Great Britain suffered a Belarus backlash as Andrei Mikhalev hit a hat-trick in the Euro Ice Hockey Challenge at Nottingham's National Ice Centre on Saturday.

Belarus, icing just two of their Olympic heroes, flattered to deceive in their opening game, a 2-1 victory over Hungary.

But they produced an impressive performance of skill and speed to end Britain's chances of winning the tournament.

Chris McSorley's side made a nightmare start when Belarus took the lead after just 10 seconds, Alexei Lozhkin capitalising on a gaping hole in the GB defence to slide the puck past Stephen Murphy.

The Dundee Stars netminder was given the chance to get some ice time after Joe Watkins' heroics against Slovenia.

He was beaten again when Mikhalev took advantage of a powerplay, the same player then punishing a Paul Berrington error to put Belarus 3-0 up inside eight minutes.

Berrington nearly redeemed himself but he saw his shot hit the pipe while Jonathan Philips just failed to connect with a rebound of Gary Wishart's effort.

Vadim Bekbulatov increased Belarus' lead and Lozhkin also hit a pipe before netminder Leonid Grishukevich pulled off a stunning save to deny Rick Strachan.

Mikhalev completed his hat-trick following an error from Kyle Horne and Alexei Vinokoubov added number six towards the end.

Flare-up

Britain rarely threatened the Belarus goal in the final period and the only thing the home crowd had to get excited about was a brief flare-up between Neil Liddiard and Andrei Bashko after the final hooter had gone.

Earlier, Slovenia beat Hungary 3-1 to set up a winner-takes-all clash with Belarus on Sunday, while GB face Hungary to determine who finishes bottom.

"We are going to give our best effort," said GB caoch Chris McSorley. "We are playing a heck of a team but we want to grab a victory."

Results:

Friday 30 August:
Belarus 2-1 Hungary 1500BST
GB 4-4 Slovenia 1900BST

Saturday 31 August:
Slovenia 3-1 Hungary 1430BST
Belarus 6-0 GB 1830BST

Sunday 1 September:
Slovenia Vs Belarus 1430BST
Hungary Vs GB 1830BST