Defenceman Stevie Lee says he’s excited to be back at the world ice hockey’s second tier as Great Britain prepare for this week’s World Championship Division I Group A in Budapest.
GB get their tournament under way tomorrow when they take on Slovenia who took part in this year’s Winter Olympics in Korea.
“Just walking into the venue you can tell we have stepped up a level,” said the Nottingham Panthers defenceman.
“It is exciting to be part of this tournament and it already has a special feel about it.
“There are quality teams here in Budapest but we are really looking forward to the challenges ahead over the next week.”
GB won promotion 12 months ago in Belfast when they won their gold medal with five wins from five in Division 1 Group B.
“That was an amazing experience and we can take that confidence into this week,” continued Lee.
“It has been a while since we have been at this level, but we hope we can surprise a few people this week.”
GB against Slovenia gets under way at 12:30pm tomorrow (11:30am UK time).
There’ll be live TV coverage on FreeSports with Aaron Murphy and Paul Adey, as well as full-match radio commentary on the BBC Sport website with Seth Bennett.
Photo credit: Dean Woolley.