Great Britain meet Slovakia this evening in the Steel Arena as they play their sixth game at the World Championship in Kosice.
GB go into the game on the back of last night’s 5-0 defeat by Finland – a match that saw Joey Lewis make his debut.
Pete Russell’s side held the world’s fifth seeds to 0-0 in the first period, before Finland scored three times in the second session and then added a late empty-netter and powerplay goal.
Slovakia have had a real mixed bag of results and currently have six points from five matches.
Their two wins were an opening-day 4-1 victory over USA and yesterday afternoon’s 6-3 success over France.
Two of their defeats have been heartbreakers. The led 2-0 and 4-2 against Canada but lost 6-5 with the Canadians’ winning goal coming on the powerplay with 1.8 seconds remaining.
Meanwhile, they were leading Germany 2-1 but goals at 58:08 and 59:33 saw the Germans take the points with a 3-2 victory.
The Steel Arena is a complete sell-out and over 8,000 fans will be in attendance this evening.
Previous meetings
The two sides met as part their respective preparations for this year’s World Championship, with Slovakia skating to a 6-1 victory in Poprad. Robert Farmer was GB’s goalscorer.
There have been two previous other meetings with Slovakia winning them both, 7-1 in the Olympic Qualifiers in Sheffield in 1993 and 7-3 in the 1995 World Championship in Bratislava.
How to follow the game
Watch the game live on FreeSports with Aaron Murphy and Paul Adey. FreeSports is available free on Sky Channel 422, Virgin Media Channel 553, on Channel 64 on Freeview and BT and on Freesat Channel 252.
You can also listen to the game via 5 Live Sports Extra and the BBC Sport website with Seth Bennett. Click here to listen.