Great Britain Ice Hockey has announced the roster of 23 players that will go to this weekend’s Olympic qualifying tournament in Aalborg, Denmark.
It’s certainly an experienced roster with nine players who have competed in all four top-level IIHF World Championships that Great Britain has played in since 2019, and five others who have played in three. The team’s best player is 24-year-old forward Liam Kirk, a one-time Arizona Coyotes prospect who now plays in Germany for Eisbären Berlin. Defenseman Sam Ruopp also plays in Germany and Nathaniel Halbert in Slovakia, but the rest of the roster all plays in Britain’s domestic Elite Ice Hockey League.
Other than GB and host Denmark, Norway and Japan will be present. Only the winner will advance to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
“This is our biggest test since I have been in this role,” said head coach Pete Russell, who since taking over in 2014 has overseen Britain’s advancement from Division I Group B of the IIHF World Championships to one that has played in the top division four times.
Great Britain has not played in an Olympic ice hockey tournament since 1948, and it’s been a long time since they’ve come even this close. In attempting to qualify for the 2022 Olympics, GB lost in round 3 on home ice to Hungary in the decisive game. This time around, they comfortably won the home tournament at the same stage and now face one last hurdle. But it’s a massive one.
“It’s a super hard challenge to play Pool A nations after eight months of a season, never mind with such short preparation time, but our players will give it everything they have,” said Russell. “We can only take 20 players and three goalies, so there were some really hard decisions and some great people will not be with us this time.”
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