Sheffield Steelers legend Jonathan Phillips driven to deliver ultimate World Championship prize for GB before bowing out

But bowing out of his professional hockey career having helped his beloved Great Britain team return to the top-flight of international competition would surely provide the ultimate dream ending.

Phillips’ hopes of ending his domestic career with one last trophy at Sheffield Steelers failed to materialise as Aaron Fox’s team came up just short again in league, cup and play-offs.

But this week’s World Championship Division 1A tournament in Nottingham offers Phillips one last chance to bow out a hero.

And while there will have been disappointment at a third-place finish in the post-season jamboree at the Motorpoint Arena, Phillips’s focus will have quickly switched to a bigger target when he returned there two days later to join the GB training camp.

Phillips makes no secret of the fact there was a lot of hurt going around the GB dressing room in Tampere, Finland, just under a year ago when their three-year spell in the top-tier was brought to a heartbreaking end.

It was three years which had brought huge progress for the national team and they could count themselves unlucky to have come back down when considering some of the top-end performances they had put in against top-tier regulars such as Latvia, Norway and USA.

Although he knew he was nearing the end of his playing career during the 2022-23 domestic campaign with the Steelers, there was always a desire within Phillips to come back for one last hurrah with the national team, to try and help restore them to what he genuinely believes is their rightful place.

There was no guarantee that, at the age of 40, Phillips would get one of the spots on head coach Pete Russell’s final roster, having come through what the Welshman himself described as one of the most competitive GB training camps he had known.

But he got a place on the hosts’ bench and now, with two promotion spots up for grabs, Phillips isn’t fussy about how GB get themselves back among the world’s elite in time for the tournament staged in the Czech Republic next year.

“A gold medal would obviously be the fairytale ending for me,” says Phillips. “But even just taking me out of the equation, when we got relegated last year it hurt, it hurt a lot and we were determined to come straight back up.

“As players we just feel it is important to get back into that top group of nations and then stay there for as long as possible again.

“It gives so much more exposure to GB hockey and it gives our younger guys such a better window of opportunity going forward.”

The opening weekend in Nottingham brought the two wins GB were looking for, although they nearly blew it on Sunday when, with less than a minute to go against Poland, they conceded a goal to make it 4-4 and bring on overtime.

Ben Lake, who also scored in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Korea, struck just over two minutes in to ensure the extra point on offer went to the hosts, giving them an advantage over their Polish rivals throughout the rest of the week when it comes to the final placings.

Tomorrow brings an evening encounter against Lithuania - who Poland defeated 7-0 on the opening day - before a clash with Romania, who were routed 6-2 by Italy before edging out Lithuania 3-2.

In theory, the gold medal is likely to be decided in Friday’s tournament closer against Italy, who came down with GB last year. As long as GB take care of business before then.

“Gold would be perfect but I’ll take silver," added Phillips, who scored GB’s opener against Poland. “The most important thing is that we get promoted back up to the top tier.

“But we’ll be aiming to win every single game and finish top of the group. Going back up as gold medallists would be the perfect scenario and something we’d love to achieve.”