GB hero Dowd hailed by absent Tait

The Belfast Giants forward scored a hat-trick - including the game-winning goal - to secure a vital two points for Tony Hand’s team against Ukraine, leaving them fourth in the table with two games remaining.

Tait, forced to remain in South Yorkshire due to his recovery from an ankle injury that curtailed his Elite League season for the Steelers, played alongside Dowd for two seasons in South Yorkshire and is not surprised by the impact the 23-year-old has had on the international stage this week.

“The sky is the limit for him really - he is probably at the top of his game right now,” said Tait, who was part of the GB team alongside Dowd which clinched a silver medal under former coach Paul Thompson in Kiev last year.

“He does everything so well. He reads the game well, he’s got great, all-round speed and is good at both ends of the ice.

“His confidence is also going to be through the roof after the season he’s just had with Belfast Giants (won the Elite League title) and that will have just carried on into his time with the national team.

“Everything is probably feeling so natural for him now. He’s still very young as well and time is on his side in terms of what the future holds for him.”

Nottingham Panthers’ Matt Myers was also on target for Britain as they took a 3-1 lead just after the halfway point. Ukraine quickly rallied to level before the end of the second and a scoreless third period produced overtime.

That was only 1.46 old when Dowd struck the crucial blow for his team.

Britain now face Japan at lunchtime on Thursday, coming face to face with a team full of confidence after they produced a stunning 4-3 victory against tournament favourites Austria game following a sudden death penalty shoot-out. The last time Britain faced the Japanese was at the same venue in 2007 when they won 4-3 in a tournament which saw them finish fourth.

Hand’s team will then finish their campaign on Saturday against Hungary, a team they lost 2-0 against in Ljubljana in 2010, with Britain again finishing fourth.

Tait believes his team-mates can secure wins in their remaining games to keep alive an outside chance of a medal, but he admits both opponents will cause plenty of problems for Hand’s players.

“A medal would be a huge achievement,” added Tait. “It was always going to be tougher this year with the restructure by the IIHF. What we have to do is make sure we stay in this division for next year and there is still a lot of hard work to do in order to do that. It is so tight at the moment - but a medal is still possible.

“Beating Ukraine will give our lads a huge confidence boost and, while Japan have thrown a bit of a spanner in the works by beating Austria, it is a winnable game, as is the one against Hungary.

“Japan are very offence orientated and will keep coming at you so we’re going to have to change a few things around to combat that.

“Goaltending is huge at these tournaments and it looks like Stephen Murphy (GB netminder) is on top of his game. That’s a massive thing because it gives the players in front of him lots of confidence knowing they’ve got somebody reliable behind them.”