Great Britain Under-18s hailed after sealing bronze medal at IIHF World Championships in Estonia

The group had gone out to Tallinn with high hopes of securing gold and promotion back up to Division 1B level from where they were relegated three years ago.

But, despite beating eventual winners Korea, a 3-2 loss to hosts Estonia on the opening day was to prove costly, the GB team going unbeaten thereafter.

A final-day 4-2 victory over Lithuania had given them an outside chance of promotion, but Korea clinched gold with a 9-0 victory over Romania while Estonia, who beat Serbia 7-0, had to settle for silver.

Korea and Estonia both ended the tournament on 12 points, but Korea’s 2-1 victory over Estonia on Friday proved decisive in separating the teams.

“It’s not the medal we came for but after two years out, beating the winners and only losing one game is a success on its own,” said Easton, who was assisted by Bradford Bulldogs head coach, Andy Brown and Solway Sharks’ Martin Grubb.

“They are a great bunch of guys. As the tournament went on we got better and better each game.”

In GB’s final game against Lithuania, they took the lead on the powerplay at 7.03 with Cain Russell potting home a rebound from close range. Simas Ignatavicius scored the equaliser at 12.07 moments after a lengthy GB penalty kill, including nearly a minute of five-on-three.

Britain regained the lead, though, when Josh Shaw finished off a well-worked move between Jack Hopkins and Archie Hazeldine at 14.09. A tight second period followed with few clear-cut chances for either side, but Lithuania scored very late through a neat finish from Paulius Grybauskas at 39.36.

But the killer blow came when Liam Steele made it 3-2 with a bullet of a shot at 45.24, just as a GB powerplay had come to an end, with Hopkins netting from close-range to seal the win after great work off the wall by Leeds Knights Archie Hazeldine 50.38.