Great Britain needed a big third period effort for a second game in succession, but they picked up a 3-0 win over Mexico in their Women’s World Championship Division 2A match.
Ella Howard was given the nod in net, her first appearance for the senior team.
From the first shift GB took the ice in the Mexico zone and pretty much never left – an overall shot count of 58-9 shows the dominance. However Mexico’s battling defence and goalie Monica Renteria made life hard for Britain through two scoreless periods.
There were chances for GB, particularly with rebounds around the net, but the Mexico net survived intact until the second break.
Early in the third period the breakthrough was finally made and it was captain Saffron Allen in her 51st international with the decisive touch. Katie Henry’s shot was saved and Allen pounced on the rebound at the edge of the crease and netted the crucial go-ahead score (41.40)
Three minutes later Allen was on the spot again – clubmate Katie Henry provided the feed from behind the net and Allen slammed a one-timer into the net to double the advantage (44.59)
With the pressure slightly released, GB continued to create chances with Renteria keeping up her amazing performance in net.
The icing on the scoreline was provided by Rachel Cartwright, who fired home from the right slot to pouch her first goal in a GB shirt at 50.08 to round out the 3-0 win.
Ella Howard saved 9 shots for a shutout on her senior debut, Saffron Allen was named GB’s player of the game.
Assistant coach Sean Alderson said: “We stuck to our game and knew we would get the goals eventually, the efforts paid off and they team deserve their win once again.
“We know what we have to do against Latvia, we came here with one aim and we can make that happen on Friday. We will be ready.”
Great Britain’s final game of the tournament against Latvia is at 4pm local time, 3pm UK with a webcast available from the host federation.
Main photo credit: Karl Denham