GB coach Pete Russell happy after Russian workout pays off ahead of World Championships

GB's players celebrate Mark Richardson's first-minute opener against Topredo at Sheffield Arena. Picture: Dean Woolley.

GREAT BRITAIN head coach Pete Russell declared himself satisfied after his team signed off their home preparations for this year's World Championships with a 5-2 defeat to KHL outfit Torpedo at Sheffield Arena.

It meant the weekend finished honours even after the hosts edged out the visitors 5-4 in Nottingham the previous evening.

“The training camp has been great, they're a great bunch to coach,” said Russell. “We've had a couple of knocks here and there and that is sad for those people.

“Today's game showed you what we've been trying to do by playing against teams with tempo and trying to get to the speed of the thing, especially when you don't have the puck.

“Of all the games, that second period was the best lesson that if you don't have the puck they will pick you off.

“And the guys came out and gave a great response, so it was a massive lesson learned tonight.”

The hosts got off to a perfect start when Mark Richardson scored after just 17 seconds, although the teams went into the break on level terms after Anton Shenfield’s 17th-minute reply.

It was in the second period, however, where the game was lost, Torpedo gaining a stranglehold through strikes from Pavel Makarenko at 22.44 and Daniel Ilyin just under 10 minutes later.

HITTING BACK: Torpedo find a way past Jackson Whistle in the GB goal. Picture: Dean Woolley.

It got worse for GB when they went three goals down just over two minutes later through Shenfield’s power play strike.

Kirill Urakov made it 5-1 before GB grabbed a deserved consolation in the 59th-minute when Brett Perlini tipped in Ben O’Connor’s shot.