Ben Bowns played through the pain barrier to help Cardiff Devils in their bid to win the Elite League ice hockey Grand Slam.
Goalie Bowns was man of the match despite suffering from an ankle injury in a League match at Sheffield Steelers.
The Yorkshireman was rocked again when Sheffield’s John Armstrong crashed into him during the play-off championship final and was limping badly after the match in Nottingham.
Devils were beaten in heartbreaking fashion, losing 6-5 against Sheffield Steelers in a match which lasted 94 minutes.
Bowns was beaten by Sheffield’s winner during the second 20-minute period of sudden death overtime, and looked an emotional wreck as he laid on the ice as Steelers players celebrated.
“It’s horrible to lose like that, in the second period of overtime,” said Bowns. “The intensity of the occasion is remarkable. It felt as though the temperature was 100 degrees out there.
“The atmosphere was awesome and I’ll never forget the occasion,
“We dominated the first, Steelers were on top in the second and it was pretty even in the third. We had a couple of chances during overtime, but Sheffield had the edge at that stage.
“The fact that we had already won three of the four trophies available takes a little of the sting out of it, but it still hurt.
“We’ll come back for next season hungry to do well again. After all, we have to defend our three titles.
“It was an honour to play with this group of guys and be part of our organisation. I would not want to play anywhere else as long as these guys want me back.
“Devils are the best club in Elite League and Devils fans are also the best. It’s been an unbelievable season.”
Five Cardiff players, including Bowns, are in the Great Britain squad for two matches against Poland this weekend.
Bowns will rest his ankle for a few days before returning to training, while the other Devils men involved are netminder Thomas Murdy, Matthew Myers, Josh Batch and Mark Richardson.
GB head coach Pete Russell has named a 28-man squad and that will be cut to 23 for the World Championships after the back-to-back fixtures against Poland.
The first of those is at the National Ice Centre, Nottingham on Friday (April 14, 7.30pm) and the following day in Coventry’s Skydome (1pm).
The training camp and two games form part of preparations for the World Championship.
GB’s World Championship group matches will be held in Belfast where they play Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, Netherlands and Japan between April 23 to April 29.
Great Britain squad for two fixtures v Poland:
Netminders: Ben Bowns (Cardiff Devils), Stephen Murphy (Belfast Giants), Thomas Murdy (Cardiff Devils).
Defence: Josh Batch (Cardiff Devils), Mark Garside (Belfast Giants), Steve Lee (Nottingham Panthers), Ben O’Connor (Sheffield Steelers), David Phillips (Sheffield Steelers), Mark Richardson (Cardiff Devils), Zach Sullivan (Braehead Clan), Paul Swindlehurst (Manchester Storm), Jonathan Weaver (Telford Tigers).
Forwards: Brendan Brooks (Fife Flyers), David Clarke (Nottingham Panthers), Russell Cowley (Coventry Blaze), Robert Dowd (Sheffield Steelers), Sam Duggan (Orebro, Sweden), Robert Farmer (Nottingham Panthers), Luke Ferrara (Sheffield Steelers), Robert Lachowicz (Nottingham Panthers), Evan Mosey (Rockford Ice Hogs, USA), Matthew Myers (Cardiff Devils), Craig Peacock (Braehead Clan), Jonathan Phillips (Sheffield Steelers), Jack Prince (Manchester Storm), Colin Shields (Belfast Giants), Liam Stewart (Coventry Blaze), Ross Venus (Coventry Blaze).
To buy tickets for GB against Poland at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham log on to the National Ice Centre website at www.motorpointarenanottingham.com or telephone 0843 373 3000. GBSC members have been allocated block 9 and away supporters block 4.
To buy tickets for GB against Poland at the Skydome in Coventry, visit the Skydome box office in person, log on to www.planet-ice.co.uk/arena/Coventry and ‘Ice Hockey Tickets’ or call 02476 630 693.