World Championships: Keefe and Neilson to co-lead Great Britain with head coach Russell to miss tournament
- Published
GB head coach Pete Russell will miss the tournament in Latvia
Adam Keefe and Corey Neilson will co-lead Great Britain at the World Championships in Latvia after head coach Pete Russell confirmed he is staying home with his family.
Russell has only just returned from a nine-month stint coaching Freiburg in Germany.
Both Keefe and Neilson have both worked as assistant coaches under Russell.
The World Championships begin in Riga on Friday with Great Britain facing Russia in their opener on Saturday.
"I came home and just spending time with my daughter, it become apparent it would be tough for me to go away again straight away," said Russell.
"To come back after nine months and leave two days later would be pretty heartless.
"I have missed a lot of things. I missed my daughter's cleft palate operation when I was GB Under-20s coach."
He added: "My wife had breast cancer at the last tournament in Slovakia and I was only able to get back for two days when she had her operation.
"My family have backed me all the way and I just felt this time the right thing was to do was to make myself unavailable."
Jonathan Phillips has been named as captain for the World Championship, with the assistants named as Robert Dowd and Mark Richardson.
Phillips goes into the tournament as GB's most-capped current player with 97 appearances since his debut in 2003, Richardson currently has 87 caps and Dowd has 65.
"It's always a massive honour to play for your country every time you step on the ice, but to be captain is very, very special indeed," said Phillips.
"To lead such a great group of guys is just brilliant and I am proud of what we have achieved over the past few years."
Keefe led Belfast Giants to the Elite League title in 2019
In addition to serving as assistant to Russell, Keefe has tasted success while in charge of Belfast Giants after being appointed head coach in 2017.
The former enforcer guided the Giants to the Challenge Cup title in 2018 before clinching the Elite League and Challenge Cup the following year.
Neilson is the most successful coach in the history of Nottingham Panthers and also recently had a spell in charge of German side Lausitzer Fuchse before being released in February.
"Adam and Corey are top coaches and I don't think it is a big issue for them, but anything they need I will be there for them," added Russell.
After taking on Russia in Saturday's opener, Great Britain will play Slovakia, Denmark, Belarus, Sweden, Czech Republic and Switzerland in Group A.
Group B consists of hosts Latvia, as well as Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Norway and the USA with the top four from each eight-team group progressing to the quarter-finals.