PAUL NEWMAN IN KOSICE, SLOVAKIA: For once the scoreline simply does not matter. This was a brilliant, heroic performance by Great Britain’s World Championship minnows against the United States superstars. The sort of performance that really will put British ice hockey on the world map. USA may have won 6-3 here but that does not tell the story. GB, so desperately disappointing in losing 9-0 to Denmark on Tuesday, were so much better in giving a team comprised of some of the biggest names in the NHL one heck of a game. Take a bow, then, Britain’s first two scorers in Manchester’s Mike Hammond and Nottingham’s Brett Perlini and an outstanding netminder in Ben Bowns who is earning so many new admirers in this tournament that his club Cardiff may struggle to keep him. One late save in particular from American wonderkid Jack Hughes will linger long in the memory.
