Thanks to the win and Lithuania's loss in the last game against host Croatia, the Ukrainians won the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group B to earn promotion.

Croatia edged Lithuania 2-1 after penalty shots in an pulsating thriller of a game, which saw Ukraine finish top of the table to move up to the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A. Earlier on the day Ukraine beat Great Britain 2-1.

Defenceman Olexander Pobyedonostsev was Ukraine's saviour of the day as he scored their winner with 3:56 left of their pivotal game with Great Britain.

Dmytro Chernyshenko and Pobyedonostsev scored Ukraine's goals in their final period charge which saw them topple Great Britain. Eduard Zakharchenko recorded 27 saves between the pipes for Ukraine.

Great Britain who were chasing their first gold medal at World Championship level since 1993, needed only one point to secure promotion and are now left to lick their wounds after missing out on promotion during the final game for the second year in a row.

Captain Jonathan Phillips scored Great Britains sole marker. Whether Great Britain will travel home with silver or bronze will also be decided in tonight's late game.

"You could say we were mad about losing last night's game against Lithuania and wanted to prove to ourselves that we deserve to be one of the contenders for the first place, so today we just buried our heads down and worked really hard and deserved to win," said a delighted Vladyslav Gavryk.

Instigated by a Robert Lachowicz surge down the left he picked out Joshua Batch who hit a one-timer from the blueliner which saw captain Phillips tip home Great Britain's opener at 1:54 of the second period to put GB ahead. But Ukraine got their reward in the final frame. Mark Richardson lost the puck in his defensive zone, snapped up by Gavryk he picked out Chernyshenko who tied the game at 15:35.

With all left to play for, Ukraine now came to full life. Winning the shots in the final frame by 12 to 5 they completed their fightback at 3:56 when Shafarenko rounded Bowns' cage and picked out Pobyedonostsev who charged down from his defensive position to rake home the winner with 3:56 to go.