ROBERT DOWD said Great Britain are still in a good position to build towards their ultimate goal of survival in the top tier of the IIHF World Championships after the opening weekend of action in Prague.

After giving defending champions and world No 1 Canada a scare in their opening game before losing out 4-2, Great Britain were brought back down with a bump 24 hours later when they suffered a heavy 8-0 loss to number 2 seeds, Finland.

Pete Russell’s now take two days off before resuming their Group A schedule against Switzerland on Wednesday.

Further games against Denmark, hosts Czechia, Norway and Austria follow and it is from three of those last four encounters that GB hope to amass enough points to ensure they avoid immediate relegation back down to Division 1A.

Action from Great Britain v Finland in the 2024 World Championship in Prague (Picture: Dean Woolley)

“These first couple of games aren’t the games that are going to help keep us at this level,” said GB and Sheffield Steelers’ captain Dowd after Sunday’s loss to Finland.

“We’re trying to stay at this level, that is our goal here - we’re not here thinking we’re going to go for medals or anything like that.

“We just want to stay at this level, so these first few games are just to build up to the last two or three games where we want to steal some wins.”

For a short while on Saturday, GB looked like they might have got more than they bargained for when they went ahead against Canada through a superb strike from Maltby’s Liam Kirk.

Great Britain attack the Finland goal in Prague on Sunday (Picture: Dean Woolley)

Canada quickly replied through Michael Bunting and then pulled away in the second period with a close-range strike from Brandon Hagel and two from the 2023 No 1 NHL Draft pick, Connor Bedard.

But GB took the third period when a skilful solo strike from Ben O’Connor made it 4-2 at 48.49. GB pulled goalie Jackson Whistle late on, but couldn’t find their way through again.

Sunday saw GB push Finland hard in the first period, which saw them go in at the break just 1-0 down.

But the Finns - looking to bounce back from their opening night defeat to Czechia - let rip in the second period, scoring five unanswered goals, adding a couple more in the third for a comprehensive win.

“They were excellent,” added Dowd. “We knew it was going to be a tough game for us and we knew we were going to be against a wall from the start.

“But they were excellent throughout and took advantage of us a bit in that second period when we ran out of steam a bit.”

Great Britain ice hockey still in good place to 'steal some wins' believes Sheffield Steelers captain