Britain’s men’s ice hockey head coach Doug Christiansen has told his players what he expects from them as he prepares to trim his squad for next month’s World Championships.
Christiansen’s 35-man long-list preliminary squad, named in February, will reduce to 28 in time for a training camp, which includes matches against the Netherlands in the UK.
Britain will actually face the Netherlands in the Division 1B World Championships in Vilnius along with hosts Lithuania, Croatia, Poland and Romania from April 20-26.
The 28-strong training camp squad will reduce by five before the six-team tournament begins and Christiansen has outlined his criteria to make it all the way to the World Championships.
"The way players will get to the training camp is by playing well and to be healthy," he said.
"The coaching staff will be looking at the whole group on the long list – you want guys vying for their spots.
"The training camp will be team building. A lot of these guys have played together before, but they spend eight months playing against each other.
"Bringing them together, getting them to fight for each other, play for each other and play for their country is something that is so important to them.
"The practices are going to be preparing the players for everything."
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