Bulldogs head coach Andy Brown on GB Under-18s’ World Championship hopes

INTERNATIONAL CALLING: Bulldogs’ head coach Andy Brown is out in Belgrade as an assistant coach for the GB Under-18s team who get their World Championships Divisiion 2A campaign underway on Sunday against Romania.

BRADFORD BULLDOGS’ head coach Andy Brown says Great Britain Under-18s need to establish a winning mentality from the very start at this year’s World Championships.

Brown is out in Belgrade, Serbia, for the Division 2A tournament as one of two assistants to head coach Sean Easton, with GB getting their campaign underway on Sunday against Romania.

Gold medal promotion is the obvious target and Brown, 45, believes they have the players capable of securing Division One hockey for 2024, having whittled down an initial 80 triallists to a 22-strong squad.

Leeds Knights’ two-way forward Fin Bradon and Hull Seahawks’ Owen Bruton - both of who have impressed in NIHL National this season - are on the roster.

Last year, GB came away with a bronze medal, losing out on gold by a single point and having lost only one of their five games. 

“If you lose just one game, you might even not get a medal,” said Brown. “That’s how tight these tournaments are. 

“So you have to go out there with the mentality that you have to win every game, sometimes you need a little bit of luck and special teams is always huge.

BRONZE MEDAL: Andy Brown, pictured in Tallinn, Estonia last year after the GB Under-18s won a bronze medal.

“The only way of guaranteeing winning gold and gaining promotion is to win every single game in regulation and that’s not easy.

“If you’re winning in OT or you’re losing games, there’s every chance you’re going to come home disappointed.”

Brown said GB - who lost 4-1 to Romania in their final warm-up game in Slovakia on Thursday night.- were heading to Belgrade with a talented group.

“It’s always difficult at World Championships and we know it’s going to be tough,” added Brown, part of the GB coaching team as the Under-18s took bronze at the worlds in Tallinn, Estonia, last year. “There’s a limited amount of information available about the teams you are going to play against and you don’t really know until you turn up - so you go into your first game pretty cold.

“But there is a lot of depth in the team this year. It’s strong across four lines and if they buy into the systems that we’re going to ask them to play, I believe we can do well.”

For Brown, his time spent with the GB programme is not just about the youngsters developing as players but himself as a coach, too.

“For a start, it’s a great honour to coach GB,” he added. “I really enjoy working with Sean. He’s a totally different coach to me. He’a a very technical coach and I enjoy working with him and learning from him and, hopefully, he learns the odd thing from me too.

“He obviously coaches at National league level which I don’t, so there are different coaching styles there. I’m still developing my skills as a coach as well, but being involved in that set-up and being around people like that is key if you want to keep developing yourself as a coach.

“Ultimately, I love coaching, I love hockey and I really enjoy being involved in the GB programme. The better I become as a coach, hopefully some of that rubs off on the youngsters when I come back to the Bulldogs.”