Great Britain beat Romania 9-0 in their third game at the IIHF Men’s Under-20 World Championship Division II Group A in Kaunas.
Mack Stewart scored a hat-trick while Liam Steele and Jonathan McBean both netted twice and Jack Hopkins contributed five points with a goal and four assists. Netminder Ben Norton secured a 21-shot shutout.
GB now have two wins from three matches and remain in contention for a gold medal and promotion to Division I.
Britain stormed into a three-goal lead which was started off by a great play by Hopkins to set-up Jonathan McBean who was advancing at the backdoor on the powerplay (2:20).
Mack Stewart created a turnover and fed Hopkins who went five-hole for his third goal of the tournament (9:12) and only 29 seconds later, McBean popped home a rebound after Milique Martelly’s shot had come back off the backboards (9:41).
Hopkins was the creator of GB’s fourth when his feed from behind the net found Liam Steele in the slot to fire past Marton Buda (19:06).
In the second period, Hopkins’ pass from the left-wing found Stewart who controlled the puck with his skate before going over Buda’s shoulder (24:07), while Carter Hamill’s rush up the ice created an opening for Steele who poked the puck home on the doorstep (26:00).
During a spell of four-on-four hockey, Stewart stole the puck in neutral zone and went five-hole for GB’s seventh (28:50) – a goal which saw Buda replaced by Nandor Biro in the Romania goal.
Rhodes Mitchell-King fired through traffic on a five-on-three powerplay (46:28) and Stewart completed his hat-trick with the man advantage when he pounced onto a rebound from close range (58:06).
GB return to acton on Friday when they face Netherlands at 16:00 (14:00 UK time).
GB Under-20s schedule and results
Sunday 11th December: Lithuania 3-4 Great Britain – Hopkins 2, Hamill, Harewood
Tuesday 13th December: Great Britain 4-7 Croatia – Harewood, Lindgren, Hazeldine, Endicott
Wednesday 14th December: Great Britain 9-0 Romania – Stewart 3, Steele 2, McBean 2, Hopkins, Mitchell-King
Friday 16th December: Netherlands v Great Britain 16:00 (14:00 UK time)
Saturday 17th December: Great Britain v Spain 12:30 (10:30 UK time)