Ice Hockey: Britain take elite place with gold

GREAT BRITAIN took their place among the game's elite after beating Romania 10-4 in Pool B at the World Championships here on Saturday, writes Our Correspondent from Eindhoven.

Britain, already assured of the gold medal position, a place in the Olympic play-offs in September and promotion to Pool A, finished their group in style yesterday with a 14-0 win over China to maintain a 100 per cent record.

However, they had early problems against Romania, trailing by three goals after only three minutes before fighting back to win 10-4. The goals included a hat-trick by Rick Fera and two from Kevin Conway, his Basingstoke Beavers team-mate. Stephen Cooper, of the Cardiff Devils, received the best defenceman of the tournament award.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (Eindhoven, Neth): Pool B: Great Britain 10 Romania 4; Denmark 9 Japan 3; Poland 7 Netherlands 1; China 4 Bulgaria 3; Romania 5 Bulgaria 2; Great Britain 14 China 0; Poland 7 Netherlands 1. Final standings: 1 Britain (P 7, Pts 14); 2 Poland (7-12); 3 Netherlands (7-10); 4 Denmark (7-8); 5 Japan (7-6); 6 Romania (7-4); 7 China (7-2); 8 Bulgaria (7-0).