Great Britain 1, Poland 4
Mark Richardson, Josh Batch and back-up goalie Thomas Murdy were the Cardiff Devils players on Great Britain duty against Poland.
This was the first match of two between the teams, played in Nottingham, with head coach Peter Russell preparing his team for the World Championships.
Friday’s game in Nottingham saw Fife’s Brendan Brooks make his GB debut, while Luke Ferrara, Matthew Myers, Zach Sullivan, Evan Mosey, Ben Bowns and Ross Venus were rested from the 28-man training camp roster.
They are all likely to play in the second game at Coventry’s Skydome on Saturday afternoon.
Poland, who play in Division One A at the World Championships, started much the better of the two sides and scored three times in six minutes around the middle of the period.
Damian Kapica opened the scoring at eight minutes four seconds, redirecting Maciej Urbanowicz’s shot past Stephen Murphy in the GB net. Marcin Kolusz doubled the score, lifting the puck high into the net after Murphy had made two point blank saves in the build up.
Just over a minute later Mikolaj Lopuski made it 3-0 and Great Britain were in a big hole at the first interval.
The second session saw GB play with more intensity and create chances around the Polish net. In the sixth minute of the period, a ‘made in Nottingham’ goal saw David Clarke and Rob Lachowicz set up Jack Prince to shoot first-time from the slot to get GB on the board.
Poland restored their three goal cushion four minutes from the end of the period as Kapica netted his second of the game, a one-hand back hand into the roof of the net.
A scoreless final period saw the game end 4-1 in Poland’s favour.
Tomasz Malasinski and Steve Lee picked up the ‘Big Mac’ Man of the Match awards in association with McDonald’s.
GB head coach Peter Russell said: “We were flat in the first, but I was pleased with how we responded.
“These games are all about preparing the squad for Belfast. We have things to work on but we’re three days into our camp so we’re going the right way.
“Poland are a very good side and we didn’t match them in the first, but after that it was even in goals and chances so you have to be happy with that.
“Tomorrow will be a tough turnaround being an early game but that’s part of Championship hockey so we’ll go with it.
“There will be some tough decisions after the weekend but everyone is playing for a spot in Belfast so it’s a nice headache to have.”
Russell will cut his GB group to 23 players over the Easter weekend.
Full 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).