BLAINE, Minn. - The line of Kieffer Bellows (Edina, Minn.), Clayton Keller (Swansea, Ill.) and Joey Anderson (Roseville, Minn.) accounted for four goals as the U.S. Men's National Under-18 Team downed Finland, 6-1, here tonight at the National Sports Center. The contest was the first of two pre-tournament games preceding the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Men's World Championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Bellows opened the scoring for the United States at 10:26 of the first period. J.D. Greenway (Potsdam, N.Y.) and Keller assisted. Will Lockwood (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) followed with a tally at 15:11 to give Team USA a 2-0 advantage after 20 minutes of play. Greenway and Trent Frederic (St. Louis, Mo.) earned helpers on the score.
Logan Brown (Raleigh, N.C.) pushed the U.S. lead to three goals just under two minutes into the middle stanza. Kailer Yamamoto (Spokane, Wash.) and Casey Mittelstadt (Eden Prairie, Minn.) collected assists.
Back-to-back goals by Bellows at 8:32 and 12:06 of the third frame widened the gap between squads, now 5-0, in favor of the United States. Keller and Anderson registered assists on each of Bellows' two tallies. Finland answered on the power play at 13:58 but Anderson found Keller less than one minute later to help seal the victory, 6-1.
Joseph Woll (St. Louis, Mo.) and Jake Oettinger (Lakeville, Minn.) split time in the U.S. net, combining for 27 saves in the win. Leevi Laakso made 21 saves between the pipes for Finland in the loss.
The U.S. Men's National Under-18 Team next faces Denmark on Sunday, April 10, at the National Sports Center. The game is the second and final pre-tournament contest before Team USA opens preliminary-round action versus Russia on Thursday, April 14.
Team USA was outshot by Finland, 28-27 ... The U.S. went 0-1 on the power play while Finland went 1-3 ... For the full U.S. National Under-18 Team roster, click here ... For complete tournament information, including how to purchase tickets, visit GrandForks2016.com ... NHL Network will televise all U.S. games in the 2016 IIHF U18 Men's World Championship. A final broadcast schedule will be released in the next week ... FASTHockey.com will stream live all games of the 2016 IIHF U18 Men's World Championship (geo-blocked where restricted by broadcast agreements).