Great Britain Back in IIHF's Top Flight Division

It's been 25 years since Great Britain has been playing at the top level of the IIHF hockey championships. While Team GB might not have a long history of hockey, they do hold one claim to fame that Russia, Sweden or anybody else can't.

If you do into a sports bar anywhere in the world, you might be able to win lots of money with one simple question. Who was the first country other than Canada to win Olympic Gold? The year was 1936 and Olympics were held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Canada came into the tournament as overwhelming favorites as they had won Olympic Gold on the last three occasions. This tournament was different however, Great Britain was able to play good defensively as they outscored their opponents 19-4 in eight games.

The catch is, there were Canadians on that team because of Canada's forced participation WW I. This resulted in an increased interest in hockey that resulted in a 1936 Gold.

Since WW II there has been a steady decline in British hockey. A 4th place finish at the 1950 World Championship is the last significant result. The last time they were playing in the top tier was 1994 when they finished dead last which resulted in there relegation.

They were promoted last year when they won their group. This gave them promotion back to the top level where they will be playing the likes of Canada, USA and Finland. Getting out of the group stage would be a miracle but not getting relegated isn't impossible. Beating France might be their best chance.

Here is the schedule for Group A which is the easier of the two groups:

Finland		–		Canada
United States		–		Slovakia
11 May 2019
Denmark		–		France
Germany		–		Great Britain
Slovakia		–		Finland
12 May 2019
United States		–		France
Denmark		–		Germany
Great Britain		–		Canada
13 May 2019
United States		–		Finland
Slovakia		–		Canada
14 May 2019
Great Britain		–		Denmark
Germany		–		France
15 May 2019
United States		–		Great Britain
Germany		–		Slovakia
16 May 2019
Canada		–		France
Finland		–		Denmark
17 May 2019
France		–		Slovakia
Finland		–		Great Britain
18 May 2019
Denmark		–		United States
Canada		–		Germany
Great Britain		–		Slovakia
19 May 2019
Germany		–		United States
France		–		Finland
20 May 2019
France		–		Great Britain
Canada		–		Denmark
21 May 2019
Finland		–		Germany
Slovakia		–		Denmark
Canada		–		United States