Great Britain once again came close to a shaken World Championships victory when Denmark needed extra time to defeat them 3-2 in Riga on Tuesday.

GB scored their first point in this year’s tournament on Tuesday as they held the Danes, who had beaten much-loved Sweden in their opener, to a 2-2 draw after regulation time.

But Britain had penalty issues in the extra five-minute sudden death and, with Ben Lake sitting in the box on a trigger call, Markus Lauridsen returned the winner for Denmark and avoided a shootout with only 25 seconds to play.

It was heartbreaking for GB, but it was another example of their huge improvement in their second comeback campaign after a 25-year absence.

They said they wanted to compete rather than just make up the numbers and they do more as the tournament goes on.

And, remarkably, as it stands, the UK have a better record at this year’s competition in Latvia than Canada and Sweden, two of the game’s giants.

“This penalty cost us in overtime,” admitted GB captain Jonathan Phillips, who was making his 100thappearance for his country. It was really a bit of desperation and there was little chance we could give it to them.

Mike Hammond was on target for GB, scoring late to bring the game into extra period

“But we are really disappointed to get just one point. We just have to continue now. We have always had a never say die attitude and every day we get better and keep building. If we keep doing this, the victories will start to come for us.

Denmark handed GB the worst result of their comeback at the top level of the World Championships in Kosice two years ago when they fell to a 9-0 beating.

But it was still meant to be much closer from when GB first took the lead in the tournament in their third game.

Ben O’Connor, the outstanding GB defender, shot home from the point in the top corner of the Danish net with two minutes 33 seconds on the board.

It was to prove a short-lived advantage. Julian Jacobsen equalized for the Danes, then their best player Nicklas Jensen gave them the lead when he took advantage of a penalty on Ross Venus to shoot past Ben Bowns on the power play.

Great Britain, who lost 7-1 to Russia in their opener but then slipped to a 2-1 loss to Slovakia in their second, were far from beaten and saw good chances in the second period thanks to Liam Kirk, Lake and Robert Dowd saved by Sebastian. Dahm.

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Britain has a better record than ice hockey giants Canada and Sweden

The equalizer that GB richly deserved came as time was running out in the third period. Mike Hammond, who played club hockey in Denmark earlier this season before joining Coventry for the Elite Series, shot an accurate pass from Lake.

That strike brought them up to the table and GB, who beat Denmark in the last two periods, reportedly imagined their chances of winning a shootout with Bowns again in exceptional form, making another 25 saves in regulation alone.

GB thought long and hard about leaving Bowns for this one in order to give his replacement Jackson Whistle another game and save the Yorkshireman for Wednesday’s winnable fixture against Belarus.

But Bowns insisted he wanted to play against opponents who represented one of Britain’s best chances to win the World Championships and he was vindicated by another brilliant performance to grab the world’s attention. hockey as a whole.

“Many of us have been together for many years now and the fellowship has kept us going,” added Phillips reflecting on his long association with GB. “We’ve had ups and downs, but we’ve been promoted to two levels now and that’s the basis of what we do here.

They are turning out to be great bases, but Great Britain just need to take the final step now, possibly against Belarus in their next game.