Why Sheffield Steeler Brendan Connolly missed out on Great Britain's gold run

The player had nothing left to give at the end of his 59-game domestic season, which had started with him still wrestling to overcome injury issues.

At the end of his retirement season, he felt he had no option other than to pull out of the Great Britain squad, knowing he just wouldn't have enough left in the tank.

That will have been a bitter moment for Connolly who loved donning the GB shirt.

The forward missed a memorable tournament in which Britain returned to the top level of the World Championships from the second tier.

The final GB game, on May 5, a narrow win over Italy, was memorable also in that Connolly's captain Jonathan Phillips was icing his final game.

GB coach Peter Russell revealed to The Star that Connolly had been fatigued and had suffered injury niggles towards the end of Sheffield's campaign.

"He had an injury thing going on, he wasn't fully ready," said Russell. "He called me and said: 'I can't do it.' I said: 'I get it.'

"He was dying to come but he thought he couldn't play another five games over a short space of time."

Russell forged on without Connolly and achieved the IIHF promotion, which came shortly after his domestic club side Ravensburg Towerstars won a title in Germany.

The Scotsman, who has been associated with a potential move to Cardiff Devils, said: "It has been a really busy six weeks, I'm trying to get some energy back!

"To win a championship in Germany you really have to work for it, I think it was 19 games in five weeks, and then came the national team, who gained promotion in a way that the guys should always be proud of.

"It was an emotional whirlwind...but I'd take that any day."

Russell also stated that the retiring Phillips had helped him in his own management career.

"As a coach, I have been with him a long time and he has been fantastic for me.

"I think my career was propelled by working with a captain like him.

"We had a really good relationship, He is a special person.

"How he handled it all was unbelievable, before the EIHL season finished every rink was doing something for him.

"The only time I saw any emotion was when the (GB) boys bought him a present and Davey Phillips gave a speech before the last game (Italy.)

"I had tears in my eyes listening to it and it was really emotional.

"It is the first time I have seen Jonno cry, it was awesome, a really big moment.

"We all wanted to finish with a gold medal for him; he has been such an unbelievable servant to British ice hockey."

Russell also had words of praise for Evan Mosey, a player Nottingham Panthers have repeatedly been linked with

"I thought he was great, one of our better players in the tournament. I like him as a 'D' but he is a great penalty killer as a forward too."