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"Just 12 months ago..." says Thompson

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During the press conference following GB's 8-1 victory over Holland Head Coach Paul Thompson commented on just how far the GB programme had come in the past twelve months, and where Team GB were this time last year.

"When you look back to twelve months ago after the Friday game, we had to face Rumania in a group relegation game. This year we have just won our seventh point which is one more than last year already. We have just comprehensively beaten Holland, a team we have historically been ranked close to and are looking forward to a medal game against Kazakhstan. It doesn't matter how you look at it, this programme is going in the right direction and we certainly have progress," said Thompson.

"This is my second World Championships as head coach and I think the players now understand me, my style of coaching and my demands. Ice Hockey UK should also take some credit for our upturn of results. Many other countries spend hundreds of thousands of Euros' on their national team. I know Ice Hockey UK don't have that, but they found a way in February to send a GB team to France for the Euro Challenge, the first time we as a country had been away together mid-season for a long time.

"I can't emphasize enough how important that trip was, it was only three days away, but it was three more days away. Another chance for me to get my ways and systems through to the guys and three days for them to show me what they had in these type of competitions.

"Tomorrow we have a chance to re-pay a little more of the faith the governing body showed in this programme, lots of people both here in Austria and back home in the UK will deserve some credit if we can pull it off.