COUNTDOWN FOR GB U18 WOMEN
The date Sunday 4th December 2011 saw Great Britain Under-18s Women qualify for the World Championship (Division 1) beginning on 29th December.
General manager, Geoff Hemmerman, said: "GB's qualifiction set IHUK, the under-18s staff and players, an incredible task of assessing Italy and planning for a return to the world stage in three weeks time.
"It is a task not for the fainthearted and something I think its safe to say has never before been asked of a GB team before.
"To qualify in Italy was down to the tremendous effort of all the players and staff. This incredible team effort will need repeating and more, if we are to do what is needed in Norway.
"Italy took its toll on the players - a number of which sustained injuries that needed to be assessed on our return.
"At this stage, one player will not be with the team in Norway and that is Meg Rathbone. I know Meg will be there in spirit along with her shirt. A further three players from the original team have withdrawn due to pre-arranged commitments.
"The very quick turnaround and uncertainty about the what dates the event would be scheduled put increased pressure on both GB and Hungary, the other team to qualify.
"The GB team made the most of the only ice they could get from the two weekends available to them having two sessions on the weekend of 16th/17th December.
"This enabled the selection of four replacement players - those being Ruth Wallace, Emma Sanders, Lorna Beresford and Jess Curtis.
"The turmoil of sorting flights at such short notice and the other million things everyone normally gets months to prepare for is almost done.
"Everything is now in place for the team to gather at Heathrow on the morning of the 27th December, for what will be an epic battle of strength, physical effort and pure determination.
"GB will face Japan, Austria, Slovakia, Norway and Hungary. The success we enjoyed in Italy comes at a price and, if we are to keep our ranking or better, we have to be able to compete with the teams in our group.
"I know when we where in Italy we had many people following us on the websites and all other sorts of social media. Please do so again and this time around it means so much to the players knowing you are watching and willing them on.
"I would like to thank those involved for getting everything in place; Andy French, Sean Alderson, Tim Healand and Sally Taylor."