GB beat Italy to set up chance of promotion on final day

Photo: Dean Woolley

Great Britain secured an excellent 5-1 victory over 2026 Winter Olympic hosts Italy to set themselves up for a shot at promotion in their final game against Poland on Saturday.

Pete Russell's side raced into a two-goal first-period lead and went ahead after just 32 seconds when Ben Lake's pass set up Liam Kirk for the wrist-shot finish.

Kirk fed Nathanael Halbert for a backhanded finish to make it 2-0 at 17:22.

Italy, who'd beaten Poland the previous evening, then found themselves three down when Kirk drove the net to finish off Brett Perlini's feed 42 seconds into period two. Damian Clara entered the visitors' net after the goal with Davide Fadani seeing his game ended early.

Then, at 27:03, Sam Duggan finished from close range off an excellent win around the boards by Cole Shudra to make it 4-0.

Italy got on the board through Bryce Misley at 30:43, but GB killed two penalties to see out the period three ahead.

Italy carried a lot of the play in the third but excellent blocks and sticks in lanes from GB kept them out. With Robert Dowd in the box for a Check to the Head at 49:11, Ben Bowns made the save of the game to deny Alex Ierullo with a low pad stop from point-blank range to keep GB three ahead.

Kirk almost made it a hat trick but shot just wide on the breakaway.

Clara was pulled with 3:09 to play as Italy chased three goals, but a poorly-timed high stick from Thomas Larkin on Kirk just eight seconds later put his side down to four skaters. Diego Kostner took a slashing minor just under two minutes later, allowing Ben O'Connor to fire home a Dowd feed and make it 5-1.

A huge win for GB put them top of the group, and what they'll need in their final game will depend on the other two matchups across Thursday.