Ice Hockey: Wallace hat-trick helps gain promotion for Great Britain

Greg Hollister
Tuesday 13 January 2004 01:00 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Stephen Wallace crowned a remarkable World Championship Second Division Group B campaign by leading Great Britain Under-20s to the gold medal in Lithuania on Sunday night. The side will now be promoted to the First Division for next year's tournament.

The Newcastle Vipers forward scored his second hat-trick of the tournament in the 8-1 win over Croatia as coach Roger Hunt's side recorded a 100 percent record. Wallace finished top scorer in the group with 12 goals in five games but was pipped by a point by Korea's Seung-Jun Lee in the overall point-scoring charts.

The side, featuring several players from the Elite League, went through the week-long competition unbeaten and Andy French, the League's director of hockey, said: "It is noticeable that this year's team had a number of players playing senior hockey and hopefully this will inspire the next generation of juniors to come through. The team managed to improve its discipline compared to similar competitions in the past and this reflects the maturity and promise of the side."

In the Elite League, Sheffield Steelers remained on top despite losing 3-2 at Cardiff Devils, for whom Jonathon Phillips, Dennis Maxwell and Jeff Burgoyne - with an assist from net minder Jason Cugnet - were on the scoresheet.

Second-placed Nottingham Panthers were beaten by the same score at Basingstoke Bison, while London Racers remain firmly on the bottom, losing 7-3 at Coventry Blaze.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in