couple of days of preparation in Zagreb will prove crucial in GB’s quest to secure gold.

The Sheffield Steelers forward, who will win his 45th cap in Sunday’s opener, said: “The more sessions we get together, the better it is for us.

“Some of these teams have been together a long time already as their leagues finish before ours, so they will have had plenty of practice together as a team.

“It is nice to get as much in as we can and we’ve had a good week in Coventry.

“But these couple of days now, we need to use as best we can and produce.”

(Image permssion: Jonathan Weaver – Scott Wiggins; Jonathan Boxill & Robert Dowd – IceHockeyMedia)