GB suffer heavy defeat by Finland at Worlds

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Four-time World Championship winners Finland last claimed the title in 2022

Great Britain fell to a second consecutive defeat at the Ice Hockey World Championship with an 8-0 defeat by second seeds Finland.

The heavy defeat followed a 4-2 opening loss to reigning champions Canada in the Czech Republic on Saturday.

GB trailed Finland by a single goal after the opening period but conceded five in the second and another two in the third.

Oliver Kapanen led the scoring with three goals for 2022 champions Finland, who lost against hosts Czech Republic following a shootout in their opening game.

The result left Britain bottom of Group A, with their next match against Switzerland on Wednesday.

GB captain Robert Dowd said: "These aren't the games that will keep us at this level, which is our goal. These first few games are just building to the last couple, when we are going to try to steal some wins."

There are 16 teams competing for the world title, split initially across two round-robin groups.

The top four teams in both groups will progress to the quarter-finals, while the two sides with the worst records after the group stage will be relegated from the top tier to Division I Group A for the 2025 championship.