Great Britain won their third game in succession at the IIHF Under-18 World Championship Division II Group A, beating Serbia 8-0 at the Tondiraba Ice Hall in Tallinn.
GB’s victory has put them in medal contention but the full implications won’t be known until all of today’s games have been completed.
Ben Norton started his fourth successive game before being replaced by Luca Tessadri for the third period, as the netminding duo combined to shutout Serbia between them.
GB took the lead after only 53 seconds when Mack Stewart scored his third goal of the tournament, jabbing away at the puck on the doorstep which slid under Zeljko Bodis.
Liam Steele made it 2-0 just past the five-minute mark, beating his man after skating into the offensive zone with ease before producing a sweet finish at 5:20.
McKenzie fed captain Jack Hopkins in the slot and his top-shelf bullet was GB’s third goal early in period two (20:45).
Serbia had a goal disallowed for a high stick before Kieran Chung shot through traffic from the blueline (23:51) and great build-up play led to Ben Brown firing across the netminder (29:40) as GB increased their advantage to five.
Cameron Hamill’s superb pass saw Dawson Osborn bury the puck from the slot (37:38) and Carter Hamill reacted first to a loose puck on the powerplay (39:03), while Norton made an outstanding close-range pad save at the other end.
Tessadri replaced Norton at the start of the third period for his first action of the tournament and he made a terrific glove save on a Serbia five-on-three powerplay.
Carter Hamill completed the scoring with his second of the afternoon, cutting inside from the right and his shot was fumbled by the netminder (51:17).
GB play their final game tomorrow against Lithuania (10:30 UK time face-off).
GB U18s World Championship schedule and results
Sunday 3rd April – Estonia U18s 3-2 Great Britain U18s – Goals: Archie Hazeldine, Sam Cooper
Tuesday 5th April – Great Britain U18s 3-2 Romania U18s (after overtime) – Goals: Kell Beattie, Austin Osborn, Mack Stewart
Wednesday 6th April – Great Britain U18s 3-2 Korea U18s – Goals: Liam Steele, Jack Hopkins, Mack Stewart,
Friday 8th April – Serbia U18s 0-8 Great Britain U18s – Goals: Carter Hamill 2, Mack Stewart, Liam Steele, Jack Hopkins, Kieran Chung, Ben Brown, Dawson Osborn
Saturday 9th April – Great Britain U18s v Lithuania U18s – 12:30 (10:30 UK)