Great Britain: WC D1B Vilnius, Lithuania

[3 Minute Minor]

http://www.icehockeyuk.co.uk/gb-men-name-initial-35-man-squad-p190307

GB LONG-LIST FINAL ROSTER
Netminders
Ben Bowns - Hull Stingrays
Stephen Murphy - Belfast Giants
Mike Will - Braehead Clan

Defencemen
Steve Lee - Nottingham Panthers
Danny Meyers - Sheffield Steelers
Ben O’Connor - Arlan Kokshetau
David Phillips - Belfast Giants
Mark Richardson Cardiff Devils
Paul Swindlehurst - Dundee Stars
Jonathan Weaver - Nottingham Panthers

Forwards
David Clarke - Nottingham Panthers
Ben Davies - Cardiff Devils
Matty Davies - Hull Stingrays
Robert Dowd - Sheffield Steelers
Robert Farmer - Nottingham Panthers
Mark Garside - Belfast Giants
Jason Hewitt - Sheffield Steelers
Phil Hill - Sheffield Steelers
Robert Lachowicz - Nottingham Panthers
Matthew Myers - Cardiff Devils
Jonathan Phillips - Sheffield Steelers
Colin Shields - Belfast Giants
Ashley Tait - Coventry Blaze

Click to read more...

 

[3 Minute Minor]

This is my guess for early roster:
Goalie
Stephen Murphy
Ben Bowns

Defense
Ben O'Connor-Jonathan Weaver
Steve Lee-David Phillips
Sam McCluskey-Mark Richardson
7th D: Dan Meyers or Mark Thomas

Forward
David Clark-Robert Dowd-Colin Shields
Robert Lachowicz-Craig Peacock-Robert Farmer
Ashley Tait-Matthew Davies-Ben Davies
Matthew Myers-Jonathan Phillips-Matt Haywood
13th forward: Jason Hewitt or Aaron Nell

Note: those lines aren't the lines I expect to happen, it was just easier to list em in sets of lines like that lol

 

[Eye of Ra]

Ramzi Abid?

 

[Siamese Dream]

Ramzi Abid?

Is Canadian.

 

[ukyote]

Is Canadian.

Was reasonably highly rated one upon a time as a Yotes prospect if I remember correctly...

 

[3 Minute Minor]

Is Canadian.

Ye he's more likely represent Tunisia

 

[Duff35]

This is my guess for early roster:
Goalie
Stephen Murphy
Ben Bowns

Defense
Ben O'Connor-Jonathan Weaver
Steve Lee-David Phillips
Sam McCluskey-Mark Richardson
7th D: Dan Meyers or Mark Thomas

Forward
David Clark-Robert Dowd-Colin Shields
Robert Lachowicz-Craig Peacock-Robert Farmer
Ashley Tait-Matthew Davies-Ben Davies
Matthew Myers-Jonathan Phillips-Matt Haywood
13th forward: Jason Hewitt or Aaron Nell

Note: those lines aren't the lines I expect to happen, it was just easier to list em in sets of lines like that lol

I'd be shocked if Garside did not make it.

I wouldn't count out Kevin Phillips after the season he has had either.

Equally, I wonder if Doug Christiansen will be GB coach beyond April

 

[3 Minute Minor]

I'd be shocked if Garside did not make it.

I wouldn't count out Kevin Phillips after the season he has had either.

Equally, I wonder if Doug Christiansen will be GB coach beyond April

A few of my picks were based on Christiansen may having some bias towards Steelers but... I don't think that will be a problem now

I won't be shocked by anything at this point

 

[Lynx54321]

Hi guys I'm quite a recent convert to ice hockey after being drawn in by the mix of speed, skill and brutality in the Olympics and I'm wondering if you can help me out. Basically I'm trying to add Great Britain onto the xbox game NHL14 whilst at the same time learn a bit more about the national team as I'm looking forwards to these games in April as my first chance to follow my own team. Ideally I'd like someone to rank the players in order of ability for me, for instance in terms of goaltenders I'm pretty sure we're talking from first choice to last:

Murphy
Bowns
Lyle
Will

If someone was able to share their opinions and rank the defencemen and forwards in the same way that would be so useful! It would let me create the roster and lines. Additionally any notes on the players is incredibly helpful too, for instance from what I've read Steve Lee is a stay at home d-man who doesn't mind dropping the gloves and Weaver is an offensive d-man who is getting on a bit.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Doug Reduces Squad to 28

https://www.icehockeyuk.co.uk/doug-reduces-squad-to-28-p190957

With just a few weeks to go before the IIHF World Championship (Division 1B) in Lithuania, Great Britain head coach Doug Christiansen has reduced his initial long-list squad down to 28 players.

These players will take part in the first week of the national team’s training camp and the two home internationals against Netherlands.

The two matches against Netherlands will take place at Ice Sheffield on Saturday 12th April (7:30pm) and at the Skydome in Coventry a day later (5:15pm).

Following the Netherlands fixtures, the squad will be reduced further to the 23 players who will travel to Lithuania for the World Championship.

GB will then play Croatia, Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland and Romania in the six-team IIHF tournament in Vilnius.

Netminders
Ben Bowns - Hull Stingrays
Stephen Murphy - Belfast Giants
Mike Will - Braehead Clan

Defencemen
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
Jonathan Weaver - Nottingham Panthers

Forwards
David Clarke - Nottingham Panthers
Ben Davies - Cardiff Devils
Matty Davies - Hull Stingrays
Robert Dowd - Sheffield Steelers
Robert Farmer - Nottingham Panthers
Mark Garside - Belfast Giants
Jason Hewitt - Sheffield Steelers
Phil Hill - Sheffield Steelers
Robert Lachowicz - Nottingham Panthers
Matthew Myers - Cardiff Devils
Craig Peacock - Belfast Giants
Jonathan Phillips - Sheffield Steelers
Colin Shields - Belfast Giants
Ashley Tait - Coventry Blaze
Matt Towe - Braehead Clan

Cuts:
Stevie Lyle (G)
Josh Batch (D)
Mark Thomas (D)
Jonathan Boxill (F)
Matt Heywood (F)
Aaron Nell (F)
Ross Venus (F)

 

[3 Minute Minor]

Only guy I'm surprised about is Haywood but even that isn't that surprising

 

[ChaiTiefling]

Good luck whittling another five out from that group.

 

[Siamese Dream]

An experienced GB regular Mark Thomas being cut already is a clear sign of improvement

 

[3 Minute Minor]

Mike Will is probably an easy cut, no need for 3 goalies.

After that, who knows. I'd rather not see Phil Hill, Jason Hewitt, or Kevin Phillips make it. Still a bit annoyed that guys like Prince & Stewart aren't getting a look in the warm up games.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Mike Will is probably an easy cut, no need for 3 goalies.

After that, who knows. I'd rather not see Phil Hill, Jason Hewitt, or Kevin Phillips make it. Still a bit annoyed that guys like Prince & Stewart aren't getting a look in the warm up games.

Definitely, they never take a 3rd goalie

 

[Lynx54321]

Is Daniel Meyers Britains best D-man after O'Connor?

 

[Siamese Dream]

Is Daniel Meyers Britains best D-man after O'Connor?

Jonathan Weaver is much better offensively but all-around it's really interchangeable between Meyers, Weaver and Mark Richardson

My defense would be:
O'Connor - Meyers
Weaver - Richardson
Lee - David Phillips
McCluskey

All pairings are playing on the correct side. O'Connor and Weaver to play the PP together

McCluskey has had a great season but is unproven at international level so I think his ice time will be limited, he could take Dave Phillips' place on the 3rd pair if he plays well though

 

[Lynx54321]

Ah right I'd kind of assumed that Phillips with his AHL experience was probably the top dog. How much better do you think O'Connor is than the others? Is he on a different level or just better than the rest.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Ah right I'd kind of assumed that Phillips with his AHL experience was probably the top dog. How much better do you think O'Connor is than the others? Is he on a different level or just better than the rest.

Nobody knows what really happened to David Phillips, he came back from North America and just wasn't that good, Coventry fans said he played terribly for them but he seemed to do alright in Denmark, he has declined massively since then

O'Connor is not that much better than the others but in the Olympic qualification he was clearly GB's standout player

 

[Lynx54321]

Sounds like this is a big tournament for Phillips then. If he has a shocker then he has McCluskey, Swindlehurst and Griffin all breathing down his neck, not to mention his brother. If Christiansen decides he's going to look at youth then he might be looking for an excuse to cull poor performing senior players.

 

[Siamese Dream]

The depth on D is quite impressive this year, it's great that so many young guys have a chance of being selected instead of the same old names and faces

 

[ChaiTiefling]

What O'Connor adds more than anything is offence and threat from the back, everything on the GB powerplay two years ago happened through him. Look how awful it was last year, now I know that's because Hand can't coach special teams for dicks but there was nobody lethal out there. Weaver could provide, but when he's already playing 30mins on a broken, old body he's not going to add much to proceedings.

 

[Lynx54321]

So do none of the young lads have the potential to play on the PP? If Weaver decides he's had enough then that's a lot of pressure on O'Connor who potentially won't be available for all our games as well. McCluskey has been playing on Dundee's special teams and I've read that Lee is beginning to feature for the Panthers on occasion. Most of our D-men seem very defensively orientated.

How about up top, I'm going to predit lines of:

Dowd, Shields, Peacock
Lachowicz, Myers, Tait
Hill, Garside, Phillips
Farmer, one of the Davies, Clarke

Look about right? Skill in the first and second lines, a hard working third and a couple of youngsters on the fourth with Clarke.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Dowd - Shields - Clarke
Lachowicz - Myers - Tait
Farmer - M. Davies - Peacock
Phillips - Garside or B. Davies - Towe

Not sure why you put Clarke on the 4th line, he's the 2nd highest scoring Brit in the EIHL behind Tait, but I've put Tait on the 2nd line because I don't think he has the legs to play first line minutes at his age

Didn't know who to put as the 4th C, Ben Davies is very good offensively but Garside has the experience and is good at faceoffs

 

[Lynx54321]

Yeah on hindsight I'd probably move him up higher. Is Phillips still going to be captain do you think?