Tromso - Day Three
With the GB Ice Hockey Under-18 Women’s Team competing in their first ever World Championships; we asked TASS Ambassadors Saffron Allen and Katherine Gale to blog for us whilst they were out competing in Tromso.
Day Three
The adrenaline kicked in for game day as soon as breakfast was finished at 6am. We headed down to the changing rooms to get ready for a pre-game 30 minute practice.
Practise went well, and there was a really positive vibe amongst the whole team. We headed back to the hotel for an extremely early lunch at 9:30am! In order for us to return to the ice two hours later fully prepared for the test ahead.
With lunch complete we all changed into our game wear, dressed up warm and then off to the changing room we went. All the players got into their own pre-match routines, but you could definitely feel the buzz when we got to the changing rooms.
Once at the rink, nerves began to kick in and the atmosphere grew. Team chants, huddles and motivational talks were unstoppable as we entered the ice to warm up.
After a good 20 minutes we were ready! This was it! Chants and huddles began again and then it was…GAME TIME!
It was a tight affair with the Japanese, but we managed to get a 1-0 lead shortly into the second period. Our energy and spirit were high! Unfortunately Japan hit back late in the second and this meant we started level going into the third, on the hunt for a scoring opportunity.
The third period was tough and fatigue began to set in amongst the team. We rallied together, but Japan caught us on a break four minutes to go and secured a 2-1 victory.
We were gutted, however we realised we were playing the number one seed, so a one goal loss was not a massive disappointment. There were a lot of positives we could take from the game to implement in our matches later in the tournament.
“After a strong battle the team gave; there is a lot we can take from this to the remaining games in the tournament. Losing 2-1 was gutting, however we still have a number of games left.” Saffron Allen
We’ll have more stories from the girls later this week. For this being the team’s first ever World Championships, the girls can leave with their heads held high as they have performed fantastically and worn the Lion’s shirt with pride.