Ice Hockey
Russ Cowley earns Great Britain call-up

Buy photos » Russ Cowley wheels away after netting goal number four in Coventry's rout over Sheffield on Sunday. Photo by Mark Tredgold. (s)

GREAT Britain head coach Tony Hand has named Blaze star Russ Cowley in his 32-man preliminary squad ahead of next month’s Olympic final qualifiers in Riga.

The squad will meet for a two-day training camp in Manchester on January 21 and 22 with Hand set to name his final 22-man squad soon after.

GB will then travel to Latvia at the beginning of February ahead of the four-team tournament and will face the hosts, as well as France and Kazakhstan.

"The camp will give us a great start in our preparations for Riga," said Hand, who replaced Blaze coach Paul Thompson as head of GB.

"It will not only give us chance to work on tactics, but will also be a great bonding exercise for the squad.

"By naming a 32-man squad, it gives me chance to look at a number of players who weren’t in the final squad last time. This is also a great exercise for team morale."

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