Bellows hat trick paces U-18’s past Phantoms

How high are expectations in the guy who took top Rookie honors and set a record for goals by a 16-year-old last season?

Maybe not high enough as Kieffer Bellows, 17, from Edina, MN fired three goals and added an assist on the game clinching empty netter to lift the US National Development Team Program U-18 squad to a 6-4 win in its United States Hockey League season opener in Youngstown Saturday (Sept. 26).

In other USHL games: the host Cedar Rapids Roughriders downed the Lincoln Stars 7-4; Chicago Steel opened with a 5-1 win in its new home against the US National Development Team U-17 squad; Omaha Lancers earned a 2-1 edge at Des Moines; Dubuque Fighting Saints edged the visiting Madison Capitols 6-5; Bloomington Thunder got by host Green Bay Gamblers 4-3; Sioux Falls Stampeders downed the visiting Sioux City Musketeers 5-3 and the Muskegon Lumberjacks went to a shootout to grab a 3-2 road win against the Waterloo Blackhawks

USNDTP U-18’s 6 Youngstown Phantoms 4

Bellows scored his first 69 seconds into the contest and helped Team USA to a 3-0 first period cushion, but the Phantoms charged back with a four goal second frame and teams were even at 4-4 heading to the third. Bellows sank the game winner 7:35 into the third on a powerplay and then set up Clayton Keller, 17, from Swansea, IL for his second of the night, into the empty Phantom’s cage.

Keller also picked up two assists in the game and Trent Frederic, 17, from St. Louis, MO scored the other Team USA goal while Joey Anderson, 17, from Roseville, MN; Adam Fox, 17, from New York and Chad Krys, 17, from Connecticut each collected two assists. Jake Oettinger, 17, from Lakeville, MN picked up the win in goal with an 18-save effort.

Phantom goals came from Kevin Conley, 18, from Wausau, WI; Lukas Craggs, 19, from Elmhurst, IL; Grant Meyer, 19, from Curtice, OH and Cameron Morrison, 17, from Ontario. Ryan Bednard, 18, from Macomb, MI made 21 saves in goal for the Phantoms.

Stars 4 at Roughriders 7

After a scoreless opening segment, both the visiting Lincoln Stars and host Cedar Rapids Roughriders turned on the jets in the second period at Cedar Rapids Ice Arena, the hosts carrying a 4-3 lead into the final frame.

The Stars tied things up 2:27 into the third but Luke Morgan, 18, from Brighton, MI put his team in front to stay with a shorthanded marker at the 7:53 mark. The Roughriders padded its lead with a late goal and another into an empty net.

The home side had a total team effort with seven goals from seven different shooters. Along with Morgan, Roughrider goal scorers included: Justin Cole, 19, from Pennsylvania; Matt Filipe, 17, from Massachusetts; John Snodgrass, 19, from Eagan, MN: Hugh McGing, 17, from Chicago, IL; Jacob Hayhurst, 18, from Ontario and Ben Foley, 19, from Edina, MN. Jack Ahcan, 18, from Savage, MN and Ross Colton, 19 from New Jersey chipped in a pair of assists apiece and Ryan Larkin, 18, from Clarkston, MI made 20 saves to pick up the win in goal.

William D’Orsi, 18, from Massachusetts and Ludvig Hoff, 19, from Norway, collected a goal and assist apiece for the Stars with other goals scored by Patrick Polino, 20, from New York and Ethan Frank, from Papillion, NE. Patrick Virtanen, 20, from Finland made 24 saves in goal for the Stars.

USNDTP U-17’s 1 at Steel 5

The Chicago Steel made its debut at the Fox Valley Ice Arena turning a slim 2-1 margin after two periods into a more comfortable 5-1 edge with three unanswered third period goals.

Jake Jaremko, 19, from Nowthen, MN scored the first and final goals of the game for the Steel and Tanner Laczynski, 18, from Shorewood, IL scored one and added a couple of assists. Lucas Michaud, 18, from Maine and Connor Murphy, 19, from Ontario scored the other Steel goals, Max Zimmer, 18, from Medina, MN and Brandon Duhaime, 18, from Florida both adding  a pair of assists.

Michael Pastujov, 16, from Florida countered with the lone U-17’s goal.

A pair of Northville, MI natives went head-to-head between the pipes John Lethemon, 19, turned aside 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Steel and Dylan St. Cyr, 16 made 30 saves in goal for Team USA.

Lancers 2 at Buccaneers 1

All three goals in this one came in the second period as the Lancers put up two and the Buccaneeers struck back with one late in the frame.

Austin Alger, 18, from Livonia, MI and Nathan Krusko, 19, from Georgia, both scored in the opening five minutes of the period for the Lancers before Patrick Grasso, 19, from Ankenny, IA notched the lone Des Moines marker on a powerplay with 3:19 to play in the period.

Zackarias Skog, 20, from Sweden made 28 saves to collect the win in goal for the Lancers, Nick MacNab, 19, from Indianapolis, IN turning aside 30 in goal for the Bucs.

Capitols 5 at Fighting Saints 6

The visitors jumped out quick in this one, the Madison Capitols building a 3-1 first period lead, but the host Dubuque Fighting Saints drew even in the middle frame, teams tied 4-4 heading to the third at the Mystique Ice Center.

Teams traded goals through the first six minutes of the period and it was Trey Dodd, 19, from St. Louis, MO scoring the game winner with 3:48 to go.

Nathan Sucese, 19, from Fairport, NY picked up a goal and a helper in this one and other Dubuque goals came from Keegan Ford, 19, from Waunakee, WI; Colin Theisen, 18, from Monroe, MI; Dallas Gerads, 19, from Blaine, MN and William Knierim, 17, from Skokie, IL. Peter Makitalo, 18, from Sweden chipped in a couple of assists and Hunter Miska, 20, from North Branch, MN made 22 saves to pick up the win in goal.

Guillaume, Leclerc, 19, from France and Tyson McLellan, 19, from California, scored two each for the Capitols and Sam McCormick, 18, from DePere, WI potted the other while Luke McElhenie, 20, from Sauk City, WI collected two assists. Garrett Metcalf, 19, from Utah, turned aside 34 shots in goal for the Caps.

Thunder 4 at Gamblers 3 

The Green Bay Gamblers scored first against the visiting Bloomington Thunder at the Resch Center, Sam Saliba, 20, from Lake Forest, IL notching a powerplay goal in the the seventh minute of the contest. But Blake Gober, 20, from Texas tied the match with just under five minutes to go and teams were even entering the second period.

The Gamblers went in front again 1:40 into the second on a goal by Jason Dhooghe, 18, from Aurora, IL but the next three goals came from the Thunder. Logan Lambdin, 20, from Careton, MI tied it with a powerplay goal at the 7:37 mark and Jeremy Davies, 19 from Quebec, gave the Thunder its first lead just past the halfway mark of the period.

Vladislav Dzhioshvili, 17, from Russia, padded the lead for the Thunder 6:05 into the final period and Joey Marooney, 19, from Eden Prairie, MN pulled one back, but with just 10 seconds to play in the game, it was too little, too late.

Hayden Lavigne, 19, from Ontario made 27 saves to pick up the win for the Thunder and Adam Huska, 18, from Slovakia stopped 20 in goal for the Gamblers.

Musketeers 3 at Stampede 5

The host Sioux Falls Stampede opened up a 3-1 first period lead but the visiting Sioux City Musketeers chipped away with one in the second and another with 9:10 to go in the contest to pull even.

However, the home side grabbed another lead as Parker Tuomie, 20, from Germany scored his second of the game with 6:41 to go and Aaron Miller, 20, from Superior, WI sank the final goal into an empty Musketeer goal with 45 seconds to play. Colin Peters, 18, from Sheboygan, WI scored one and added two assists and the other Stampede goal came from Jack Becker, 18, from Dellwood, MN. Ales Stezka, 18, from Czech Republic, stopped 19 to pick up the win in goal for the Stampede.

Eeli Tolvanen, 16, from Finland scored twice for the Musketeers, Jake Durflinger, 18, from California adding the other. Cameron Gornet, 19, from St. Louis, MO made 22 saves for the Musketeers.

Lumberjacks 3 at Blackhawks 2 (so)

Carson Vance, 19, from Arizona sank the game winner in the fifth round of the shootout, lifting the visiting Muskegon Lumberjacks past the Waterloo Blackhawks at the Young Arena.

Dominick Sacco, 20, from New York and Jacob Coleman, 18, from Pennsylvania scored the regulation goals for Muskegon, Sacco in the first period and Coleman late in the second opening up a 2-0 lead before the hosts charged back with two in the final frame. Joey Daccord, 19, from Massachusetts, stopped 28 shots during regulation and overtime and then turned aside all five of the shootout chances for the Blackhawks.

Ben Newhouse, 18, from Edina, MN and Shane Bowers, 16, from Nova Scotia scored the Waterloo goals while Cale Morris, 19, from Colorado stopped 22 shots in regulation and overtime and four more in the shootout.