Britain’s men’s ice hockey team didn’t finish with bronze at the World Championship but forward Colin Shields had some consolation in finishing as the top scorer in Vilnius.
Scot Shields, who plays for Belfast Giants, netted a hat-trick as Britain kept their bronze medal hopes alive with a 4-2 defeat of Poland – Rob Dowd scoring the other goal.
However host nation Lithuania couldn’t do them a favour as they then lost 3-2 to Croatia to leave Britain fourth in the Division 1B World Championship tournament in Vilnius.
Shields also scored in the wins over Romania and the Netherlands to finish as the top scorer with five and he’s confident for the future despite failing to fulfil their aims in Lithuania.
"It was great to finish the tournament as leading goalscorer. I have to credit my line-mates and the squad as I felt we had some great moments this week," he said.
We are disappointed we did not go straight back up as that was our aim. Once promotion had gone, we reset our goals and focused on bronze.
"We did what we had to go against Poland in a fantastic team performance. It is a shame the Lithuania result did not go our way, but we are building for the future."
© Sportsbeat 2014