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U.S. Tops Belarus, 8-0, at U18 Worlds

By USAHockey.com, 04/24/18, 8:45AM EDT

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Quarterfinal against Russia set for Thursday

MAGNITOGORSK, Russia – Cole Caufield (Stevens Point, Wis./ USAH NTDP) recorded a hat trick and Drew DeRidder (Fenton, Mich./USAH NTDP) stopped all 13 shots he faced for the U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team in its 8-0 victory against Belarus here this afternoon in the fourth preliminary round game of the 2018 IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship at Metallurg Arena.

With the victory, the U.S. closes out preliminary play 2-0-0-2 (W-OTW-OTL-L) and will now face tournament host Russia in the quarterfinal on Thursday (April 26) at 7:30 p.m. local (10:30 a.m. ET) at Traktor Ice Rink in Chelyabinsk and can be seen live on NHL Network. 

“We gained confidence not only because we won, but we won the right way,” said Seth Appert (Cottage Grove, Minn./USAH NTDP), head coach of the U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team. “We didn’t cheat the game, we played well defensively and we kept on the gas pedal into the second and third periods even after getting an early lead. We’re excited for the challenge of the quarterfinals.”

Alex Turcotte (Island Lake, Ill./USAH NTDP) opened the scoring for Team USA at 2:19 on the power play when he knocked a rebound out of mid air and past the Belarus goaltender Kirill Andreyev. Jonathan Gruden (Rochester, Mich./USAH NTDP) earned an assist for taking the initial shot and Caufield also picked up an assist on the play.

K’Andre Miller (Minnetonka, Minn./USAH NTDP) extended the U.S. lead to 2-0 at 16:57 with a wrist shot off the rush. Cam York (Anaheim Hills, Calif./USAH NTDP) picked up his fifth assist of the tournament after hitting Miller with a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone. With the late goal, the U.S. took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

The U.S. started the second period by scoring three goals in the first 6:26.

Jack Hughes (Orlando, Fla./USAH NTDP) fed a cross-crease pass to Oliver Wahlstrom (Quincy, Mass./USAH NTDP), who fired the puck past the outstretched Belarus goaltender to make it 3-0. Joel Farabee (Cicero, N.Y./USAH NTDP) also picked up an assist on the play.

Caufield scored his first goal of the night at 4:26 on a 2-on-1 rush by wristing a shot to the top left corner of the net. Jake Wise (Reading, Mass./USAH NTDP) and York picked up assists on the play. Two minutes later Farabee wristed a shot from the slot to widen the lead to 5-0. Hughes and Ty Emberson (Eau Claire. Wis./USAH NTDP) picked up the helpers on the play.

Caufield added his second of the game on the power play at 13:13 after gathering the puck in a scramble in front and backhanding a shot top shelf.

Gavin Hain (Grand Rapids, Minn./USAH NTDP) scored at 19:02 off a rush feed from Patrick Giles (Chevy Chase, Md./USAH NTDP) to give Team USA a 7-0 lead heading into the second intermission. Turcotte also picked an assist on the play.

Caufield completed the hat trick at 13:39 of the final frame off a feed from Turcotte to bring the game to its final of 8-0.

NOTES: Turcotte was named the U.S. Player of the Game … The U.S. outshot Belarus 43-13 … Team USA went 2-4 on the power play and shut down Belarus on its four power play attempts … Team USA is now 8-0-0-0-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) against Belarus all-time in the U18 Men’s World Championship … The U.S. is 62-0-1-17-1 in preliminary games (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) ... The U.S. enters the tournament having captured a record 14 consecutive medals, including gold medals in seven of the last nine years (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017) ... Team USA has won 10 gold medals all-time, the most of any country in IIHF Under-18 Men's World Championship history. The event began in 1999. Team USA earned its first gold medal in 2002 ... For complete tournament information, visit the IIHF website. Team USA News, interviews, highlights and more can be found on the Team USA website ... For complete tournament information, visit the IIHF website ... Follow @USAHockey on Twitter for live scoring updates during the tournament. Scores will be designated with the #U18Worlds tag ... For additional coverage, visit the USA Hockey Facebook page and Instagram account.

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U.S. Schedule

Date Opponent Round Time (Local/ET)/Results Location Television
Sun., April 15 France Exhibition W, 15-0 Traktor Ice Rink
Chelyabinsk, Russia
NHL Network
Thurs., April 19 Canada Preliminary L, 4-6 Metallurg Ice Rink
Magnitogorsk, Russia
NHL Network
Fri., April 20 Switzerland Preliminary W, 8-5 Metallurg Ice Rink
Magnitogorsk, Russia
NHL Network
Sun., April 22 Sweden Preliminary L, 1-3 Metallurg Ice Rink
Magnitogorsk, Russia
NHL Network
Tues., April 24 Belarus Preliminary W, 8-0 Metallurg Ice Rink
Magnitogorsk, Russia
NHL Network
Thurs., April 26 Russia Quarterfinals W, 5-1 Traktor Ice Rink
Chelyabinsk, Russia
NHL Network
Sat., April 28 Czech Republic Semifinals W, 4-1 Traktor Ice Rink
Chelyabinsk, Russia
NHL Network
Sun., April 29 Finland Gold Medal Game L, 2-3 Traktor Ice Rink
Chelyabinsk, Russia
NHL Network

2018 U18 Men's Worlds News