NEWS: CHRISTIANSEN NAMES 35-MAN LONG-LIST PRELIMINARY SQUAD FOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS GREAT BRITAIN Mens head coach Doug Christiansen has named an initial 35-man squad for the World Championship campaign, which begins in April. There are nine uncapped players in Christiansen’s first squad since taking over, with Coventry Blazes Russell Cowley declaring himself unavailable because of work commitments. The squad will be cut to 27 for the start of Great Britain’s pre-World Championship training camp in April and then reduced to the 23 players for Lithuania after GB’s two home internationals against Netherlands. The Great Britain squad will travel to Vilnius for the World Championship (Division 1B) from 20th to 26th April and will come up against hosts Lithuania, along with Croatia, Netherlands, Poland and Romania. Christiansen said: We wanted to get a nice blend. There are a number of players knocking on the door and also a number of top-quality players in our league. We want to get to Lithuania and hit the ground running. Our expectation and goal is to finish top of the group. But you look at the teams in our group - Netherlands have done well and Poland have been excellent. Poland have beaten Italy, Hungary and Ukraine. They are a team who views this as the same opportunity that we do. GBs warm-up games with Netherlands will take place at Ice Sheffield on Saturday 12th April (7:30pm) and in Coventrys Skydome (5:15pm) a day later. Being able to get the guys together and put them on the ice is important, added Christiansen. It is great there is a quality team coming in to play us before we travel and being a team in our World Championship group it will give us the opportunity not only to see our own players, but to see them. I think it is going to be something for us which is very, very important. GB LONG-LIST PRELIMINARY SQUAD Netminders Ben Bowns - Hull Stingrays Stevie Lyle - Swindon Wildcats Stephen Murphy - Belfast Giants Mike Will - Braehead Clan Defencemen Josh Batch - Cardiff Devils James Griffin - Coventry Blaze Steve Lee - Nottingham Panthers Sam McCluskey - Dundee Stars Danny Meyers - Sheffield Steelers Ben O’Connor - Arlan Kokshetau David Phillips - Belfast Giants Kevin Phillips - Belfast Giants Mark Richardson Cardiff Devils Paul Swindlehurst - Dundee Stars Mark Thomas - Sheffield Steelers Jonathan Weaver - Nottingham Panthers Forwards Jonathan Boxill - Nottingham Panthers David Clarke - Nottingham Panthers Ben Davies - Cardiff Devils Matty Davies - Hull Stingrays Robert Dowd - Sheffield Steelers Robert Farmer - Nottingham Panthers Mark Garside - Belfast Giants Matt Haywood - Braehead Clan Jason Hewitt - Sheffield Steelers Phil Hill - Sheffield Steelers Robert Lachowicz - Nottingham Panthers Matthew Myers - Cardiff Devils Aaron Nell - Swindon Wildcats Craig Peacock - Belfast Giants Jonathan Phillips - Sheffield Steelers Colin Shields - Belfast Giants Ashley Tait - Coventry Blaze Matt Towe - Braehead Clan Ross Venus - Coventry Blaze Off-ice staff Head Coach - Doug Christiansen Assistant Coaches - Corey Neilson & Peter Russell General Manager - Andy Buxton Equipment Managers - Jason Ellery & Steve Small Physiotherapists - Nikki Sherlock & Mairi MacPhail Doctor - Dr Matt Robbins
Posted on: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 06:00:20 +0000
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