Great Britain beat Latvia 3-2 after overtime in a thrilling international match at the Motorpoint Arena Nottingham on Saturday night.
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In-front of a crowd of over 4,000, GB put in a pulsating performance against the team ranked 11th in the world.
Ben Bowns got the start between the pipes with Jackson Whistle as back-up.
Waller scores early GB goal before Latvia hit back
Mark Richardson and Ben Lake combined to set-up Josh Waller who broke into the offensive zone and fired short-side to put GB ahead after only 67 seconds (1:07).
Robert Lachowicz was denied from close-range before Latvia equalised on the powerplay when Renars Krastenberg swept home a rebound (4:31).
David Phillips went close at the backdoor, Liam Kirk was denied on the wraparound while Lake forced a great pad save from Ivars Punnenovs.
Teams still level after tight second period
Period two was nip and tuck with Ollie Betteridge having an early chance before a long-range shot from Latvian defenceman Janis Jaks was well saved by Ben Bowns, while the GB netmdiner also produced a top-class pad save to deny Ronalds Kenins.
Kaspars Daugavins had a goal ruled out for offside which sparked a mini tussle between the 10 outskaters on the ice.
Lake on target in third period
Kirk’s close-range effort was saved by Punnenovs as GB stepped up a gear again in period three and Tetlow had his shot from the left-wing turned away.
GB went ahead for a second time as Lake got the redirect on the doorstep from Evan Mosey’s shot from the right circle (53:01), while Bowns made an outstanding glove save to deny Filips Gundars Buncis from the right circle.
Latvia lifted Punnenovs for the extra skater and the six-on-five ploy worked as Jaks fired in a bullet of an equaliser from right point (59:02).
Kirk wins thriller in overtime
Latvia won possession in the offensive zone early in overtime and lifted Punnenovs for the extra skater, before Cade Neilson broke clear and set-up Kirk to score into an empty net.
Click here to download the gamesheet.
The two sides meet again tomorrow at the Skydome Arena in Coventry (5:30pm face-off).
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