Convincing victory for GB Under-16s over Belgium
Great Britain Under-16s began the international tournament in Dumfries with a convincing 13-2 victory over Belgium Under-16s.
Man of the match Cade Neilson scored four times, while Jamie Ord, Mason Biddulph and Sam Talbot netted twice in a one-sided game at the Dumfries Ice Bowl as GB outshot Belgium 49-16.
GB jumped into a two-goal lead within the first 97 seconds with goals only nine seconds apart.
Talbot put away his own rebound at 1:28 and on the very next attack, Carter Lloyd scored on the doorstep (1:37).
It was 3-0 when Neilson netted a powerplay goal at 8:44 and Ord fired through the five-hole (10:51) as GB took total control.
Biddulph’s rebound made it five only 46 seconds later (11:37), before Neilson grabbed his second on the powerplay from the right-hand side (13:35).
Kieran Brown’s doorstep rebound (17:13) saw GB open up a seven-goal lead at the first intermission.
Neilson completed his hat-trick when he squeezed the puck in at the near post into the top corner (25:10) and then netted his fourth from a tight angle nine seconds later (25:19).
Ord broke clear to score his second at 26:40 and at the halfway point, both sides made a change in net with Harrison Walker replacing Brad Windebank for GB.
Talbot’s bullet into the top corner made it 11-0 at 34:08, Tommy Huggett fired through the five-hole short-handed (37:56) and Biddulph went coast-to-coast (39:07) to make it 13-0 after two periods.
GB’s shutout was broken at 49:10 when Jonas Steeno turned and found space in the slot to fire past Walker, while Basim Laeremans netted on the rebound for Belgium’s second goal (54:14).
GB U16s head coach, Robert Wilkinson, said: “The fact we lost the last period 2-0, it almost felt like a loss.
“It is a bit of a strange thing to say with it being a 13-2 game, but we were just flat at the end.
“We didn’t think we played that well. We were not aggressive enough and sometimes at 60% instead of 100%. They’re playing for Great Britain.
“We gave the boys a bit of a grilling but we’ve still won 13-2 over a team ranked around eight places below us, which is pretty close to us.”
In the day’s first game, Spain were 7-1 winners over Netherlands.
Tomorrow’s match-ups see Belgium taking on Spain at 4:30pm and GB going head-to-head with Netherlands at 8pm.
GB U16S SQUAD
Netminders
Harrison Walker – Bradford Bulldogs
Bradley Windebank – Chelmsford Tomahawks
Defence
Callum Burnett – Slough Jets
Reece Cochrane – Fife Falcons
Jordan Griffin – Bradford Bulldogs
Joe Hazeldine – Nottingham Leopards
Dan Hitchings – Chelmsford Tomahawks
George Hoang – Guildford Phoenix
Reece Kelly – OHA Canada
Dan Mitchell – Telford Tigers
Forwards
Mason Biddulph – Chelmsford Mohwaks
Kieran Brown – Iowa Wild
Ethan Hehir – Billingham Stars
Lewis Houston – Solway Sharks
Tommy Huggett – Chelmsford Mohawks
Patrick Larkin – CIHA Canada
Carter Lloyd – Cardiff
Jacob Lutwyche – Bradford Bulldogs
Cade Neilson – OHA Canada
Jamie Ord – Whitley Bay
Reed Sayers – Swindon Cougars
Sam Talbot – Swindon Cougars