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"We want the French," says Thompson

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Great Britain's senior ice hockey team today confirmed that it had issued a challenge to their French counterparts to, "Come and Play Us."

Paul Thompson's squad is looking for a competitive International fixture in February and has set his sights on bringing the French across the channel. "I think that France are perfect opponents for us," he said. "They are a strong hockey team, presently ranked higher than we are so it would be the perfect test for us."

Thompson continued, "Also it's the French and I think this is a game that the public would get behind if we were able to pull it off, the whole GB vs France thing would catch the hockey supporters imagination I am sure. It's been some years since we have had a true International game in this country and if the French said yes, I believe we would create a great deal of momentum for the programme."

Thompson believes that his preparation plans for the World Championships in April are coming along nicely, "Ideally we want two exhibition games, one in the International break in February and one in the week before the Championships begin. If possible I would prefer not to play against club teams as sometimes they become non-competitive and have a testimonial feel to them, I want games that have some meat on the bones, games against other nations."

Thompson added, "I feel there is a new enthusiasm about the GB programme, players wanting to come back and play for us like Hand, Longstaff and Johnson together with the incredible form being shown by some of our other national team players, David Clarke is on fire right now and Basingstoke's Greg Owen has also impressed with a great start to the season. All of a sudden players want to be involved and that has to be good news for all supporters of the programme."

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• Longstaff and Johnson confirm their return to the GB Squad