Robert Dowd: British hockey has "come in leaps and bounds"

The British national team has opened the 2024 IIHF World Championship with three straight losses, but those have come against Canada, Finland and Switzerland by scores of 4-2, 8-0 and 3-0. With three of Group A’s tougher teams out of the way, captain Robert Dowd spoke about the team’s outlook for the rest of this tournament and beyond.

Let’s begin with your thoughts on tonight’s game.
“It’s a performance to build on. It didn’t start off well, we conceded a couple of early ones, but we built from there and they only scored one over the last two periods so … we just want to get better as the tournament goes on.”

Although you don’t have any points, does it give you any confidence that you’ve got some of the more difficult opponents out of the way and the scores were rather respectable?
“Absolutely. We knew it was trial by fire the first three games against three of the tougher teams in the world, so we weren’t under any delusions over what to expect as far as results. But we wanted to make it difficult for those teams and get ourselves in a good stride going into the back half of the tournament, where we can hopefully get some wins.”

You’ve been shut out the last two games. What do you need to do to produce more offense?
“We’ve just gotta start getting more pucks to the net. If you look at some of the other games going on, all the goals don’t come from grade-A chances. And today the power play didn’t click. We had a few chances but in the first game, I think we were 1-for-2, so that’s one of those things. Special teams in these tournaments are absolutely huge, so if we get our power play clicking, we’ll start getting some goals.”

Speaking of some of the other games, you’re surely aware of what happened in the Austria-Canada game. I don’t know if that’s disheartening for you because you don’t want Austria to get points, or whether it’s encouraging that it shows anything can happen in these games.
“They played a fantastic third period, Austria. They looked dead and out of it and then scored five unanswered, which was pretty amazing. It’s good for them but that doesn’t change our mentality. We’re going into the next few games and we’re gonna try to cause a couple of upsets.”

This is your first season as captain of Team GB. How has it been, your first World Championship without longtime captain Jonathan Phillips?
“Yeah, I’ve been lucky enough to play with Jon Boy my whole career. We’ve played on the same team together and he’s been missed here but hopefully we’re doing him proud.”

One thing that seems the same is all the British fans who've come here. 
“It’s awesome. The British fans have followed us all over the world, no matter where we are, they always seem to turn out in numbers. It doesn’t go unnoticed and we’re always grateful for the support they give us.”

The first time I saw them and the first time I saw you was in Košice in 2019. How far would you say British hockey has come in that five-year span?
“Oh, it’s come in leaps and bounds. Over the last five years, we’ve been at the top level for four of them. That’s massive because, before that, Britain had played at the top level I think once in 50-some-odd years. The league at home is getting better and attracting more talent, which is raising the level of the homegrown talent pool, and that means only good things for the national team.”

And I’d be remiss to talk about British hockey without asking about Liam Kirk. What does it mean to have a player of that calibre on the world stage?
“He’s awesome. Such a humble, hardworking lad and he deserves everything he’s got. He’s been fantastic for the national team over the last few years and his career is excelling, so we’re really pleased for him and he’s massive for us in these tournaments.”