Great Britain were beaten 6-0 by the Olympic champions Finland in the World Championship in Tampere this afternoon.
It was a fourth win in five matches for the number one ranked team in the world in-front of a sold-out crowd of 13,500 in the Nokia Arena, but luck wasn’t with GB with four of the six goals taking deflections to deceive Ben Bowns.
Two deflections give Finns first-period lead
Bowns denied Valtteri Flippula with a fantastic save on the breakaway and then stopped Juho Lammikko after he cut inside from the left.
The Finns took the lead when Niklas Friman’s shot through traffic deflected past Bowns off a skate (6:48) and it was 2-0 at 11:38 as Juuso Hietanen’s shot from right point also took a deflection on its way towards goal.
Finland score twice after bright start to period by GB
GB made a bright start to the second period and Brett Perlini had his low shot saved by Jussi Olkinuora after he cut inside from the right.
Mikael Granlund’s pass was tipped in by Fippula for Finland’s third goal (26:40), before GB came close to scoring when Robert Dowd fed Ben Lake on a two-on-one break.
Finland’s fourth had more than a touch of fortune about it as Joel Armia broke clear and cut inside from the right and as he dragged the puck back, it deflected past Bowns off a GB skate.
Finland score twice in third period
Finland scored their fifth through Atte Ohtamaa’s blast from right point, which was tipped in by Saku Maenalanen (49:01).
Toni Rajala completed the scoring on the powerplay as his shot deflected off a GB leg to deceive Bowns (55:42).
Phillips: We will continue to dig deep
Captain Jonathan Phillips said: “For 60 minutes you could see how hard every player worked and we are exhausted.
“There were a few mental lapses. You never want to lose with a scoreline like that, but I think the effort we put in was good and we are still building.
“We keep digging deep and only take positives from each game. We’ve got two huge games coming up now and we just refocus for that.”
There’s no game for GB tomorrow but they return to action on Sunday against Latvia at 16:20 (14:20 UK time)
Great Britain World Championship schedule and results
Saturday 14th May 2022 – Czech Republic 5-1 Great Britain – Goal: Ben Lake
Sunday 15th May 2022 – Norway 4-3 Great Britain (after penalty shots) – Goals: Robert Dowd, Brett Perlini, Mark Richardson
Tuesday 17th May 2022 – Sweden 6-0 Great Britain
Thursday 19th May 2022 – Great Britain 0-3 USA
Friday 20th May 2022 – Great Britain 0-6 Finland
Sunday 22nd May 2022 – Great Britain v Latvia 16:20 (14:20 UK time)
Monday 23rd May 2022 – Austria v Great Britain 20:20 (18:20 UK time)
Photo credit: Dean Woolley.