Instinct’s Phil inspires GB to Gold…

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Instinct sponsored Phil Hamer has inspired Great Britain’s Inline Hockey team to a Gold Medal in last week’s World Championships. Phil was in great form scoring 7 goals and registering 6 assists during some fantastic performances that saw GB undefeated throughout the tournament.

On Saturday 25th June 2011 in Pardubice, Czech Republic, the Great Britain Inline Hockey team achieved history by winning the ‘gold medal’ in Pool B of the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Inline World Championships, gaining promotion to Pool A for next year’s tournament as the 8^th ranked nation in the world.

GB defeated Hungary 3-2 in the final to win the tournament for the third time in their history, though a change in the tournament rules this year finally allowed GB to move up to Pool A.

Having struggled in 2010, this year GB laid down a marker early with a 6-1 win against the Antipodeans in the first game of the group stage. More impressively, tournament favourite’s Austria were humbled 7-3 in the second game before GB closed the group stage on top with a 7-0 thrashing of South Africa.

The success continued with a 6-0 win over South Africa before meeting Argentina in the Quarter Final where they gained an unbelievable 12-0 win. In the Semi Final GB faced Australia for the second time, however there was no revenge for the Aussies, they simply couldn’t match the speed, strength and skill of GB and the Britons went through to the Pool B Final with an 11-3 victory.

In the final GB were up against a recent nemesis in Hungary, who themselves had knocked the Austrians out in their semi-final. In the televised final, it was a great start for Great Britain who dominated on the floor and scored three times in the first half to Hungry’s two.

The second half saw a tight struggle with chances both ends, however the GB stopper was stellar with 27 saves in the British net. At the final buzzer, the realization that GB had joined the elite was welcomed with massive celebration!

Well done Phil, many congratulations to you and your team mates!