NOTTINGHAM Panthers defenceman Stevie Lee says Great Britain have many reasons to be proud despite their 6-2 defeat by Latvia in their opening game at the Olympic final qualifiers.
GB stayed with their Latvian hosts for half the game and had only a two-goal deficit at the end of the second period.
But Latvia's superior skills told in the end, helped by three powerplay goals.
Lee said: "We gave it our all and I think we certainly shocked them for a while.
"We can be proud of our performance but we are disappointed at the same time, as things could have been better.
"But we can take heart from what we did and take that into the game against France today.
"There's still plenty of hockey to be played in this tournament and we are up for the challenges in the next two matches."
