Ice hockey’s tragic season can end on a high after shock deaths of Mike Hammond and Adam Johnson… as Great Britain take on mighty Canada and Co at the World Championships

• Britain begin their ice hockey World Championship campaign against Canada
• Tournament marks the culmination of campaign that contained tragic incidents

It is an opportunity for British ice hockey to end a season of unprecedented tragedy by showcasing the rise in the domestic game that has taken them back to the top on the world stage.

When Great Britain begin their return to the top level of the World Championship, starting against the very best in Canada on Saturday in Prague, they will be remembering those absent in a year that has seen the sport hit by a terrible number of losses.

That tragic sequence began last July when Mike Hammond, a key member of the GB side who had just secured promotion back to the big time at the first attempt, was killed, aged 33, in a car crash in Canada.

Just a month earlier Sheffield Steelers, the biggest club in the country, had been rocked by the sudden death of their emerging forward Alex Graham aged 20 only days after he signed his first professional contract.

Then came the incident that shocked the sport worldwide when Nottingham Panthers’ overseas star Adam Johnson, who had played at the highest level with Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL, died after a freak accident during a game against Sheffield.

Finally, one of the most popular figures in the game in Coventry Blaze assistant coach Dayle Keen, who had also coached GB youth sides, passed away suddenly, also aged just 33.

Robert Dowd has felt the full extent of the unbearable events more than most as a vastly experienced and hugely successful forward who took over the captaincy of both Sheffield and GB this season from fellow Steelers legend Jonathan Phillips.

Now Dowd will lead GB onto the ice in Czechia, where they will play seven games against elite opposition over the next 11 days, fresh from leading Sheffield to the ultimate triumph over adversity when they last week completed a domestic treble.

‘The ice hockey world in Britain has come together like never before this year,’ said Dowd, 35. ‘To support each other the way everybody did through the hardest of times, irrespective of what club they followed or any allegiance, was a credit to everyone involved in the sport.

‘So much happened that it was a heavy year on the heart for a lot of us throughout the season and…