GB ice hockey team beat Slovenia in World Championship opener

Great Britain's men made a winning start to their World Championship campaign by beating top seeds Slovenia 3-1 in Budapest.

Brett Perlini scored on his worlds debut, while there were also goals for Ben O'Connor and Robert Dowd.

GB are in the second tier of the sport but gold or silver at this event will see them join the likes of Canada, USA and Russia at the elite level.

Their next round-robin game will be against Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

After that they will face Poland, Italy and hosts Hungary with the top two sides in the standings being promoted.

Slovenia, who played at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and beat USA in their opening game, were relegated from the top flight last season and are ranked 15th in the world, nine places above GB.

GB are competing in Division One for the first time in five years after winning promotion in October 2017.

Analysis

BBC ice hockey commentator Seth Bennett

It is a terrific start for Great Britain to get a result in their opening game after promotion. Slovenia were without several of their better players, but that should not take the gloss off a disciplined performance.

Great Britain have now won 14 of their last 16 World Championship matches. They know what it takes to get something out of these games.

Next up is Kazakhstan - a side full of quality who will ask some different questions of GB, but ones they are more than capable of answering if they remain disciplined.