Sheffield Steelers' Cole Shudra backed to continue upwards trajectory at World Championships with Great Britain

Shudra enjoyed a standout 2023-24 season after returning to the Steelers on a full-time basis last summer from Leeds Knights, playing a pivotal role in the team’s march towards an historic grand slam of league, cup and play-offs.

His form - which saw him post 12 goals and 15 assists in 68 games - helped earn the 25-year-old Sheffield-born left-hander a deserved first call-up to the GB men’s team for the Olympic Pre-Qualifying tournament back in February.

He clearly showed head coach Pete Russell enough during those games to retain his place for the team’s return to the top-tier of the ongoing World Championships in Prague.

GB were handed the toughest possible start with games against top two seeds Canada and Finland at the weekend.

They pushed defending champions and world No 1 team Canada close in a 4-2 defeat but ran out steam the following day when up against an impressive Finland team who eased to an 8-0 win.

After two days off, GB return to the ice on Wednesday (7.20pm) to take on Switzerland, another team expected to make it out of Group A and into the last eight knockout phase.

It will be another tough test for Russell’s players, against a team who on Monday beat hosts Czechia 2-1 after a shoot-out. But they can take encouragement from the fact the Swiss were pushed to the limit the previous day by Austria before edging to a 6-5 win.

GB face Austria in their final game next Tuesday, an encounter which could determine who is relegated to Division 1A, from where GB earned an instant return last year following their demotion in 2022.

Before then, GB have three other games – facing-off against Denmark on Friday, the hosts on Saturday and fellow strugglers Norway 24 hours before Austria – but Jones believes any game at this level will only improve GB’s quality throughout the line-up, including newcomer Shudra and his all-round game.

“Shuds has done a really good job (since he came back to Sheffield) and I can’t say enough good things about him,” said Jones. “Not many guys come into the league and adapt as well as he did this past year.

“The start of these tournaments through to the end of themand how you feel as a player are just not comparable. Like the speed and the smarts, you just have to be switched on at every minute, every second of every game

“And it’s a lot easier to get up and push yourselves when you know that you are playing against the best players around.

“I just think it is only up from here. At these tournaments, you get a lot of practice and a lot of shifts against guys that are above Elite League level, so that will be great for Cole too.

“You could see during the season, he was able to move up and down in Sheffield because he played such a good, two-way solid game. He showed that he could be reliable and so when he did get moved up and he was playing with Mark Simpson and Brandon (Whistle) they were putting up points.

“He was showing that he could be a top-six guy and I think that Shuds is going to get opportunities in a top-six role.”